A Wet Start to the Work Week
The slight clearing of clouds early Monday afternoon will be brief as a second system approaches, arriving late Monday night into early Tuesday morning. This is a slightly wetter system, but still nothing to be concerned about. In similar fashion, it will be weakening as it arrives and will stall as it fizzles out. Between the two systems, we could see a few spots in the Santa Cruz Mountains receive up to 2” of rain, but most cities around the bay will be well below that. Some inland areas may not see much if any rain as the fronts stall after barely making landfall. High pressure then builds in through mid-week, forcing winds offshore, warming us up and drying us out!
AIR QUALITY: Good
Monday: Becoming partly cloudy. Slightly cool with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. Clouds increase late with light rain possible nearing midnight. Breezy northwesterly onshore winds in the afternoon.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy with a few light, isolated showers/ drizzle after midnight. Rain will pick up during the morning commute becoming more widespread, light to moderate at times. Breezy westerly winds with an occasional gust. Lows mainly in the 40s to low 50s. Couple cooler spots in the southern valleys in the upper 30s.
Tuesday: Shower chances taper off early, then skies become partly cloudy. Breezy northwesterly onshore winds becoming windy in the valleys late in the day. Slightly warmer, with highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s.
***GALE WARNING***
… in effect from 3pm Tuesday to 3am Wednesday for Coastal Waters from Point Pinos to Point Piedras
Blancas California out to 10 nm.
*Northwest winds 15 to 25 kt with gusts up to 35 kt and seas 6 to 11 ft expected.
*Strong winds will cause hazardous seas which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Mariners should alter plans to avoid these hazardous conditions. Remain in port, seek safe harbor, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for severe conditions.
Extended: Gusty northerly winds commence on Wednesday under mostly sunny skies and then slowly turn to more northeasterly (offshore) into Thursday. Temperatures quickly warm back up to if not above normal on Thursday, especially on the coast. Warm, dry conditions will continue into the weekend, though the winds will die down. We’ll likely see a stronger daily seabreeze by the weekend with could return some low cloud/fog to the coast a la “may gray.”
*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 (in parenthesis).
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 45ºF
HIGH: 63ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 41ºF
HIGH: 67ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 18th – 24th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory, La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition from El Niño to neutral by Spring and then to La Niña by summer.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
