Isolated T’storm Threat Continues

An upper level low continues to track south along the coastline, pushing moisture back in across the KION coverage area from the south and east to the northwest. A line of strong thunderstorms moved through the Salinas Valley and southern parts of the viewing area this morning bringing cloud-to-ground lightning, heavy rain and gusty winds with minor flooding in low-lying flood prone areas in south central Monterey County. Sunshine expected today, but there is still a chance for isolated thunderstorms later this afternoon through tonight before impacts from this system completely exit the area. Quiet weather returns Friday with a warm up on the way for the weekend.

AIR QUALITY: Good

Today: Partly cloudy to mostly sunny with scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms, especially inland in the south & east. Impacts are minor flooding in poor drainage areas and on roadways. Highs in the low 60s to low 70s around the coast and low 70s to upper 70s inland. Windy up valleys late in the day.

Overnight: Increasing clouds, with drizzle and fog. Lows in the low to upper 50s mainly.

Friday: Remaining partly to mostly cloudy on the coast with gradual clearing and temperatures mainly 60s. Warming inland with 70s-80s under mostly sunny skies.

Extended: Building high pressure will send temperatures upward into the weekend. In fact, light offshore flow aloft through the weekend should yield high temperatures anywhere from 10-20ºF above normal with some coastal cities reaching the 80s and perhaps even 90s on Monday. We’ll begin to cool back down by mid-week.

*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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 55ºF
HIGH: 71ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 86ºF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for September 26^th – October 2^nd calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition to La Niña into the fall and persist through the winter months.
- Area drought status: Abnormally dry for areas around Monterey Bay northward. Drought-free elsewhere.
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of September 19^th: 58.1ºF
(Historic Sep AVG near Monterey: 59.6ºF) -- *average of 7 buoys