It might still be iced-coffee weather in Los Angeles, but much of coastal California could see thick fog, chilly breezes and even scattered showers this week as temperatures fall across the state, beginning Monday night.
Angelenos may breathe a sigh of relief as the mercury dips after successive late summer heat waves. But Bay Area residents could be disappointed by the incoming sweater weather, after shivering through their coldest summer in decades.
“We’re looking at temperatures 5 to 15 degrees below normal,” said meteorologist Karleisa Rogacheski of the National Weather Service.
The forecast is unusual for coastal California, which typically sees some of its hottest weather in the weeks after Labor Day.
In Los Angeles, “August is slightly warmer on average than September, by 0.3 degrees,” said meteorologist Devin Black, also with the agency. “It’s in October that you drop off.”
Chilly temperatures are expected to bottom out Wednesday in Southern California, with a possible lift toward the weekend.
“Temperatures are going to be quite cool,” Black said. “The highs could be up to 15 degrees below average.”
Angelenos can expect a thick marine layer over the region with light drizzle possible on Tuesday and Wednesday, Black said. Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo could see light showers, thanks to an upper-level low-pressure system moving in from the Pacific Ocean.
The same phenomenon will send the temperatures plunging across the Bay Area, with highs in the low 60s in parts of San Francisco and hovering in the mid-70s for much of the rest of the region. Sonoma and Napa counties could also see light showers, though rain is unlikely elsewhere, Rogacheski said.
The unseasonably cool coastal weather comes as some inland areas have seen monsoonal conditions, with warm, wet air but little rain.
That combination brought down huge amounts of lightning, particularly in Northern California near the Oregon and Nevada borders.
On Sept. 2, a series of electric storms sparked the TCU September Lightning Complex fire, which has destroyed almost 100 structures and burned close to 14,000 acres.
“The whole sky was lighting up,” said Rich Martin, a public information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “It was quite an unusual lightning event.”
Those conditions are likely to continue in the state’s far north, even as the rest of California cools, experts said.
“With the hot temperatures and moisture and increasing instability, that helps to bring the lightning,” meteorologist: Zahaira Velez said.
Still, Bay Area residents hoping for a final late-season beach day on the coast could get lucky Sunday, when weather is supposed to warm up, the meteorologist said.
But the reprieve could be brief.
“We still have the rest of September and into October where we could see the later summer-type temperatures,” Rogacheski said. “But right now … the forecast is more zonal flow, which could mean more status quo.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
