Good morning Central Coast!
Monday was a beautiful day with warm temperatures with sunny skies in most of our Central Coast communities, but there are a few things we are keeping our eyes on.
Up first is a high surf advisory across most of the coastal communities. There are waves expected to reach up to 8 feet. This advisory will stay in effect through 9 p.m. this evening, and the impacted areas can be seen in purple below.
The larger concern is all about the winds. Two pressure systems and a very dry air mass are combining to create a strong Santa Ana wind event. Extreme fire weather danger, damaging wind gusts and more are causing concern, particularly in the Ventura county mountains and south but we (on the Central Coast) are also going to feel some impacts.
A wind advisory is in place for interior portions and southeast coast of Santa Barbara County through Wednesday at 6 p.m.
We can expect to see wind speeds sustained around 30 mph with some gusts reaching up to 50 mph. The strongest winds are expected to be felt late Tuesday evening, and into early Wednesday morning.
Lastly there is a Fire Weather Warning in effect through 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. Dry conditions, and strong wind gusts can cause even small fires to spread much quicker.
All this is combining with very dry air (low humidity increasing fire danger further) for red flag warnings across the region. Take extreme caution if you are doing anything that could create a spark.
Temps today are a bit lower than Monday with most highs in the 60s for interiors and coasts with come coastal valleys reaching into the 70s.
Wednesday evening the low pressure will move on and winds will decrease a bit (although not fully) that will expire many alerts and we will see fire weather danger fall.
Temps will stay warm through the forecast although temps will fall by a few degrees this weekend with highs back in the mid 60s.
Have a great day Central Coast and be sure to stay weather aware!
