Cold Friday, Rainy Weekend
A cold air mass lingers over the Central Coast into Friday. Many will awake to a frosty morning, even approaching the coast, though some high cloudcover will increase into the morning. Those clouds will stick around on Friday and increase into Saturday as weakening frontal system, accompanied by a thin atmospheric river of moisture will get the rain machine going. It will likely start in the coastal mountains early in the day Saturday and then the front will move through later in the day, bringing rain to the lower elevations. Right now, rain amounts look beneficial with 1”+ in the coastal mountains and 0.25-0.75” for coastal cities (less inland). A warmer air mass will then settle in for next week.
AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate
Overnight: Slowly increasing high clouds. Cold, with coastal lows in the low 30s to around 40ºF and mid 20s to low 30s for inland areas.
From the National Weather Service in Monterey (in italics) …
**FROST ADVISORY**
… in effect from 3am to 10am Friday for all interior locations of Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Santa Clara Counties.
*Some locations include the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Clara Valley, Eastern Santa Clara Hills, the Salinas Valley, Arroyo Seco, San Antonio Valley, Santa Lucia Mountains, Los Padres National Forest, Mountains of San Benito, Pinnacles National Park, Hollister Valley and Carmel Valley.
*Temperatures as low as 32 will result in frost formation.
*Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered.
*Far interior southern portions of Monterey and San Benito Counties could see low temperatures dip into the upper 20s.
Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold.
Friday: Scattered high clouds. Cool, with highs in the 50s (and 40s up in the mountains)
Saturday: Increasing clouds with ongoing rain developing in the coastal mountains. Rain will reach lower elevation/coastal cities later in the day with showers lasting overnight. Cool with occasionally gusty westerly winds. Highs in the 50s.
Extended: Showers taper off into Sunday morning, with the start of a warmer, dryer period into next week. Highs return to above normal and lows won’t be as frigid. We’ll have quite a bit of moisture locked offshore, so expect bouts of high cloudcover. We’re watching sometime late next week for rain chances, but there isn’t any sign of a big storm on the horizon.
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 43ºF
HIGH: 60ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 19th – 25th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: Strong to Very Strong El Niño expected this winter.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
