Becoming Dryer, Warmer
Reprieve from the “cold & stormy” will be found this week as the weather pattern calms down. We’ve been in an amplified pattern with high highs and low lows over the past couple of week and while that technically won’t change over the next few days, we’ll be on the upswing into high pressure before things start to level out. That upswing will bring warming temperatures day to day through Wednesday when highs will be 5-10ºF above normal. The ridge will begin to flatten out on Thursday and its axis will shift a bit east allowing for a deeper onshore flow to develop—which may appear more like a “May Gray” scenario with warm weather inland, but cool, cloudy conditions on the coast.
AIR QUALITY: Good
Overnight: Partly cloudy with a few sprinkles, mainly near the coast and up in the hills. Patchy fog possible in low, sheltered areas. Lows in the 40s to around 50ºF
Monday: Partly cloudy and slightly warmer for most. However, the a full day of northwesterly onshore flow over 54ºF ocean waters will keep the peninsula a bit cooler than Sunday. Expect highs in the upper 50s to upper 60s. Winds could get gusty for the inland valleys late in the day.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the 60s-70s. Breezy northwesterly onshore winds becoming gusty in the valleys late in the day.
Extended: High temperatures will peak 5-10ºF above normal on Wednesday with highs in the upper 60s to low 80s. We’ll cool a bit—especially on the coast—Thursday with onshore flow deepening. The overall pattern flattens out through the weekend which should result in fairly seasonable temperatures. Weather systems will likely remain to our north, but a few may bear watching. One model is showing a few showers over the inland hills on both Friday and Sunday, but don’t change any of your plans just yet. As of now, I do not have any rain in the forecast for next weekend.
*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).
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 47ºF
HIGH: 64ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 42ºF
HIGH: 71ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for April 22nd – 28th calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and ABOVE 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
