Hello, Central Coast! It will be a hot week as the warming trend is in place through the remainder of the weekend and into this upcoming work/school week. As a reminder, drink plenty of water, hydrate, wear light clothing, and try to limit your sun exposure. Don’t forget to be weather aware as hazardous heat is expected to begin by the middle of the week and will last through Friday.
Weather headlines:
-Temperatures will trend upward over the next few days, with hazardous heat occurring Wednesday through Friday.
-The most dangerous heat will occur Thursday across valley and foothill locations.
-Low clouds and fog will occur at the coasts Monday morning, followed by mostly clear skies Tuesday morning onward.
-Temperatures will start to fall next weekend, but precipitation is not expected.
Detailed forecast:
An Excessive Heat Watch has been issued for all non-beach locations of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It begins at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and will last through 8 p.m. on Friday.
Currently, the trough of low pressure is spinning off the coast of the Oregon and California border and will travel eastward over the next few days.
This will allow for high pressure to build over California and onshore flow will trend downwards, with the potential to flip to offshore at times. In response, this will influence temperatures to trend upwards through the mid-to-late week.
By Wednesday moderate-to-major heat risk is likely to be widespread, and temperatures will be around 8 to 15 degrees above normal everywhere except for the Central Coast.
Temperatures will build to the mid-70s to upper 80s at the coasts, 90s across the inland coastal plains, and 96 to 108 for the valleys and deserts.
Patchy low clouds and fog will impact the coastal plains again on Sunday night through Monday morning, and then from Tuesday morning onward clouds will largely be confined to the beaches along the Central Coast.
Sundowner winds are expected to occur during the evenings across the southwestern portion of Santa Barbara County’s south coast.
Localized northwest-to-north wind gusts of 30 to 45 mph are likely to occur Sunday night for particularly wind-prone areas such as Gaviota and Refugio, but the winds are not expected to be widespread enough to warrant a wind advisory.
Monday and Tuesday night, weaker wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph are expected for the region.
Lastly, elevated fire weather conditions are anticipated for valleys, mountains, deserts, and Santa Barbara County’s southwestern coast due to the heat and dry conditions through Monday, and concerns will increase further on Tuesday and Wednesday.
