It’s January, After All

Cold mornings, mild afternoons, and extremely dry weather will continue for the next few days (at least). Our weather pattern remains blocked up, preventing our typical wet weather systems from reaching the West Coast. Light offshore flow will continue at times, but will be stronger across Southern California. Local fire danger remains relatively low, but as the dry streak continues, it will slowly creep upward.

Air Quality: Good to Moderate

***FROST ADVISORY***
…for all of Monterey, San Benito, and South Santa Clara Counties and all of Santa Cruz County with the exception of the “north coast” in effect from 1AM Tuesday until 9AM Tuesday.

*Temperatures as low as 34 will result in frost formation.

*Cold conditions will be hazardous to sensitive populations such as unhoused individuals. Cold Conditions can lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure.

Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold.

Overnight: Mostly clear with just a few high clouds passing through. Light drainage winds. Expect lows in the mid-30s to low 40s on the coast with patchy frost and low 20s to mid-30s inland with widespread frost.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny with just a few high clouds passing through. Light offshore winds in the morning, then light northwesterly onshore winds for a while in the afternoon. Highs in the low to mid-60s for most areas.

Wednesday: Cold and frosty in the morning once again. Then, sunny and slightly warm in the afternoon with highs in the low to mid-60s for coastal areas and low 60s to upper 60s inland. Light winds.

Extended: Expect more of the same on Thursday, though onshore flow may be slightly enhanced late due to an approaching system. It could be enough to get some fog on the coast. We’ll have a dry cold front into Friday followed by cooler northwesterly winds. Friday’s highs are likely be slightly below normal, then we’ll warm to more seasonable readings through the weekend as high pressure takes back over. Dry conditions are expected to persist, though there is a weak precipitation signal in the longer term models around January 25^th.


*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: 42ºF
HIGH: 60ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 21^st – 27^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE 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 14^th : 52.9ºF (avg of 6 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]