Warm, Windy, & Dry

Offshore winds taper off overnight, leaving us in a dry air mass with cool mornings and warm afternoons for the next few days.

Note: Gusty offshore winds and extreme fire danger will continue in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA through Thursday, however.

AIR QUALITY: Good

**WIND ADVISORY**
… for the “north coast” of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County in effect until 10am Wednesday.

*North to northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 to 50 mph.

*Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.Overnight: Scattered high clouds initially, then becoming mostly clear with a few high clouds. Gusty northeasterly offshore winds in the mountains especially, then slowly tapering off overnight. Lighter winds in the lower elevations, but still breezy at times. Lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s on the coast and upper 20s to low 40s for inland valleys.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny with a few high clouds passing through. Light offshore winds becoming breezy at times near the river mouths. Highs mainly in the 60s with 50s in the higher terrain.

Thursday: After a chilly morning, sunny and warm with highs in the 60s to low 70s. Light winds.

Extended: High pressure will continue to play “storm-blocker" to our west, leaving us warm & dry for the foreseeable future. Offshore winds redevelop by Saturday and may last through Monday. With a dry air mass in place, lows will be cool for this time of year and highs warm. Highs do slowly cool into mid-week next week, but look to remain above normal. Rain chances hold off until at least the 17^th and potentially later. Longer term models are showing the high breaking down late in the month, but there is a lot of uncertainty.

*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: 42ºF
HIGH: 60ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 15^th – 21^st calls for the likelihood of BELOW 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 San Benito County, northeastern Monterey County and eastern Santa Clara County. Drought-free elsewhere
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of January 8^th : 54.6ºF (avg of 6 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]