Gradual cooling trend this week
A gradual cooling trend is expected for all areas through the weekend as stratus and fog coverage increases during the overnight hours. Gusty northwest winds will continue through the week with the strongest winds focused over southern Santa Barbara County. Wind Advisory for Santa Barbara South Coast and mountains from 6PM Monday through 3AM Tuesday. It will also be windy Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
A ridge is bringing lots of sunshine and warm temperatures to our area. Tuesday will not be quite as warm but highs will still be well above average in the 70s at the coast and mostly 80s inland.
A broad trough of low pressure will increase with some northerly offshore flow remaining through Thursday. This will allow mild conditions but temperatures will stay below normal and winds will stay gusty.
Wednesday cloud cover will increase along the Central Coast cooling temperatures there into the 60s.
As for clouds, expect a gradual increase in stratus/fog coverage each night and morning. For tonight, marine inversion will remain quite shallow (1000 feet or less), so any stratus that develops will be accompanied by dense fog. Best chances for stratus/dense fog tonight will be the Central Coast for Tuesday night through Thursday, the stratus coverage will increase as the inversion deepens and onshore gradients increase. Other than stratus, skies should remain mostly clear through the period.
Combination of increasing onshore gradients, upper level trough and more extensive marine layer stratus will bring a noticeable cooling trend for all areas. Weekend highs may fall below normal in the low 60s to low 70s.
