Dry Weekend
Dry weather will prevail for the weekend but winds will pick up and some chilly nights ahead. More sunshine but clear inland will bring a chance of frost at night. The weekend looking nice and mostly sunny, but gusty. Next week will be a bit cooler with more sunshine and we are remaining dry.
AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate
Friday: Mostly clear with a few high clouds passing through. Some low cloudcover may approach the coast late and may come in the form of fog. Southerly winds take over and push a little smoke into the region. Breezy on the exposed and then becoming windy up valleys late in the day. Winds switch to the northwest out on the water late. High in the 60s on the coast and 60s to low 70s inland.
**Frost Advisory**
...for interior Monterey County and the higher elevation of the Santa Lucia range, most of San Benito County and the Cholame Hills in southeast Monterey County and the southern Salinas Valley, Arroyo Seco and San Antonio.
*From 1 am to 9 am Saturday
*Temperatures as low as 32 degrees will result in frost formation and can be hazardous to sensitive populations..
**WIND ADVISORY**
…for the Santa Cruz Mountains and also for the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County in effect from 12AM Saturday until 10AM Sunday.
*North to Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected.
*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.
Secure loose outdoor objects that could be blown around or damaged by the wind.
Overnight: Partly cloudy on the coast and for nearby valleys, with low clouds/ fog possible in the morning. Many interior locations will remain mostly clear. Seasonable lows with upper 30s to mid 40s for coastal locations. Cooler inland with upper 20s to mid 30s with frost possible. Breezy at times.
Saturday: Becoming sunny. Breezy northwesterly winds becoming more northerly and gusty into the afternoon. Highs in the 60s.
Extended: Dry weather will continue into the foreseeable future as high pressure continues to play storm blocker. It will move around a bit and that will impact our temperatures. An inside slider will cut off over Southern California early next week, likely enhancing offshore flow, but also bringing a cooler air mass. Highs will remain at or above normal, but as the air will remain dry, lows may get quite cold—frosty cold. Sunday through Wednesday mornings are looking quite chilly. I’m not seeing much hope of rain in the ensembles until around the 21st or so.
*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 17th – 23rd calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: La Niña persists into spring, then transitions to neutral by summer.
- 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 10th : 54.0ºF (avg of 7 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]
