Still breezy through Thursday morning, warming trend through the weekend

Elevated fire weather conditions lingering into Thursday morning. Warming temperatures with lighter winds and dry conditions expected into the weekend.

Discussion

High clouds continue to spill southward into NorCal over the eastern Pacific ridge. Clouds have thinned over the past few hours, and mountain valley areas with light winds have cooled into the 30s (some of the mountain valleys will see their first freezing temperatures of the season by sunrise this morning).

Across the valley and foothills, sufficient offshore surface pressure gradient remains for local north to east gusts in the teens to low 20s mph and the wind and the breezes are keeping temperatures in the lower to mid 60s. Elsewhere across the valley where winds are light, current temperatures are in the upper 40s to mid 50s.

Milder temperatures are expected across the region through the remainder of the week as high pressure rebounds from the early week trough. Highs will warm to a little above average with warmest readings forecast to reach the lower 90s across the Central Valley. Overnight lows will moderate somewhat and will be close to normal.

Breezy northerly winds will continue today, but likely not quite as strong as Tuesday. Combined with low humidity, a brief period of elevated fire weather conditions will be possible. The surface pressure gradient becomes more easterly tonight, so the foothills and west slopes of the northern Sierra/southern Cascades will see locally gusty northeast to east winds. A relatively weak barrier jet is forecast to set up along the western edge of the Sacramento Valley resulting in locally breezy north winds into early Thursday.

Extended Discussion (Sunday through Wednesday)

Upper ridging over the forecast area Sunday, shifts east Monday as upstream Pacific frontal system approaches. This will result in increasing onshore flow early next week with cooling temperatures. High temperatures in the Central Valley forecast to lower from the upper 80s to lower 90s Monday to the upper 70s midweek. Front forecast to remain off the coast through Wednesday.