It’s Memorial Day weekend, Central Coast! While we are seeing some sunshine in the forecast… we will still see low clouds and fog impacting our coasts and coastal valleys from now through next weekend.
Weather headlines:
-‘May Gray’ is sticking around the Central Coast and will transition into 'June Gloom’ through next Sunday. Varying amounts of night and morning low clouds and fog will affect the coast and valleys, otherwise mostly clear skies will prevail.
-Temperatures are forecast to be a few degrees below normal for the early half of this workweek, but it will be warm for the latter half of the workweek. Near normal to a few degrees above normal temps are expected in the late week and next weekend.
Extended forecast:
Low clouds continued to cover much of the coast and valleys south of Point Conception and Santa Barbara County’s southcoast on Sunday afternoon. The low clouds should slowly erode to the coast through the afternoon, but given the current satellite trends, there could be some low clouds lingering into the evening.
A broad west-southwesterly flow aloft from Sunday afternoon will turn more southwest through Monday. Little change can be expected through Monday night before a flat upper ridge moves in.
Strong onshore pressure gradients helped bring gusty northwest winds over southwest Santa Barbara County through Sunday afternoon. Winds are expected to be mostly sub-advisory through Sunday afternoon. However, other areas across the Central Coast will see, breezy to gusty southwest-to-northwest winds on Sunday.
Sundowner winds will impact communities in the western portion of southwest Santa Barbara County well below Advisory levels through Monday, then increase to near advisory levels for Tuesday evening.
Strong onshore gradients will bring breezy to gusty southwest-to-northwest winds to many areas on the Central Coast, and it will be strongest during the afternoon and evening hours.
The marine layer ‘May Gray’ pattern will continue to impact communities across southwest California through Wednesday. The marine inversion is forecast to lower to around 1,500-2,000 feet Sunday night, to about 1,200-1,500 feet or so Monday night, and near 1,000-1,400 feet Tuesday night.
Low clouds and some fog should affect much of the coast and adjacent valleys Sunday night into Monday morning, except for Santa Barbara’s southcoast and the Ventura County coastal valleys. The low clouds should clear to or off the coast for the most part each afternoon. Otherwise, mostly clear nights and mostly sunny skies should prevail everywhere else.
Here is the hourly forecast for Lake Naciemiento, Cachuma Lake, and Lopez Lake for Memorial Day! We are expecting low clouds near Cachuna Lake, but Lake Naciemiento and Lopez Lake will see sunny skies.
Here’s your KSBY 7-Day forecast! Highs for much of the Central Coast interior, coastal valleys, and beaches should be in the 60s, 70s, and lower 80s on Monday and Tuesday, and in the 70s to mid-80s on Wednesday.
