Slight Rain Chance Monday, More to Come
We return to a more active weather pattern as the work week begins. A series of storm systems will impact California over the next week or two. The first will likely stay to our south with only slight rain chances Monday & Tuesday south of Monterey Bay. A stronger system will arrive on Wednesday with gusty winds & rain and eventually thunderstorms on Thursday.
Air Quality: Good
Monday: Partly cloudy with passing high clouds. Slight chance of a shower on the Big Sur Coast and in southern Monterey County, a sprinkle or two possible around the peninsula. Otherwise, dry and seasonable with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s on the coast and low 60s to low 70s inland. Breezy up-valley winds late in the day.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers, mainly to the south. Temperatures will be a touch warmer with low to mid 40s near the coast, and mid 30s to low 40s inland. Winds will remain light.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy with a chance for a shower south of Monterey Bay. Breezy onshore winds in the afternoon with slightly cooler highs—mainly upper 50s to mid-60s.
Extended: A stronger storm system will arrive on Wednesday. Some drizzle/light rain may be possible earlier in the day, but the main event will be during frontal passage during the afternoon. Gusty winds and briefly heavy rain are expected with showers and continued gusty conditions into Thursday. Thursday will be colder and more unstable, resulting in lower snow levels and a chance for thunderstorms with small hail. Highs dip into the 50s for most areas. A trailing system will then bring more light rain on Friday. Chances are we’ll get some sort of a break on Saturday before the next system arrives Sunday/Monday.
*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: 45ºF
HIGH: 63ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 41ºF
HIGH: 66ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 17th – 23rd calls for the likelihood of BELOW normal temperatures and near 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: Moderate drought for far southeastern Monterey County. Abnormally dry for southeastern Monterey County and eastern San Benito County. Drought-free for the remainder of the KION coverage area.
Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of March 10th: 53.4ºF (avg of 7 buoys)
[Historic March Avg. SST: 55.3ºF]
