Cooling Down Friday into the Weekend
SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – The cooling trend continues on Friday as a trough of low pressure passes by. Increasing clouds and onshore flow. Winds will also pick up and will be gusty at times on the exposed coast and in the valleys into Friday afternoon. Drizzle will then be possible into Saturday morning as the marine layer deepens further.
Air Quality: Good
Friday: Passing high clouds with a few low clouds possible on the coast—especially the south side of the bay. Cooler, with coastal highs in the low 60s to mid-70s—warmest on the north side of the bay—and low 70s to mid 80s inland. Gusty northwesterly onshore and up-valley winds at times, especially late in the day. Low clouds thicken late.
Overnight: Partly to mostly cloudy with low clouds near the coast, filling into nearby valleys. Patchy drizzle. West northwesterly winds will be breezy, gusty at times. Lows a touch cooler, with most areas in the 40s.
Saturday: Decreasing clouds. Cooler yet, with highs in the upper 50s to around 70ºF on the coast—warmest on the north side of the bay—and mid-60s to mid-70s inland. Gusty northwesterly onshore and up-valley winds at times, easing late.
Extended: A shift to light offshore flow will allow quick warming on Sunday/Monday with highs returning to well-above-normal levels. A complicated pattern then sets up with a series of troughs and cut-off lows all dancing around each other which *could* bring some showers to the region—perhaps most likely on Wednesday. There is a lot of uncertainty, however!
*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: 46ºF
HIGH: 64ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 42ºF
HIGH: 70ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for April 18th – 24th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW 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: Abnormally dry for far 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 April 11th: 56.6ºF (avg. of 7 buoys) [Historic April Avg. SST: 55.1ºF]
