Good morning Central Coast!
To kick off the forecast here are your "weather headlines", I'll get into much more detail farther into this article.
- Cool mornings will continue with warmer than normal afternoons
- Conditions stay dry and mild into the early weekend
- Rain chances begin this weekend and stick around through the 2nd half of December
Today's highs will once again be warmer than normal for this time of year. That is all thanks to a high pressure system sitting offshore. This is helping to keep skies clear and offshore winds in place.
Thankfully the ridge of high pressure is also keeping several large storms up to the north of us. The dry and clear conditions allow overnight temps to fall into the upper 20s for sheltered interior valleys but in the afternoon highs increase quickly.
Wednesday through Friday will be very similar to what we saw on Tuesday with daytime highs in the coastal valleys in the upper 60s and low 70s and the beaches in the 60s and low 70s.
Beach and coastal valley low temperatures will be mild but the deeper coastal valleys and interior valleys will face a freezing start to the next day or two especially for wind sheltered locations. The warmest day of the forecast looks like Saturday or daytime highs will generally be in the low to mid-70s before the system arrives on Sunday.
Now lets turn to the big pattern change that will impact the region for the second half of December.
We knew there was potential for rainfall next week but models we're not quite sure what to do with the trajectory of several systems. The one thing tipping meteorologists off to a big shift in the pattern was the strengthening of the jet stream on the other side of the Pacific. Several models are now beginning to see a potentially wet pattern setting up not just for the early portion of next week but into the later days of December.
The first of a series of storms could hit the Central Coast Sunday (likely afternoon) and Monday with a follow-up storm at the mid to late point next week. Some computer models are suggesting up to 4 inches of rain for some spots but it is so far out that I do expect this to change.
With this kind of potential people should use the time ahead of the systems to prepare items like roofing and other water management around homes. Thus far this El Nino winter season has not delivered much in the way of serious rainfall but this pattern is a taste of that kind of potential.
Have a wonderful day Central Coast!
