Cool & Damp Thursday

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – Cool and slightly damp conditions will continue into Thursday as a cut-off slow slowly passes by to our south. While widespread rain is not expected, occasional sprinkles or patches of drizzle will be possible through Friday morning. Temperatures remain cool for this time of year.  

 Air Quality: Good
 
Thursday: Widespread clouds early, scattering out in the afternoon. Cool, with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s on the coast and 60s to around 70ºF inland. Breezy southwesterly onshore and up-valleys winds. A few sprinkles possible.

Overnight: Low clouds will thicken, filling into nearby valleys. Expect mostly to partly cloudy conditions. Lows a touch cooler in the 40s. Patchy drizzle and areas of fog possible. Calm west- northwesterly winds.
 
Friday: Widespread clouds early, then becoming partly cloudy on the coast and mostly sunny inland. Slightly warmer with coastal highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s and mid-60s to mid-70s inland. Breezy westerly onshore winds becoming windy up valleys late in the day.  

Extended: While high pressure will nudge at us from the southwest into the weekend, we’ll remain in west-northwesterly onshore flow. This pattern should be enough to support a marine layer. So, despite inland warming into the 70s, coastal areas will see the daily cycle of low clouds with highs likely remaining in the upper 50s to mid-60s throughout Easter Weekend and through 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.     

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------   

This week's normal temperatures:    
--COASTAL CITIES--    
LOW: 46ºF    
HIGH: 64ºF    
--INLAND CITIES--    
LOW: 42ºF    
HIGH: 70ºF    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------    

-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for April 24^th – 30^th calls for the likelihood of near 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: 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 17th: 55.2ºF (avg. of 8 buoys) [Historic April Avg. SST: 55.1ºF]