Dry Lightning Chance Sparks Fire Weather Watch This Weekend

Air Quality (as of 12AM)
GOOD for all reporting stations

WEATHER STORY
The monsoonal high to our southeast will slowly strengthen in the coming days, which will slowly warm our inland areas. We won’t see too much change on the coast—the low clouds will continue their daily cycle—though we may warm up a couple of degrees on Saturday. Moisture will then stream in around the high on Sunday with high clouds becoming apparent. There is a slight chance we could see some (mostly dry) showers and perhaps an isolated (mostly dry) thunderstorm late Sunday into Monday.

Overnight: Widespread low clouds overnight with more drizzle possible. Expect lows in the 50s for most areas with a few 40s in the clearer southern valleys.

Saturday: Overcast in the morning once again with patchy fog & drizzle. Low clouds scatter to partly cloudy in the afternoon with more sunshine on the north side of the bay than on the south. Expect highs in the upper 50s to low 70s on the coast—warmest on the Santa Cruz side of the bay—and ranging from the low 70s to around upper 90s inland, depending on proximity to the coast. Winds will pick up in the afternoon and early evening for most major river valleys.

**WATCH**

...Fire weather watch in effect from Sunday morning through Monday morning for dry lightning for higher elevations.

Affected area… Fire Weather Zone 517 Santa Lucia Mountains, Los Padres National Forest and Fire Weather Zone 518, mountains of San Benito County, and interior Monterey County including Pinnacles National Park, Fire Weather Zone 511 East Bay Hills and the Diablo Range and Fire Weather Zone 512 Santa Cruz Mountains.

• Timing…Thunderstorm threat most likely Sunday afternoon and Sunday night.

• Wind...Given the potentially dry nature of thunderstorms, gusty and erratic winds will be possible with developed storms.

• Lightning...Isolated to scattered dry thunderstorms will be possible Sunday morning through late Sunday night.

• Impacts...Given the dry fuels over the higher elevations, any cloud to ground lightning strikes have the potential of starting new wildfires. 

A Fire Weather Watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. Listen for later forecasts and possible Red Flag Warnings.

Extended: We’ll remain a bit cool on the coast through the weekend with the marine layer in place. You can expect the daily cycle of low clouds. Inland areas will see less morning cloudcover and warmer afternoon highs into early next week. High clouds will begin streaming in on Sunday and will continue into next week. There is a slight chance of a (likely dry) thunderstorm late Sunday into Monday.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 54ºF
HIGH: 69ºF
 
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 85ºF

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for July 23^rd – 29^th calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and near normal precipitation*. 
*Note: little to no precipitation usually falls this time of year.
-El Niño/La Niña STATUS: Neutral
-Forecast into Summer: Neutral

-Area drought status: “Extreme Drought” for the entire viewing area with the far southeastern corner of Monterey County considered “Exceptional Drought” California Weather / Video / Weather / Weather Authority / Weather Team / Weather Video