Blustery Spring storm, forecsast for Monday Mar 25th

A late season storm continues to roll through the region bring more chances for showers, thunder and even mountain snow. This system is very Spring like in that heavy sustained showers are not expected. However, Spring like does include gusty winds, and chances for thunder. The atmosphere is very unstable and when thunder does occur you can get brief heavy showers, erratic wind and even waterspouts over the ocean or small tornadoes over land. For now, A Wind Advisory is in effect for much of the region. The advisory is for gusty northerly winds and should expire Sunday evening for Ventura County as well as for areas north of Point Conception. The advisory is expected to last in to early Monday for the Santa Barbara including the mountains and along the South Coast. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for mountain areas above 3500 feet where few inches could accumulate. Above 5000 feet, several inches are possible. Finally, along our coastline gusty winds and a moderate westerly swell will make for choppy ocean waves. A High Surf Advisory will stay in effect for the Central Coast through Monday.

Looking ahead, things quiet down through Monday and we might even see a slight warm up through about mid week. Another chance for showers comes in to play for the Central Coast by the second half of the week. Then we see some very interesting model solutions pointing toward the possibility of a significant storm system over Easter weekend. All the models are fairly in sync which helps to boost our confidence, even this far out from the storm. What we see is a strong storm system taking an over water trajectory and the confluence of a good batch of sub tropical moisture flowing in from a southerly direction. Those are the necessary weather ingredients for an atmospheric river type of storm. While it's still early and things can and will likely change with regard to exact timing and expected rainfall amounts. It's a good idea to plan now for an Easter weekend storm that could be very strong. We will of course monitor very closely and update our forecast at every opportunity as we head through next week.