Rain,Wind & Cold

Our active weather pattern continues as a deep trough digs in over the West Coast bringing cool, unsettled weather through Friday. Winds will turn gusty and much cooler air arrives for the weekend with temps crashing at night. High surf and king tides also arrive with dangerous conditions at the coast.

AIR QUALITY: Good

Today: Partly cloudy with an isolated shower possible. Cool and breezy—even windy for inland valleys—with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s for most areas. Slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm in the south late. Precipitation totals will be light.

Overnight: Mostly cloudy with scattered light rain possible, patchy fog. Lows in the low to upper 40s mainly.

**HIGH SURF ADVISORY**…for the immediate coastline of Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties in effect from 7AM Thursday until 11AM Saturday.

*Large breaking waves of 12 to 15 ft with up to 18 ft along steep NW facing beaches.

* IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming and surfing conditions and localized beach erosion. Large waves can sweep across the beach without warning, pulling people into the sea from rocks, jetties and beaches. Sudden immersion in cold water can result in cold water shock even for the most experienced swimmers. Cold water shock can result in dramatic changes in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, greatly increasing the risk of drowning in rough open waters.

*Northwest facing beaches are most at risk for large turbulent shore break and strong currents. Another round of high surf arrives Thursday, with similar impacts expected.

Inexperienced swimmers should remain out of the water due to dangerous surf conditions.

Friday: AM fog, partly to mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain and gusty NW winds. Temperatures staying below average mainly in the 50s and 60s.

Extended: High surf and king tides expected for the weekend. King tide season is here. Late morning tide cycle will be the one to watch especially for exposed ocean beaches. Kind tides will bring hide tides up to 1-1.5 ft above normal for the weekend. Areas that typically flood with high tides need to stay weather aware.

Temperatures will be crashing across the Central Coast with possible frost/freeze alerts issued! Stay tuned. Saturday and Sunday mornings are looking very chilly with patchy frost for inland valleys. The next system should be here late Sunday, but it is only likely to clip us with light rain at best. It will be followed by some gusty winds, though! Winds may last through Monday before high pressure builds in and brings warmer weather 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

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 46ºF
HIGH: 66ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 41ºF
HIGH: 69ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for November 20^th – 26^th calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and BELOW 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 November 13^th : 53.7ºF (avg of 7 buoys) [November Average: 56.6ºF]