Cold start to new work week, forecast for Jan 8th

Our recent Winter storm has roared on through bring not much in the way of rainfall, rather wind, surf and cold temperatures. Wind issues should drop off as we head through Sunday evening. Both advisory level and warning level wind alerts are pretty much widespread with the warnings mostly in place for mountain areas where gusts from the north could easily go up above 50 mph. We multiple advisories and warning in place for very chilly temperatures across most of the region. The hard freeze is for interior valleys where temperatures could bottom out close to 25 degrees early Monday. If possible, bring in, cover or at a minimum water your sensitive foliage and plants to prevent freeze damage. Pets and livestock need to also be considered when planning for the overnight and early morning chill. Lastly, high surf will linger in to Monday with a solid northwest swell coupled with a high tide early Monday morning of about 6 feet. This could lead to beaches being over run and coastal flooding. Once again, temperatures Monday morning will be very cold widespread and will only warm to maybe 60-degrees by the afternoon at best.

Looking ahead, high pressure is looking to stay strong just to the west of California which will act as buffer against a very active Pacific storm track. The tricky part is that the high is not directly over us which would completely shut the storm door. Rather it's just offshore enough to allow for a strong storm track to brush our region. This means that we could see an extended pattern of blustery, cold and quick chances for showers and low elevation snow. Our weather models continue to struggle with exact positions of high pressure and that means we will need to stay on top day to day variations. For now, expect to be using your heaters and jackets frequently and also keep the garden rake handy with expected northerly winds. We will be vigilant and update frequently what the storm track is doing with regard to wind, showers and wind.