An interesting set-up is delivering wind gusts in excess of 50mph for parts of the Central Coast.
An upper low has dropped into a deep trough over California. The low is positioned off of SoCal and with high pressure, in the great basin and also over the Eastern Pacific the winds have plenty of support to continue. There is also the alignment of the jet stream parallel to the surface flow which also encourages high wind speeds.
A wind advisory for the Central Coast continues into Wednesday morning at 4am and a high wind warning for Santa Barbara county's high country.
Interestingly the low has the potential to soak northern Mexico and parts of the Desert Southwest but we are too far away and the air too dry for local rainfall from this system. (I should note high elevations of Santa Barbara County and Ventura County could see scattered light precip..but not most of the area) The upper low kicks out later Wednesday into Thursday and the winds collapse.
The offshore flow is also very dry so fire weather concerns are there as well as the potential for localized damage due to high wind speeds. The offshore flow will produce some highs well into the 70s and potentially the lower 80s for some on Wednesday. Thursday some onshore flow resumes and temps should take a dip.
Friday into Saturday some showers are possible and again on Sunday and Wednesday. The Wednesday system could be significant and if that develops some could even see cumulatively more than an inch of rain from this Friday into next Friday.
Stay tuned as the long-range forecast can change quickly but there has been optimism about this part of the extended forecast for some time.
