Extreme Santa Ana Winds Tuesday, a mild weather pattern ahead
Its a frigid Tuesday morning along the Central Coast. The dry and cool airmass over the region caused overnight lows to plummet into the 30s and 40s for most of the coverage zone. Grab a warm cup of coffee and crank those car heaters! Temperatures warm into the 60s and low 70s with only a few degrees of cooling from Monday. Recent wind gust data shows that reports of 30-40mph winds in Ventura County and strong, damaging winds continue throughout the morning hours. Gusts are so strong, we could see downed trees and power lines. Your morning commute will be impacted when driving on the U.S 101 as straight line winds will cause dangerous conditions for high profile vehicles and could shake smaller cars. This Santa Ana wind event was deemed a Particular Dangerous Situation with extreme winds and fire concerns. The Franklin Fire fire ignited late Monday night near Malibu and the fire is burning so hot, it is creating its own wind pattern. This is extremely dangerous for firefighters and southern communities. Smoke may waft up into Ventura County and air quality will need to be monitored. Red Flag Warnings and High Wind Warnings continue through lunch for most of Ventura County, so move decorations or patio furniture inside and shut windows or doors as air quality worsens. Marine hazards arise as winds cause locally strong waves near 3-6FT, so boaters need to keep an eye on marine forecasts.
The extreme Santa Ana wind event will die down starting Wednesday morning. Onshore flow returns and we fall into a more typical weather pattern into the workweek. Expect to see some clouds and fog early in the morning and better clearing by the evening. Temperatures fall a few degrees and cool down into the middle to upper 60s for most of the area. Head outdoors and enjoy!
Thursday will be mild and cloudy to start. Low level clouds and fog will impact your morning although skies clear by lunch. A series of low pressure systems arrive in the extended forecast. This will cause our chance for rain to increase. Most showers will fall apart by the time they arrive but northern communities could see rainfall amounts into the quarter inch range while only a tenth of an inch or less is expected south of Point Conception. We will stick with cool, foggy mornings and small chances for rain as we head into the weekend. Most areas staying dry and calm weather into next week.
