Weather headlines:
-A weak cold front will dissipate as it moves southward across California tonight.
-Some light rain and mountain flurries will accompany frontal passage north of Point Conception, and continue over the north slopes through Saturday morning.
-Following frontal passage, light to moderate offshore flow will re-establish itself over the region throughout the weekend and into early next week with dry conditions.
Detailed forecast:
A weakening cold front will be moving southward across California Friday night.
Light-onshore flow ahead of the front is supporting an increase in moisture, along with an increase in coastal low clouds and patchy fog.
With mid-to-high level clouds, eventual cooling behind the front, and increased onshore flow, temperatures for the rest of Friday are expected to be around 5 to 10 degrees cooler.
Cooling effects will have less of an impact on areas farther away from the coast.
The front will mostly dissipate as it moves across the area, though it is expected to be accompanied by areas of light rain for locations north of Point Conception and across the northern slopes through Friday night.
Where rain falls it will be very light, rainfall will be hundredths of an inch as it moves through quickly.
Dry conditions are expected on Saturday when high temperatures will be below normal in most areas—only rising into the 50s and 60s in most locations.
Starting Saturday afternoon, precipitation is not expected across the Central Coast.
After the frontal passage, the offshore flow will increase as surface high pressure builds north of the area.
This will favor gusty northwest to northeast winds over the high terrain, enhanced by nocturnal drainage flows including sundowner winds in southern Santa Barbara County.
As a result, a Wind Advisory is in effect late Friday afternoon through Saturday morning from the western Santa Barbara south coast to the Santa Ynez Range for wind gusts reaching up to 50 mph.
Local gusts of 45 mph will be possible elsewhere over the high terrain.
Additional Wind Advisories are in effect Saturday night into Sunday morning over a broader area of high terrain across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara— as northerly to northeasterly pressure gradients modestly increase.
Sunday high temperatures are expected to rise by a few to several degrees from those of Saturday, with Sunday highs in the 60s and 70s in most areas.
The combination of continued downslope-flow-induced warming, and a building ridge aloft off the coast, will correspond to a warming trend into at least the early part of next week.
