The Central Coast will experience generally dry weather through tonight, with the exception of some rain at the higher elevations of the eastern hills of SLO and Santa Barbara counties this afternoon and evening. Thunderstorms are possible in the interior.
More unsettled weather potentially returns Thursday afternoon in the higher elevations of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The flow could allow any storms that form to drift over the populated Southcoast so the potential needs to be monitored.
Outside of those areas of concern, most folks will stay dry. Otherwise, gusty west to northwest winds will prevail through this evening.
Recent winds have also driven higher than average swells:
More dry weather is expected over the weekend and all of next week, with significant warming beginning Friday and well-above-normal temperatures expected by next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The broad trough driving the cool and locally unsettled weather will finally exit the area on Friday.
Dry and warmer weather is expected on Saturday, with high temperatures 4-8 degrees warmer than on Friday.
Next week will be quite warm, especially inland, with the warmest temperatures occurring on Wednesday. A fast-moving ridge will move through the area over the weekend but will be pushed down by an upper low moving into the Pacific Northwest on Monday. So, after a couple of days of warming, Monday will be a little cooler, though still a few degrees above normal in most areas.
High pressure will strengthen across the region on Tuesday and especially Wednesday. With models also showing near-neutral or slightly offshore gradients, temperatures across the interior coastal plain and especially the valleys will warm up significantly.
