Tracking Weekend Rain

Friday will be a transition day from warm, dry days to cooler, unsettled weather. An upper level low will move in from the northeast for the weekend bringing a deep pool of cold air aloft and helping draw in some moisture. The result will be two days of showers, mountain snow, and potentially thunderstorms Saturday/Sunday.

Air Quality: Good to Moderate

**FROST ADVISORY**
…for the southern valleys of Monterey County in effect from 12AM Friday until 9AM Friday

*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: Clear skies with slightly cool temperatures and light drainage winds. Expect lows in the mid-30s to mid-40s on the coast and low 20s to upper 30s inland.

Friday: A few high clouds throughout the day, increasing late. Some low cloudcover also possible later in the day along the coast. Light winds with up-valley breezes during the afternoon. Cooler, with coastal highs in the low 60s to upper 60s and mid-60s to mid-70s inland.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy early with some coastal drizzle possible. Then, becoming partly cloudy with scattered showers developing. Slight chance for a thunderstorm. Snow levels down to 3,000ft. Much cooler and breezy with highs in the low to mid-50s.

Extended: The upper level low will remain over us into Sunday with additional showers & mountain snow likely. Thunderstorms will remain possible. We’ll slowly clear through Monday into Tuesday, though temperatures will remain cool even with a ridge building back in on the West Coast. The storm track is beginning to look a little closer to us by the first week of February. Stay tuned!

*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: 43ºF
HIGH: 61ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 38ºF
HIGH: 62ºF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 31^st -  February 6^th calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and ABOVE 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 24^th : 53.1ºF (avg of 7 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]