Gusty Santa Ana winds will become more localized in the passes and coastal slops as the week wears on. Temperatures will continue to warm into Wednesday. High temperatures of 5 to 15 degrees above average are expected from Wednesday into this weekend with continued dry and mostly sunny weather.
For extreme southwestern California including Orange, San Diego, western Riverside and southwestern San Bernardino counties,
This evening, sfc pressure gradients remain strongly offshore with -12.0 mb SAN-TPH and -4.9 mb SAN-DAG. In the last hour, the windy locations have reported northeast to east winds gusting 45-60 mph.
From previous discussion, Winds will weaken a little this evening then strengthen again slightly by Tuesday morning, though not as strong as today and more localized to the wind-prone areas as the pressure gradient begins to relax. The offshore wind pattern will stick around much of this week as high pressure remains locked in across the West Coast. This will continue to bring dry conditions and gusty winds to the coastal slopes of the mountains into some western valleys each day. Winds will generally be 35-50 MPH in the windy spots, closer to 25-35 MPH elsewhere.
High pressure over California will continue to amplify for Tuesday into Wednesday and 850mb temperatures will approach 15C. Near average temperatures across the mountains and deserts will begin to rise above average by Wednesday. Nbm chances for reaching 80 degrees rise dramatically by this day, with chances near 70-90% for many areas of the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley, and inland San Diego Co valleys (closer to 30-50% across inland Orange County and the Anza Borrego Desert). The area of high pressure will not move very much through the rest of the week, leading to minor day-to-day changes in temperatures. Highs in the 70s/80s will continue for areas west of the mountains and lower deserts. Beach days will be glorious with highs in the low to mid 70s. Early morning low temperatures will also not be as chilly by the middle and the end of this week as well.
High pressure will weaken some by the weekend, which will help ease offshore winds across the mountains and foothills even further. This may aid in a slight cool down in temperatures but confidence on this occurring remains low. Models begin to hint at a possible turn to onshore flow by early next week as well, which could nudge our temperatures closer to average with weaker winds.
130330z, Mostly clear skies and VFR conditions through Tuesday evening. East to northeast winds 20-30 kts on the coastal slopes/foothills. Isolated gusts to 40 kts in wind-prone passes and along coastal slopes in San Diego County. Local gusts 15-25 kts into the valleys. Periods of LLWS with mod up/downdrafts in lee of mountains (including KSNA).
No hazardous marine conditions are expected through Saturday.
Ca, None. PZ, None.
