Big Change For Friday

Your forecast for Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and southern Santa Clara Counties:

Friday will be a much different day for most. Deep onshore flow associated with a trough digging down the coast will keep the clouds around for most of the day. There may be a few breaks, but we’ll definitely see more cloud than sun. Temperatures will cool on the coast—due to the increased cloudcover—and inland—due to deeper penetration of the onshore flow and cooling aloft. Additionally, some light drizzle may occur Friday morning with a better chance late Friday into Saturday AM. In fact, models are showing some decent drizzle accumulation, so wet roads may be an issue. For the rest of the weekend, the trough quickly departs. Inland areas will warm up, but we’ll likely see restabilization of the marine layer which will keep some clouds and cooler temps on the coast.

AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate

Overnight: Increasing clouds will low clouds filling in on the coast and pushing well inland by the early morning. Patchy drizzle possible, most likely on the west/northwest-facing shores & slopes. Lows in the upper 40s to low 50s on the coast and upper 30s to 40s inland.

Friday: Mostly cloudy on the coast and partly cloudy inland. Cooler with coastal highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s and 60s to mid 70s inland. Gusty west-northwesterly onshore and up-valley winds. Clouds thicken late with patchy drizzle.

Saturday: A drizzly, light rain possible early under overcast skies, then slow clearing into the afternoon with dry conditions expected. Slightly warmer with highs in the 60s on the coast and 60s-70s inland. Gusty northwesterly onshore and up-valley winds at times.

Extended: Inland temperatures will continue to warm on Sunday (and Monday), but we’ll hold steady on the coast with slightly below normal readings. After a weak passing trough on Tuesday, high pressure rebuilds through mid-week with warmer weather expected.

*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: 66ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 47ºF
HIGH: 76ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for May 31^st -  June 6^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE 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 soon and then to La Niña by summer.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
-Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of May 22^nd: 55.8ºF
(Historic May AVG: 55.8ºF)
*average of three buoys