Tracking Tropical Storm Hilary
We are still stuck in the stagnant pattern of weather as the Central Coast is located in between a high pressure system to the east and a low pressure system to the west. Thursday looks to be a direct copy of conditions Wednesday. Dense fog will impact the region early on in the morning and then more sunshine after lunch. The only difference will be temperatures, we have stronger onshore winds that will cool things off by a few degrees. Expect to see upper 60s and middle 70s near the beaches and 80s and 90s inland.
Friday will be very similar as well with temperatures even a few degrees cooler. More clouds and dense fog in the morning so keep this in mind as you head out the door.
All eyes are on this weekend as tropical storm Hilary will begin to track north. There are so many details that need to be worked out but this system is very rare, the last time California has seen an event like this was back in 1939, when a storm system made landfall near Long Beach. As of Wednesday, Hilary has been upgraded to a tropical storm, it will continue to gain strength and develop into a hurricane as it crosses over warmer water. Water is warmer this time of the year due to El Nino, and will help this storm strengthen rather quickly. Luckily, water temperatures off the coast of California are too cold to support hurricane development. This means the storm will start to slow down and weaken in intensity as it reaches Southern California. It will be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it does arrive, but it will still bring tons of moisture and its safe to say strong swells will develop causing hazardous beach conditions. It is interesting to note that almost all storm paths show this system moving north and following the coast of California. With this being said its good to talk about impacts from this storm if it does follow this path. Not only will we be seeing hazardous beach conditions, we could also see "soggy" Santa Ana winds develop Sunday evening. As far as rain, it is possible that we will see periods of heavy rain throughout the region, the most rain looking to be on Monday.
