West Coast Troughing
Seasonable to slightly cool temperatures will continue into the end of the week as a trough of low pressure lingers on the West Coast. The marine layer will remain very deep on Thursday which will encourage vertical mixing and thus it will be difficult for a stable layer of clouds to remain intact across the region. With that, expect scattered sunshine and seasonable coastal temperatures. Inland areas will be cool, however, with deep penetration of the marine air into the inland valleys. The marine layer will stabilize a bit Friday/Saturday as the trough weakens and higher pressure begins to push down on it. This will lead to cooler coastal temperatures, but inland areas will warm up! Weak troughing will linger on the coast at least into next week which will likely yield seasonable to slightly cool high temperatures for at least the next week.
Overnight: Low clouds thicken and push deep into inland areas. Patchy drizzle on north/west-facing coastal slopes. Expect coastal lows in the mid to upper 50s with low to mid-50s inland.
Thursday: Becoming partly cloudy on the coast with highs in the 60s to low 70s and mostly sunny inland with highs mainly in the 70s-80s for most areas. Breezy at times in the afternoon.
Friday: Low clouds thicken a bit on the coast and coastal temps will cool slightly—most areas topping out in the 60s. Mostly sunny inland with highs in the 70s-80s. Breezy at times in the afternoon for the inland valleys.
Extended: Seasonable weather can be expected this weekend with coastal highs in the 60s to low 70s and upper 70s to low 90s inland. Coastal low clouds can be expected in the mornings and evenings with periods of afternoon sun. This will likely continue into early next week.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 54ºF
HIGH: 69ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 86ºF
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for August 13th – 19th calls for the likelihood of BELOW normal temperatures and near normal precipitation. Note: Little to no precipitation typically falls this time of year.
-El Niño/La Niña STATUS: Neutral
-Forecast into Winter: La Niña Watch
-Area drought status: Moderate drought for much of Santa Cruz & Santa Clara Counties, Abnormally dry on the east shore of the bay into San Benito County. No drought classification for much of Monterey County outside of the Gabilan Range.
