Good morning Central Coast! We have a quite active pattern setting up with waves and rain on the way.
A weak front will slide just north of the region this morning but will not bring much substantial rain, if any. Partly cloudy skies with temps surging to the mid 60s are expected for today. These temps are about 5-10 degrees above normal for this time of year.
Sticking with rain chances there is a larger system pushing towards us with rain expected Friday night into Saturday morning. This is coming in hot with significant chances for rain. Thankfully the chances mainly fall overnight. That being said I have changed the icons on our 7 day forecast to show rain for Friday. To be very clear it will only begin raining in the evening but it will still likely impact evening plans.
The heaviest rain will be in the late night hours with showers sticking around into the morning. Coastal valleys are looking to pick up 0.75" to 1.5" of rain from this system with the most northern reaches of coastal San Luis Obispo county and mountain peaks picking up nearly 2". Interior valleys will miss out though, they will see less than 0.50" from the system.
More rain chances are embedded into the extended forecast as well. More details on that below.
Aside from the rain waves are our weather headline for much of this week. The storm pattern in the Pacific is very active and while some of the storms will actually make their way to us the bigger concern is significant energy in the Pacific basin. For us that means very large waves. Many watches, warnings, and advisories are in place but the bottom line is that waves will be very dangerous along all of our beaches (particularly west facing) ad the risk for life threatening rip currents is high.
Starting off this morning the period of highest wave concern has begun. Just between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m. waves increased from just over 10 ft to 18 ft.
Due to that here are the alerts in effect at this point.
High surf warning - All western facing beaches through Saturday night. Waves 15-20 feet with local sets up to 25 ft with life threatening rip currents.
High Surf Advisory and Marine Hazard Statement - Southcoast through Saturday. Waves 7-12 ft with loal sets up to 20 ft.
Due to all the waves as well as some slightly higher than typical tides each morning there is a risk for coastal flooding. Residual high tides of 5.7 to 6.3 ft will cause some concern.
Coastal Flood Warning - Western Beaches Thursday through Saturday
Coastal Flood Advisory - Southcoast Thursday through Saturday
The latest models are in and I have made a few adjustments to the extended forecast.
Tomorrow rain will move in by evening but will be noticeable. I have made Friday's icon represent rain despite that most of the day will be dry.
Further into the weekend Monday's rain chance has shifted farther south. We still could see some rain to kick off the new year but that will likely miss us.
The chances for rain by mid next week are still in place!
After that, another small and fast-moving splash-and-dash is possible on the 3rd with more fast-moving systems possible thru the 10th or so.
Have a wonderful day Central Coast!
