Weather headlines:
-Warm and dry conditions can be expected through Monday as high pressure aloft builds over California.
-The warmer air mass will likely remain in place through much of the week away from the coast, with the hottest daytime temperatures forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
-Temps should turn cooler late this week into next weekend.
-Mostly clear skies can be expected except for night and morning coastal low clouds and fog.
Detailed forecast:
Low clouds persisted along much of the immediate coast early Sunday afternoon with little change expected the rest of the day.
Mostly sunny skies will be in place across the area through the afternoon with breezy onshore winds.
Temps will top out a few degrees below normal for the coast and adjacent valleys, and a few degrees above normal for the interior valleys and mountains.
Much of the inland coast and valleys will be in the 70s and 80s this afternoon, except the interior valleys will likely reach into the lower 90s.
A dry northwesterly flow will occur through tonight.
The upper-level flow will turn more northeast on Monday as an upper-level low develops several hundred miles off the southwest of California's coast.
The upper-level low will edge slowly north Monday night through Wednesday. By Wednesday, it will weaken and become a broad upper-level trough.
The marine layer will shrink tonight thanks to significant warming. By early Monday morning, the inversion should be around 800 feet south of Point Conception and possibly near surface-based on the Central Coast.
Little change in the inversion depth is expected through Tuesday, so it should increase slightly Tuesday night into Wednesday and be about 1000 feet or less.
A marine layer pattern with night and morning low clouds and fog mainly along the coast followed by clearing back to or off the coast during the late morning and afternoon hours can be expected tonight through Wednesday.
Due to the shallow marine inversion developing, patchy dense fog is possible with the low clouds especially later at night into the morning hours through Tuesday.
Mostly clear skies are expected through Wednesday, with breezy onshore winds each afternoon.
Pressure gradients to the north and east are forecast to trend offshore tonight into Monday morning, allowing temps to warm up considerably.
Highs on Monday are forecast to be 5-10 degrees above normal except along the immediate coast.
By Tuesday night and Wednesday, temps should start to trend cooler as onshore flow increases.
Highs on Wednesday are expected to be a few degrees below normal to near normal for the coast and valleys, and 3-7 degrees above normal for the interior areas.
Have a great day, Central Coast!
