Cooling Friday, clouds increasing

High pressure is moving east away from California leaving us with above normal temperatures Friday but it will be the beginning of a cooling trend from the mini heat wave.

Northwest areas like Lompoc will return back to the 60s, low 70s in Santa Maria, and only slight cooling in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura - mid 70 highs on Friday. Even further cooling across the region follows on Saturday.

Gusty winds will pick up on the south coast Thursday evening and that pattern will repeat through Saturday. Breezy near 20 mph winds expected in the afternoon Friday for most communities north of Point Conception.

Onshore flow and low pressure will increase up and down the coast this weekend. The increased cloud coverage on Friday will also last into the weekend. Cooler and cloudy weather to follow next week.