Good Morning Central Coast!
We made it to Friday and for the first time this month my weekend forecast doesn't include significant rain. While we could still use more rain this is good news for many weekend events that have been canceled week after week. Some cloud cover and sunshine are expected through the weekend.
To kick off your morning there is significant cloud cover, and a little patchy dense fog. This will not be particularly impactful for the morning commute but nothing particularly wild.
Temperatures today will be warmer than the past few days with many locations adding 5-10 degrees from highs just yesterday. 60s are expected in most locations high 50s at the cooler trending beaches and interior valleys.
For the weekend there will be a bit more cloud cover and cooler temps Saturday. That will move out of the region quickly and we will warm up through the week, eventually seeing upper 60s and some 70s possible by the holiday weekend.
Looking at rainfall the first half of December was very active and we are ahead of the average for the month of December, even if we didn't get any more we'd still finish the month with more than average. That said, I don't see any meaningful rain for the rest of the month at this point. There is a ridge that covers much of Southern and Central California. Some cold front likely hit northern CA over the next few weeks, but it doesn't look like anything makes it this far south (or at least anything meaningful).
Now that we are on the topic of rainfall, let's talk drought...
This week we saw more great news with large portions of the state being downgraded on the drought monitor. Here on the Central Coast the extreme drought receded and left behind severe drought through much of the coastal valleys and beaches. Plus about 10% of SLO county is now in the moderate drought category. This is the first time since MARCH any portion of the Central Coast has been in the moderate category. This is the second week in a row we have seen decreases. The last image is a comparison between two weeks ago and today, the difference is very exciting!
All the reservoirs are up on the Central Coast as well!
With all this good news it is important to remember that we are still in drought and it will likely get worse once again as we head into a dry stretch to end the month. If you are interested in a little more context about our drought here is a quick post I made comparing the DSCI (Drought Severity and Coverage Index) from January 2000 to now. The DSCI is a summary that the national drought monitor uses each week to show drought level. DSCI's range from zero (no drought) to 500. The first image is for San Luis Obispo County and the second is from Santa Barbara County.
Have a great day Central Coast!
