Slight Changes This Weekend

Dry weather will continue on Friday, though we’ll have a few wind shifts to deal with. A brief burst of southerly flow will potentially bring some wildfire smoke into the Monterey Bay Area, though at the moment, it doesn’t look to be too thick. Then, a dry cold front will come through late bringing northwesterly winds and perhaps some low clouds/fog back to the coast.

AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate

This Morning: Clear skies and seasonable temperatures. Expect upper 30s to upper 40s on the coast and upper 20s to upper 30s inland. Light offshore winds.

Friday: Mostly clear with a few high clouds passing through. Some low cloudcover may approach the coast late and may come in the form of fog. Southerly winds take over and push a little smoke into the region. Breezy on the exposed and then becoming windy up valleys late in the day. Winds switch to the northwest out on the water late. High in the 60s on the coast and 60s to low 70s inland.

**WIND ADVISORY**
…for the Santa Cruz Mountains and also for the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County in effect from 12AM Saturday until 10AM Sunday.

*North to Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected.

*Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

Secure loose outdoor objects that could be blown around or damaged by the wind.

Saturday: Fog possible on the coast and in the northern valleys in the morning, then becoming sunny. Breezy northwesterly winds becoming more northerly and gusty into the afternoon. Highs in the 60s.

Extended: Dry weather will continue into the foreseeable future as high pressure continues to play storm blocker. It will move around a bit and that will impact our temperatures. An inside slider will cut off over Southern California early next week, likely enhancing offshore flow, but also bringing a cooler air mass. Highs will remain at or above normal, but as the air will remain dry, lows may get quite cold—frosty cold. Sunday through Wednesday mornings are looking quite chilly. I’m not seeing much hope of rain in the ensembles until around the 21^st or so.

*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: 42ºF
HIGH: 60ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 17^th – 23^rd calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: La Niña persists into spring, then transitions to neutral by summer.
- Area drought status: Abnormally dry for San Benito County, northeastern Monterey County and eastern Santa Clara County. Drought-free elsewhere
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of January 10^th : 54.0ºF (avg of 7 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]