Warmer Weather Slowly Making A Comeback
Another warm up on the way! The upper level low sitting to our northwest has started to move east. This will now allow the ridge of high pressure, that’s been hanging out over the four corners (the same ridge that brought the Central Coast toasty temperatures earlier in July), will begin to retrograde west. Temperatures will gradually start to warm on Wednesday and will continue to head upward through the end of the work week. Coastal areas will enjoy pleasant weather with near to slightly above seasonable highs and afternoon sunshine. As far as that marine layer is concerned we’ll continue to have a persistent onshore flow, so expect morning and late evening low clouds. Inland will continue to see a rise in highs each day into early next week, where the return of those well above average temps in the upper 90s and 110s is possible. More in the extended forecast below.
AIR QUALITY: Good
Wednesday: A few low clouds lingering on the south side of the bay. Otherwise sunny with a few high clouds sneaking in from the south late in the day. Coastal highs in the mid 60s to mid 70s with 80s to around 105ºF inland. Northwest winds gusty at times, stronger gusts in the valleys by mid afternoon.
Overnight: Low clouds will start off patchy, becoming more widespread around the coast and in nearby valleys come sunrise. Lows will be a touch warmer with mostly 50s across the Central Coast. Slightly cooler for sheltered valleys (upper 40s), and warmer for elevated locations (60s to low 70s).
Thursday: Low clouds will retreat to the coast, disappearing by late morning. Expect mostly sunny skies. Temperatures will be even warmer with coastal highs in the 60s to mid-70s, inland 80s, 90s, to near 110 ºF for far inter valleys.
Extended: Dry, warm weather is expected over the weekend, though a weak disturbance on Saturday could put a brief pause on the warming trend. Sunday, the center of the ridge of high pressure will continue to track west and highs will soar inland with the hottest temps expected by mid-week next week.
*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: 54ºF
HIGH: 68ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 85ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for July 24th – 30th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal* precipitation.
*Note: little to no precipitation typically falls this time of year
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition to La Niña by late summer.
- Area drought status: Currently drought-free
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of July 17th: 58.7ºF
(Historic June AVG: 58.4ºF) -- *average of three buoys