Dry Lightning Threat Friday

As high pressure builds in from the east, a wave of monsoon moisture will rotate clockwise around the high and into our area on Friday. We’ll see scattered mid to high level clouds and a slight chance of high based thunderstorms. Unfortunately, due to the hot, dry layer below the monsoon moisture, not much if any rain will reach the ground. And thus, the threat of “dry” lightning. At this point, there is no reason to believe we’ll see widespread lightning, but a few strikes will be possible. This is a developing situation, so please stay tuned to the forecast. As it stances, lighting chances will be highest the farthest east you live in the KION coverage area, but there is a chance across the area regardless.

AIR QUALITY: Good

Overnight: Low clouds slowly fill in with patchy fog and drizzle possible. Expect lows in the 50s for most areas.

Thursday: Widespread low cloudcover early, becoming partly cloudy on the coast and mostly sunny inland (a few high clouds) during the afternoon. Coastal highs in the mid 60s to upper 70s—warmest on the north side of the bay--and upper 70s to around 103ºF inland. Breezy onshore winds becoming windy up valleys late in the day.

Friday: A few low clouds near the coast, otherwise partly cloudy with mid-level clouds and a chance of high based (mostly dry) thunderstorms. Expect coastal highs in the upper 60s to upper 70s with upper 70s to around 100ºF inland.

Extended: The dry lightning threat ends on Saturday but high pressure will remain in control over the weather in the Western U.S. Expect seasonable to slightly warm temperatures on the coast through mid-week next week with warmer than normal highs inland, occasionally bordering on hot.   

*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

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 55ºF
HIGH: 70ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 53ºF
HIGH: 85ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for August 8^th – 14^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and ABOVE normal* precipitation.
*Note: little to no precipitation typically falls this time of year

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition to La Niña by late summer.
- Area drought status: Currently drought-free
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of July 31^st: 60.3ºF
(Historic June AVG: 58.4ºF) -- *average of six buoys