Next Rain Chance This Weekend … Or Earlier?

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – Expect an overall cool-down on Wednesday, though temperatures won’t change too much on the coast. The north side of the bay will cool the most, dropping about 4ºF day to day. Low clouds will linger on the coast again while inland areas will clear to mostly sunny. A trough approaching from the northeast is responsible for the cooler temperatures. It will also deepend the marine layer and add some instability to the mix. By Wednesday afternoon, cumulus clouds will build up on the mountains. At the moment, it doesn’t look like any of those clouds will develop into full-blown showers on Wednesday, but there is a better chance on Thursday over the south/eastern mountains.  
 
Air Quality: Good to Moderate  

Overnight: Low clouds for the coast and inland valleys with patchy fog and a bit of drizzle possible on the south/east sides of the bay. Lows in the 40s to low 50s.  

Wednesday: Remaining mostly cloudy on the coast with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s. Mostly sunny inland with highs ranging from the mid-60s to upper 70s. Breezy up valleys winds late in the day.  
 
Thursday: Low clouds in the morning with patchy drizzle possible on the coast. Then, mostly cloudy on the coast with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s. Inland areas will clear to mostly sunny, then partly cloudy in the south during the afternoon with a slight chance for a shower or thunderstorms—mainly over the mountains. Inland highs in the upper 60s to around 80ºF. Breezy westerly onshore winds at the becoming windy up valleys late in the day.  

Extended: Friday is shaping up to look a lot like Wednesday, temperature and cloud coverage-wise. There may be a slight chance for a shower over the southeastern mountains. By Saturday, a deep and cold trough of low pressure moves in. Light rain will be possible, but a cold front will bring significantly colder and windier conditions to the area. Showers linger on Sunday before a warm-up into next week.  

*Note: Any alerts from the National Weather Service in Monterey will be noted in italics above. Alerts may be edited for brevity or local clarification.       

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This week's normal temperatures: 
--COASTAL CITIES-- 
LOW: 48ºF 
HIGH: 65ºF 
--INLAND CITIES-- 
LOW: 44ºF 
HIGH: 73ºF 
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for May 7^th  – 13^th calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.   
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory  
- ENSO Forecast: Neutral conditions expected by April and then to persist into summer  
-Area drought status: Abnormally dry for far southeastern Monterey County and eastern San Benito County. Drought-free for the remainder of the KION coverage area.   
-Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of April 29^th : 55.6ºF (avg. of 7 buoys) [Historic April Avg. SST: 55.1ºF]