It is an interesting forecast in that it really illustrates how different our local microclimates can be this time of the year. We started today with some areas of low clouds at some beaches and some of those clouds proved rather stubborn this afternoon despite moderate NW winds picking up. This produced a dramatic difference in temperatures between the beaches and the warm interior valleys, which closed in on the mid to upper 90s today.
The reason this warming is happening inland is the building ridge in the upper atmosphere, this encourages surface high pressure which squishes the depth of the marine layer keeping the cooling limited to beaches and near coastal valleys.
Our modeling is indicating very few marine clouds by Wednesday morning, pushed out by some early offshore flow but while sometimes this pattern produces warm coastal conditions, in this case, it looks like onshore winds resume pretty quickly and marine clouds should develop by afternoon and come in during the evening to again likely be at least partially pushed out by some offshore flow before Thursday morning.
While the coastal cloud dance takes place, inland it just looks warm to hot. Wednesday looks to be in the upper 90s again with inland locations warming a bit Thursday thru Saturday to 100+.
The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for Friday morning into Saturday evening for much of the region including the interior of our coverage area.
I'd add that Thursday looks to be just as hot, so I'd take the same precautions essentially every day until the temps ease off the triple digits. The excessive heat watch is an advisory not only about the heat but also to raise awareness about precautions like avoiding the peak heat and heat-related illness. You should also be aware of the activities of children and the elderly and limit your and their exposure to peak heat. Hydration is also a key. Fire threat also increases during peak heat episodes.
Heat looks to ease a little Sunday and Monday but still be above average.
Looking for a glimmer of hope, the Climate Prediction Center in their 8-14 day outlook likes temps to be closer to average outside our 7-day forecast. Let's hope so. Lake levels are low, the land is stressed, and it is going to be a long summer (and it isn't even summer yet).
