Dry, Mild Weekend

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – Time to dry out and enjoy some pleasant weather before our next system arrives! Temps warming up a bit and will warm a few degrees each day. Enjoy the quiet and dry conditions. Another system arrives late Sunday night through early Monday morning with some light beneficial rain so don't put away the umbrella just yet.

Air Quality: Good

Overnight: Mainly clear overnight with patchy fog. Lows in the upper 30s to 40s.

Sunday: More sunshine and milder with increasing clouds and gusty winds. Rain arriving late Sunday night into Monday morning. Highs mainly in the 60s.

**WIND ADVISORY**
…for the Santa Cruz Mountains and the North Coast of Santa Cruz in effect from 5PM Sunday until 2AM Monday.

*South winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 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.

Monday: Mostly cloudy, with light rain showers early and ending by the afternoon. Gusty winds. Highs mainly in the upper 50s to low 60s.

Extended: Monday's system will bring some added beneficial rain with no impact expected before moving out. Another system is then possible late Wednesday night into Thursday brining more light rain, and rain chances again next weekend. Stay tuned for more details!

*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 21^st – 27^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: Neutral conditions expected by April and then to persist into 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 14^th: 53.2ºF (avg of 7 buoys)
[Historic March Avg. SST: 55.3ºF]