———Fire Weather Discussion from Meteorologist Vivian Rennie———
——— Original Article———
Good morning, Central Coast!
The big weather story this morning surrounds the Madre Fire.
Here is a look at the current CALFIRE dashboard for the fire.
As of 7:15 a.m. the blaze is 5% contained and has burned 35,530 acres. Much of the rapid spread of the flames Wednesday night was due to strong winds causing erratic fire weather behavior.
Thankfully, overnight winds were calm, but that will not last long. Gusts up to 25 mph are expected into the afternoon. That will be a big challenge for crews working to contain the blaze.
Windy and dry weather will continue to be the story for interior valleys through the weekend and well into next week. Hopefully, it will get under control soon, but we need to be prepared if containment stays low.
Turning to the more typical forecast... fog is in place for coastal valleys while interiors see early morning sunshine. Thankfully, visibility on the roads is not limited for any of our communities.
As the day continues, sunshine will break up the fog and we are expecting sunshine for most, if not all of the Central Coast for the afternoon.
Temps will be a degree or two cooler than yesterday for the interiors, but still warm. Highs near 90 are expected, and the Cuyama valley will be a bit warmer with highs likely to climb to near 100 degrees. By the coasts, temps are close to previous days. 70s for SLO and the Santa Ynez Valley, upper 60s for Santa Maria, and 50s by western beaches.
On a quick side note, waves are increasing slightly this morning and may reach up to 10 ft tonight and into Friday.
For the 4th of July we are looking at more of the same. Early morning clouds with afternoon sunshine. 90s for the interiors, 70s for coastal valleys and beaches in the upper 50s.
The weekend and into early next week, conditions will stay the same!
Have a wonderful day, Central Coast!
