Dry To Start

Temperatures will warm on Thursday as high pressure amplifies over the region. Warming will be aided by offshore flow early in the day, with many areas reaching the 70s. The ridge moves east on Friday allowing for a storm system to move in. It will bring light to moderate rain and at least some wind. Higher surf is also possible late in the week.

AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate

Overnight: Scattered high clouds. Seasonable with coastal lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s and upper 20s to around 40ºF inland. Light offshore winds for most areas, but occasionally gusty in the Santa Lucia Range to the Monterey Peninsula.

Thursday: A few to scattered high clouds throughout the day, otherwise sunny. Offshore flow early will allow for deep warming all the way to the coast, especially on the south/east sides of the bay. Expect highs in the mid-60s to low 70s for most areas. High clouds increase late with low clouds possible on the coast.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with occasional light rain on the coast in the morning, then a cold front will bring light to moderate rain across the bay along with gusty south/west winds, tapering off into the evening and farther inland. Cooler, with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s.

Extended: While it’s possible a few showers may linger into early Saturday, they’ll be isolated at best. Most of us will stay dry for the weekend with seasonable to slightly cool temperatures. High pressure builds in out of the weekend, sending high temps back upward—which is where they could stay for more than a week given the long term forecast!

*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: 42ºF
HIGH: 60ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 9^th – 15^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition to La Niña into the fall and persist through the winter months.
- Area drought status: Abnormally dry for San Benito County, northeastern Monterey County and eastern Santa Clara County. Drought-free elsewhere
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of January 2^nd : 54.9ºF (avg of 7 buoys) [January Average: 54.7ºF]