Mid-Week Rain Chances
The next weather system will arrive on the Central Coast Wednesday. And when I say arrive, I mean it will deal a glancing blow. Rain swirling around the low pressure center will skirt the coast into Wednesday afternoon, though may be preceded by additional onshore drizzly light rain in the coastal mountains. Interestingly, though, just the proximity influence of the weather system will help destabilize the atmosphere over our mountains where showers and perhaps an isolated thunderstorm are likely to form. Precipitation will come to an end Wednesday evening. Though there is a slight chance another round of showers will pop up over the southern inland mountains on Thursday afternoon as some moisture lingers in the area. It will be working against dryer, northwesterly winds which could get quite gusty Thursday afternoon, especially on the exposed coast and into the valleys. Additional rain chances will be possible through the weekend. See the extended forecast below for details.
AIR QUALITY: Good
Overnight: Mostly cloudy with on and off drizzle for the coastal mountains. An isolated shower will be possible elsewhere, especially closer to the coast. Lows in the 40s for most areas.
Wednesday: Partly to mostly cloudy with occasional light rain along the coast, then showers and perhaps a thunderstorm developing over the higher terrain during the afternoon. A few showers could drift over the more populated valleys. Seasonably cool with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. Breezy northwesterly winds, especially late in the day.
Thursday: Drying out with blustery northwest winds. Mostly sunny on the coast and partly cloudy inland with isolated showers over the southern inland mountains. Highs in the upper 50s to low 60s.
Extended: Expect mostly sunny skies on Friday with warmer temperatures and lighter winds. Clouds will increase into the weekend as a weak system passes by to our north. Saturday is trending dry, but we’re still watching it. We’re likely to see a dry, seasonable day Sunday but clouds will increase late with rain chances Monday/Tuesday—though nothing strong is on the way. Temperatures are expected to warm and dry conditions mid-week next week.
*Note: Any alerts from the National Weather Service in Monterey will be noted in italics above. Alerts may be edited for brevity or local clarification (in parenthesis).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 45ºF
HIGH: 62ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 40ºF
HIGH: 65ºF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 13th - 19th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory, La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition from El Niño to neutral by Spring and then to La Niña by summer.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
