Warmth Peaks Thursday

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

The warming trend will continue into Friday as high pressure pushes into the region from the southwest. Expect high temperatures to be above normal across the board.  A weak trough will pass by to the north Friday into Saturday, however, which will cool us back down slightly, and likely allow for the return of a few low clouds on the coast.

AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate

Overnight: Mostly clear with patchy fog possible around the bay and in low, damp areas by dawn. Lows in the upper 40s to low 50s on the coast and low 40s to around 50ºF inland.

Thursday: Mostly sunny with a few thin, high clouds passing through. There is also a slight chance of a few low clouds/fog on the coast, especially late. Warmer, with coastal highs in the mid 60s to mid 70s—warmest on the north side of the bay—and upper 70s to mid 90s inland. Breezy up-valley winds late in the day.

Friday: Becoming partly cloudy on the coast with a few low clouds/fog. Slightly cooler, with coastal highs in the low 60s to mid 70s and 70s to low 80s inland. Breezy onshore winds late with stronger winds in the valleys.
 
Extended: Expect slightly cooler and cloudier conditions into the weekend, but we’ll remain seasonable. A warmer air mass will move in along with building high pressure which will send temperatures back upward (even lows!) into next week. I’m still seeing onshore flow, so some low cloudcover will have to remain in the forecast despite the warmer readings.
 
*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: 51ºF
HIGH: 67ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 48ºF
HIGH: 78ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for June 6^th – 12^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE 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
-Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of May 30^th: 55.5ºF
(Historic May AVG: 55.8ºF)
*average of three buoys