Cooler & Watching For Rain
Air Quality Report (As of 6:45pm)
Good to moderate for all reporting areas.
Weather Story:
Cooler, wetter weather is expected as we head into the weekend. The flow will remain progressive and weather systems will ride up and over an area of high pressure to our southwest. As they reach the West Coast, they will deal glancing blows to the Monterey Bay Area. The first arrives Saturday with increased clouds and the chance of some very light rain across the northern half of our viewing area. The second will come in the form of a dissipating cold front early Sunday. This one is likely to bring light rain to our coast, but probably not much inland as the cold front falls apart. Another system will follow mid-week. All the while, high temperatures will remain seasonable to slightly cool with seasonably mild lows.
Overnight: Patchy low clouds & fog on the south/east sides of the bay and for inland valley bottoms. Otherwise mostly clear with a few thin, high clouds passing through. Cool, with coastal lows in the upper 30s to low 40s and upper 20s to 30s inland. Breezy at times over the hills and exposed coast.
Friday: Partly cloudy with a mix of low and high clouds. Cool & breezy at times with highs mainly in the upper 50s to low 60s. Clouds increase late.
Saturday: Becoming mostly cloudy with a few light showers possible, mainly from Monterey Bay northward. Seasonable with highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s.
Extended: A cold front will bring a chance of light rain to the region early Sunday. Areas closer to the coast and farther north will be favored. Still, amounts (if any) will be fairly light. Some clearing can be expected out of the weekend, but temperatures won’t change that much. Another weather system will bring light rain chances mid-week.
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 42ºF
HIGH: 60ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 35ºF
HIGH: 62ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for December 18th – 24th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.
-El Niño/La Niña STATUS: Weak La Niña
-Forecast into Winter: La Niña Advisory
-Area drought status: Moderate drought for much of Santa Cruz & Santa Clara Counties and the far eastern side of San Benito County, Abnormally dry for all other areas.
