Hello, Central Coast! It’s been such a hot week with warm temperatures spread throughout many communities in the area. The heatwave will continue through the weekend and some locations away from the coast will still be warm on Monday. However, cooling is expected to occur by Tuesday. As a reminder, please stay hydrated, wear light clothing, limit your sun exposure by staying cool in the shade, and drink plenty of water.
Weather headlines:
-A very hot air mass over the region will linger into early next week as strong high pressure remains over the West.
-Dangerously hot conditions will continue through Monday in most locations, especially away from the coast and in the mountain and foothill locations where overnight low temperatures will cool a little from daytime highs.
-Expect cooling on Tuesday.
Detailed forecast:
An upper-level High centered just west of the four corners region is bringing extreme heat to the Central Coast, as well as transporting in some moisture that has already formed clouds over the eastern San Gabriel Mountains.
The high will weaken slightly on Sunday, allowing for a few degrees of cooling. The upper-level High will be weakening more on Monday.
By Tuesday the High will be far enough east that a trough can move southward along the California coast where it can drop temperatures and finally end this heat wave.
While our area will remain in the trough through the extended period, the rain associated with the trough should stay in northern California.
The gradient has switched to weakly onshore and some cooler onshore wind started to move in along the coast.
While temperatures will very likely be slightly cooler on Saturday relative to Friday's highs, a very hot air mass remains with temperatures ranging between 15 and 25 degrees above normal for this time of year.
The Heat Advisory for San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County's coastal valleys ends at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
But the southcoast will continue to see the Heat Advisory through 8 p.m. on Monday.
Active convective activity to our south and east may occur as the High brings moisture into the region.
As it is so hot and dry in the layer below the storms, there is a chance that any lightning from the storms will be hitting dry ground.
A gusty outflow wind threat could make gusty and erratic winds with any storms that develop, making the initial attack of any potential fire starts difficult and a Red Flag Warning is in place.
The Fire Weather Warning for San Luis Obispo County ends at 10 p.m. on Saturday. However, Santa Barbara County's interior mountains will continue through 10 p.m. Sunday.
The mid-level clouds will remain in place tonight and again inhibit radiative cooling during the overnight hours.
A tight northerly pressure gradient will reform tonight and bring gusty advisory-level Sundowner winds to southwestern Santa Barbara County late this afternoon and evening.
A Wind Advisory is in effect for Santa Barbara County’s southcoast between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunday will be quite similar to Saturday, if slightly cooler.
Highs on Sunday:
Beaches will see highs in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Coastal valleys will see highs in the 80s and 100s in the Santa Ynez Valley. Interior valleys will see highs in the 90s and 100s.
Gusty Sundowner winds will likely linger in the forecast for Sunday evening.
By Monday the High will begin to move to the east and essentially remove the risk of afternoon thunderstorms in the region. Heights fall slightly, but the clouds should be less widespread, so not much of a temperature change will result.
A big pattern change for the area by Tuesday as an upper-level trough works its way down the California coast. Cooling is expected to begin on Tuesday. Precipitation associated with the trough should stay well to our north.
