Last week the Central Coast was underneath a powerful ridge of high pressure which drove offshore winds, dry air, and above-average temperatures (with a number of daily heat records falling). This week is a huge contrast: cool air, windy conditions, and scattered showers for some Monday afternoon.
There is a wind advisory in place for the Central Coast and a high wind warning for the Santa Barbara County mountains, passes and canyons, and adjacent areas.
Additionally, there is a high surf advisory into Tuesday afternoon for the west-facing Central Coast.
Radar and cameras show some widely scattered light showers, mostly in the hills but some here outside of the hills. If you followed this forecast last week, this was part of the forecast toughest to go all-in on. And turns out that was a good call, while some showers are happening it is not the main impact of the system, wind and cooler temperatures are much more noticeable.
The afternoon and early evening NW wind will continue to be breezy to windy much of this week.
Interestingly, the pattern will tease us a few more times with cold fronts that look to die on arrival or just before. So we'll see mild temps continue and while a drop or two of rain is possible it is not robust by any means and likely more of a miss than a hit in the days ahead. The next "chance" looks to be Saturday but some models don't hold the front together, so I'm not going with it quite yet.
Temps will slowly rebound on Thursday and Friday, then take a step back with Saturday's front and warm more significantly later next week when some forecasts show another warm spell is possible.
