Just a Little Bit Cooler

A gradual cooldown began today for the rest of the week into the holiday weekend. A ridge of high pressure will recede back eastward allowing for weak troughing to begin to dig down the coast. Inland areas will cool back down and we’ll continue to see cooling on the coast as the marine layer deepens. Coastal areas will be cloudier through probably toward the end of the week. However, temps will start to edge back upward for next week.

AIR QUALITY: Good/Moderate

Thursday: The slight cooling trend will be felt mainly in the inland areas with highs 80s to low 90s except for far southern Monterey County, and 60s to low 70s coastal. Gusty winds in the valleys and even at the coast with onshore winds, between 20-25 mph.

Extended: The cooling trend continues through the holiday weekend into Labor Day with at or just below normal temps. with many inland areas only in the 80s. But a warmup is back in the forecast by Tuesday and for much of 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

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 55ºF
HIGH: 71ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 86ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for September 3^rd – 9^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.

- 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 August 26^th: 59.4ºF
(Historic August AVG: 59.6ºF) -- *average of six buoys