The Central Coast will experience off-and-on light rain through Tuesday.
Now there is a very low, non-zero, chance of a stray shower Wednesday or Thursday, but it is far more likely those days will just be partly cloudy.
Temps will remain cool on Tuesday and slowly warm the rest of the week.
Winds will also be breezy to gusty out of the NW both Tuesday and Wednesday (Tuesday's winds look to be the strongest). We'll warm up a little at the end of the week, into the weekend.
A large and persistent trough will dominate the weather pattern over the western United States through Friday. This will keep daytime highs around 10 degrees below normal.
Overnight temperatures will drop tonight and Tuesday night as a colder air mass moves in and cloud cover decreases.
Rainfall amounts and coverage will generally decrease through Wednesday as the prevailing flow shifts to northwesterly. Additional accumulations will be light, remaining under 0.25 inches.
Snow levels will drop to 3,500 feet by Wednesday morning, mountains could see 1-3 inches of snow.
As the flow shifts aloft, winds will turn and strengthen at ground level. West to northwest winds will be common across the region through Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon and evening will see the strongest and most widespread winds, with gusts of 30 to 50 mph, with isolated gusts of 55 to 65 mph possible over the mountains in Santa Barbara County. Wind Advisories have been issued to address this wind event.
The trough will deepen southward into northwest Mexico on Thursday, bringing the coldest air of the week. This feature will give us those non-zero rain chances on Wednesday and Thursday, but I think it just looks partly cloudy. Higher elevations could see some pop-up showers, perhaps the best area of opportunity with this setup.
As the trough gradually exits to the east, conditions on Friday will remain cool and only slowly warm.
A significant change in the weather pattern is expected starting on Saturday, with high pressure aloft and weak to locally breezy offshore flow setting up. This will bring steady warming through much of next week. Long-range models do not show more rain after this week in the foreseeable forecast.
