The ridge of high pressure over the region gave us a taste of warm weather yesterday but more of a full serving today with the coastal valleys well into the 80s and inland areas in the upper 80s and lower 90s.
The ridge will start to buckle on Friday but not before giving most of us another warm day, perhaps not quite as warm as Thursday however. I still like 90s inland with 80s at the coastal valleys with 70s at many beaches.
The weekend will see a cool-down as onshore flow returns and so does some coastal marine layer. The upper air pattern also significantly changes from the huge arching ridge to a trough passage. Initially upper level flow will return from the SW then shift more W-NW, all signs of some cooling and also likely some additional high clouds as well. Beaches and coastal valleys will see the most significant change returning to the 60s and 70s, but the interior also drops back into the low to mid-80s.
The trough moves thru and some ridging returns next week but not as amplified a pattern, inland temps return to the middle 80s while coastal valleys look like the mid 70s (both above average but not extreme), beaches should see some on and off marine clouds keeping temps in the 60s.
The drought situation is a concern. 5-10" short of rain for the season is taking a toll on the official drought designation, the reservoirs, and fire weather will be a concern early.
