Showers & Storms
SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – Showers linger overnight on the back side of a potent cold front. The axis over the overall trough will be over us early Thursday, helping support additional showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms. Showers will then taper off late in the day, but the next system then arrives early Friday with more wind and rain!
Air Quality: Good
Overnight: Scattered showers and a chance of a thunderstorm. Storms could produce brief heavy downpours, gusty winds, and small hail. Occasionally gusty winds. Mountain snow showers likely around 3,000ft. Lows will be cool, with low to mid 40s at the coast and 30s to low 40s inland.
Thursday: Rounds of showers with embedded thunderstorms possible, especially early in the day. Storms may include small hail, brief downpours, gusty winds, and lightning. Cooler with highs in the upper 40s to mid-50s. Snow levels down to 3,000ft with more than an inch of accumulation above 4,000ft. Showers taper off at sunset, however, clouds will be on the increase which will make lunar eclipse (at max just before midnight) difficult to observe.
**FROST ADVISORY**
...for the higher terrain and southern valleys of Monterey and San Benito Counties in effect from 11PM Thursday until 9AM Friday.
*Temperatures as low as 32 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.
Friday: Widespread light to moderate rain early, then becoming mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Windy at times with highs in the 50s to low 60s. Snow possible above 2,500ft in the morning, but rising to 4,000ft in the afternoon.
Extended: A few showers may linger into Saturday morning, but the rest of the day will be dry and warmer as a brief ridge of high pressure builds in. In fact, the weekend should be pretty nice with seasonable temperatures, but it will be bookended by shower chances. Luckily, the next round will likely hold off until after dark on Sunday in advance of another wind & rain-maker on Monday.
*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: 45ºF
HIGH: 63ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 41ºF
HIGH: 66ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 20th – 26th 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: Moderate drought for far southeastern Monterey County. Abnormally dry for southeastern Monterey County and eastern San Benito County. Drought-free for the remainder of the KION coverage area.
Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of March 13th: 52.9ºF (avg of 7 buoys)
[Historic March Avg. SST: 55.3ºF]
