DAYS 1-5 (AUGUST 27-31)
On this final weekend of August we enter the final 5-day stretch of meteorological summer. But don’t worry too much, if you are not ready to say goodbye to summer you can wait until the end of tourist summer, which is September 5 (Labor Day), or stretch your summer out even longer by waiting until the actual end of summer on September 22 (the autumnal equinox). If you wanted to say goodbye to “solar summer” (the 3-month period with the most sunlight), you’re too late. That ended on August 7. Maybe next year! But anyway, what do the last 5 days of meteorological summer look like, weather-wise? The weekend weather will be dominated by high pressure that is centered to our north today with a light northeasterly air flow, then with its center shifting to the east of the region Sunday, the air flow will shift more to southeasterly. This provides fair and seasonable weather, coolest maximum temperatures along the coast and warmest over the interior, and not bone-dry but tolerable humidity levels. Early in the week, high pressure sinks southward, into a position to deliver us more heat and higher humidity. We won’t be returning to the high heat levels previously seen in the summer, but nevertheless some areas make a run at 90 Monday and possibly crack it Tuesday. We’ll be watching the approach of a cold front later Tuesday that should be passing through the region during Wednesday. The details to be worked out regarding this include a more precise frontal timing and any rounds of showers and thunderstorms that occur. Right now leaning toward most of the unsettled weather being in northern and western portions of the WHW forecast area late Tuesday and pushing east and south through early Wednesday, with an additional shower or thunderstorm possible during the day Wednesday. Obviously, more fine-tuning is going to be needed for this part of the forecast.
TODAY: Sun/cloud mix. Highs 76-83, coolest coast. Dew point 60+. Wind N to NE 5-15 MPH.
TONIGHT: Variably cloudy. Areas of fog. Lows 60-67. Dew point 60+. Wind E under 10 MPH to calm.
SUNDAY: Partly sunny. Highs 77-84, coolest coast. Dew point 60+. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog. Lows 60-67. Dew point near 60. Wind S up to 10 MPH.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny. Highs 84-91 except cooler South Coast. Dew point 60+. Wind S 5-15 MPH.
MONDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog. Lows 63-70. Dew point 60+. Wind S up to 10 MPH.
TUESDAY: Partly cloudy. A late-day thunderstorm chance north and west. Highs 85-92, cooler South Coast. Dew point 60s. Wind SW 10-20 MPH.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Variably cloudy. Isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms possible. Areas of fog. Lows 67-73. Dew point 60s. Wind SW to variable 5-15 MPH.
WEDNESDAY: Partly cloudy. Showers possible favoring south and easterly areas early in the day. An additional shower or thunderstorm possible midday or afternoon. Highs 83-90. Dew point 60s but lowering slowly. Wind W 5-15 MPH.
DAYS 6-10 (SEPTEMBER 1-5)
High pressure builds in and may dominate this entire period with dry weather, a cool-down at first and maybe at the end of the period again, with a warmer spike between them.
DAYS 11-15 (SEPTEMBER 6-10)
There remain some uncertainties about the pattern here, but the latest trends are for high pressure to be dominant with dry weather much of if not all of the time and near to above normal temperatures. This isn’t a high confidence forecast though. At this time of year, interactions of even distant tropical cyclones on the larger scale pattern and even our own closer-by tropics, which have been quiet, can become a factor in a short period of time.