Coastal Clouds
Well remain blocked up in this summer-like pattern for the remainder of the week. The big subtropical ridge is holding court off to our northwest with a chain of upper level lows stretching from Hawai’i into the central U.S. The low passing to our south cooled temperatures inland on Monday and will keep then seasonable into Tuesday. Coastal temperatures remain more influenced by the marine layer, which is stable and moderately deep—and won’t change much for the next few days—so continue expect the daily cycle of low clouds and slightly below normal temperatures. The ridge rebuilds slightly Wednesday into Thursday, so inland areas will warm back up a few degrees. Then, the next subtropical low slides in from the southwest as the ridge moves west, potentially allowing a merger of the low and an upper level trough digging in from the north. At the very least, we’ll see cooler conditions inland. The deepening marine layer may mix out as well, which will increase sunshine and temperatures on the coast. There may also be a slight chance of precipitation!
AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate
Overnight: Low clouds fill the coast and inland valleys with patchy fog in the valleys and coastal hills. Drizzle possible mainly on the east side of the bay. Lows in the upper 40s to low 50s on the coast, low 40s to around 50ºF for inland valleys.
Tuesday: Widespread low clouds around the coast and inland valleys early, with clouds clearing back to the coast into the afternoon. Again, many coastal areas may remain cloudy with just partial clearing on the north and south sides of the bay. Otherwise, mostly sunny with some high clouds moving in from the east and a few cumulus over the hills. Expect highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s on the coast and low 70s to mid 80s inland. Breezy westerly onshore winds becoming windy for the valleys in the afternoon and into the early evening.
Wednesday: Overcast for the coast and valleys early with patchy fog possible. Then becoming partly cloudy on the coast with lingering low clouds and mostly sunny inland with a few high clouds and a few cumulus over the hills. Just a touch warmer with coastal highs in the upper 50s to upper 60s and 70s to 80s inland. Breezy westerly onshore winds becoming windy for the valleys late in the day.
Extended: Not much change in the day to day weather through the end of the week. We’ll warm just a touch on Thursday and then slowly cool back down a few degrees by the end of the week. By the weekend, a low moving in from the southwest may interact with a trough passing by to the north. Cooler inland temperatures expected, but we may warm a bit on the coast. There will be slight precipitation chances Sunday into Monday. While we may warm briefly out of the weekend, the long term forecast is for troughing on the west coast, which would likely keep temperatures below normal—however, we won’t have a strong marine layer, so it may mean more coastal sunshine.
*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: 50ºF
HIGH: 65ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 46ºF
HIGH: 75ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for May 21st – 27th calls for the likelihood of BELOW normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory, La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition from El Niño to neutral soon and then to La Niña by summer.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
