Offshore winds will continue through Wednesday with dry conditions across the region. This will result in an extended period of critical fire weather conditions through midweek due to the combination of gusty winds, very low humidities, and a lack of rainfall. Cold overnight temperatures are expected in wind-protected areas for the next few mornings. Some freeze warnings are in effect for our area:
A cooling trend with higher humidities is expected beginning Thursday and lasting through the weekend.
Winds Today
Winds today didn't quite meet expectations in SoCal today, but that was a good thing. Overall winds hovered in the 20-40 mph range today with some isolated gusts to around 60 mph in the higher mountains. Locally only higher elevations saw even moderate wind gusts.
Looking Ahead
Models do show a slight uptick in winds later tonight into Wednesday but still well below the strongest winds of early last week. Locally there are no wind advisories though peaks of area mountains may see some winds of 30-40mph. High wind warnings have been downgraded to wind advisories through 3 pm Wednesday with just some isolated 60 mph gusts in the usual favored mountain locations in SoCal.
Lighter offshore flow will continue into Thursday morning before shifting to southwest in the afternoon as the area gets its first taste of a sea breeze in over a week. Highs will be a little warmer inland but the return to onshore flow should bring cooling to coastal areas. Then 3-6 degrees of cooling Friday with possibly even some marine layer clouds returning to coastal areas.
Benign Weather Expected Through the Weekend
Benign weather is expected to continue through the weekend with light to moderate onshore flow and highs 4-8 degrees below normal, especially for coast and valleys. Areas of night and morning low clouds and fog are expected for the coast and some beaches.
Early Next Week
On Monday a rather strong upper low will drop into the Great Basin. This will begin a shift back to offshore flow that likely will peak Monday night into Tuesday. It doesn’t look particularly threatening, more of a moderate event.
Long Term
Chances for rain between now and the end of the month are not 0, but they are not a lot higher than zero. Models are showing at least two frontal boundaries heading into NorCal with rain there and diminishing chances north to south. The falloff line looks to be right around the Central Coast. We've seen a lot of systems like that so far this year.
