A Little More Rain on the Way

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – One more chance of rain in the forecast before a period of warmer, dryer weather. We’ll catch the tail end of a frontal system late Wednesday evening with the likely result being patchy drizzle to light rain around the bay after 9PM. A few sprinkles may linger in to Thursday morning, then high pressure will slowly build in from the west. Northwesterly winds will pick up as the ridge builds in, so expect windy conditions but slowly warming temperatures into the weekend.

Air Quality: Good

Wednesday: Mostly sunny with clouds slowly increasing throughout the day. Highs remain slightly cool with upper 50s to low 60s on the coast and low to mid-60s inland. Breezy up-valley winds in the afternoon. Clouds thicken late with patchy drizzle/light rain possible around the bay and perhaps into northern valleys.

Overnight: Drizzle, light isolated rain showers before midnight. Partly to mostly cloudy, with decreasing clouds into dawn. Light northwest winds. Warmer lows mostly in the mid to upper 40s at the coast, upper 30s to low 40s inland. Areas of patchy fog by morning.

Thursday: Becoming mostly sunny and slightly warmer with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s. Northwesterly winds pick up in the afternoon and could be gusty at times.

Extended: We’ll remain south of the “storm track” into the weekend, so while areas to our north will be getting rain, we’ll just get some high clouds and gusty northwesterly winds. High pressure slowly builds in through the weekend with temperatures steadily rising back to around normal Friday and then above and beyond. By Monday, highs may be as much as 10-15ºF above normal! Next chance of rain will be around or after 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.

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 45ºF
HIGH: 63ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 41ºF
HIGH: 68ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 26^th – April 1^st calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: Neutral conditions expected by April and then to persist into 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 19^th: 53.9ºF (avg of 8 buoys)
[Historic March Avg. SST: 55.3ºF]