Meteorological Spring Begins
Air Quality (as of 7PM):
Good for all reporting stations.
Weather Story: High pressure continues to play spoiler on rain chances, deflecting an approaching system off to our south. It's possible it may skirt through the very southern edge of our region late Wednesday night, but that's the best chance of rain in our viewing area in the short term. A better chance will come later in the week as the ridge finally breaks down enough to let a weather system through. Rain is looking more and more likely late late Friday night into Saturday with unsettled weather to follow into next week. Temperature-wise, expect slightly cool weather for the week and even into the weekend.
Overnight: Mostly clear with a few thin, high clouds and perhaps a low cloud or two on the Monterey Coast. Expect lows in the upper 30s to low 40s on the coast and mainly 30s for inland areas—and even some 20s in our southern valleys.
Tuesday: A few high clouds passing through, otherwise sunny. Cooler, with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s on the coast and mainly 60s to low 70s inland.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy with some low cloudcover on the coast and a few high clouds passing through. There is a slight chance of rain in far southern Monterey County. Highs will be cool with mid-50s to around 60ºF on the coast and mainly low 60s inland.
Extended: We’ll clear out a bit on Thursday and warm up slightly, then warm further on Friday ahead of an approaching weather system. It will arrive overnight Friday into Saturday and will likely bring widespread rain to the region. An unsettled weather pattern will follow with additional light rain chances into early next week.
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 45ºF
HIGH: 62ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 40ºF
HIGH: 66ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 9th – 15th calls for the likelihood of BELOW normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.
-El Niño/La Niña STATUS: Weak La Niña
-Forecast into Summer: Neutral
-Area drought status: Abnormally dry for most of the viewing area, moderate drought for most of Santa Clara County outside of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the northeastern sections of San Benito County.
