Records Again for Sunday?

Update:  After posting this, the 'official' high temperature for Saturday came in which tied the previous record.

After starting off the day with a record warm morning temperature, we came within one degree of tying the record daytime high this afternoon. Sunday will be much the same as we expect to start the day at record levels and should have no trouble reaching well into the 70s and possibly even near 80 by the end of the day. However, the record for Sunday afternoon is 83 and at least for now, that appears to be safe.

We will also have overcast skies return during the overnight hours along with some patchy fog and/or drizzle by first thing in the morning. The low cloud deck should be mixing out by afternoon leaving us with at least partly sunny afternoon skies along with strong S to SW winds of 15-30 mph. Those strong winds will also create an enhanced fire danger situation as the vegetation is dormant and the fine fuels such as the grasses and weeds will pose a high fire risk. Fortunately, the dew point will stay in the 50s and the relative humidity will only briefly drop to below 50% during the afternoon and those high moisture levels will mitigate the fire situation somewhat.

A cold front is still on tap to arrive Sunday night around midnight or so and will bring us at least briefly back to the real world for Monday. A slight chance of showers and even some thunder may accompany the front but the northerly winds will bring temperatures closer to their seasonal norms. Look for clearing skies by Monday afternoon and a clear, cold start to the day Tuesday.

After that, their remains a great deal of uncertainty regarding the next cool front slated to arrive sometime Thursday. Until we get more consistent agreement with the longer range guidance, will continue with a chance of showers/thunder for Thu and perhaps Fri along with somewhat cooler conditions returning. Depending on which set of long range guidance actually verifies, it could turn out to be much cooler or much warmer than the current 7 day is showing….so, have attempted to side with the more consistent ensemble guidance which still leaves a lot of uncertainty.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot