Damp and Gusty Monday
Showers will continue to linger in the mountains, but most areas will remain dry on Monday. We’ll remain in cool, blustery flow, however! Temperatures will try to warm up, with a short ridge of high pressure Tuesday, but clouds will increase as a low strengthens off to our southwest and pushing moisture our way.
Air Quality: Good
Monday: Isolated showers early, especially for coastal mountains, then becoming partly cloudy with showers ending for the afternoon. Gusty northwesterly winds at times. Slightly warmer, but still cool, with highs in the mid-50s to around 60ºF on the coast and upper 50s to low 60s for inland valleys. Clouds increase late.
Overnight: Becoming mostly cloudy, with drizzle/ sprinkles possible near the coast and in the mountains late this evening, with an isolated shower or two closer to dawn. Lows mostly in the 40s, mid to upper 30s for inland valleys and higher elevations. Winds will become calm.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy on the coast and partly cloudy inland. Scattered, light showers possible by late morning. Slightly warmer with calmer winds. Highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s for most areas.
Extended: Moisture will stream in from the southwest as a storm system develops nearby on Wednesday. Widespread light to moderate rain expected through the day. A cold trough will dig in from the north and keep the shower machine going through Thursday. Thunderstorms may be possible and snow levels will probably drop. Precip should come to an end early Friday morning, setting up a few dry days before the next storm system arrives. Highs push back above normal by Saturday, which looks pretty nice, actually! Clouds & wind increase on Sunday, especially late, as the next storm system approaches from the west.
*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: 62ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 40ºF
HIGH: 65ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for March 10th – 16th calls for the likelihood of BELOW normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: La Niña persists into spring, then transitions to neutral by summer.
- Area drought status: Moderate drought for eastern San Benito County and far southeastern Monterey County. Abnormally dry for the remainder of the viewing area.
Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of March 3rd: 53.8ºF (avg of 7 buoys)
[Historic March Avg. SST: 55.3ºF]
