October 3, 2018
Summary: Light showers are widespread throughout the valley as of 1:00pm. Over the past two hours, isolated thunderstorms have erupted over northern Kings County, west central Fresno County, and Madera County. These storms have been moving fast, so the amount of precipitation in these areas may still be pretty light, although Madera was reporting moderate rain. The center of circulation around a weakening low is roughly 50 miles west of Santa Maria as of early afternoon and was moving south/southeast. Wrapping around the low is a band of precipitation which enters over Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties and is now stretching northward over the western Kern County mountains and into the west side of Kern County. This band will slowly move across the entire valley as the afternoon progresses.
We are now entering the time of maximum daytime heating, so isolated thunderstorms will continue for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening hours. The low will open up later tonight into a trough of low pressure which means showers will begin to taper off after the late evening hours then diminish during the early morning hours. Thursday will likely be dry.
From Friday through the weekend and well into next week, a broad area of low pressure will cover the western U.S. and western Canada. Occasionally, weak disturbances will move through the trough. One such disturbance will move into the Great Basin Saturday for a chance of showers over the Sierra Nevada and possibly some increased wind conditions over the valley floor.
Temperatures for the foreseeable future will remain at least marginally below average, especially during the afternoons.
Forecast: Mostly cloudy tonight with showers likely, especially in the south valley, and a slight chance of thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. A small chance of light showers before sunrise tomorrow, turning into a partly cloudy but dry day. Mostly clear to occasionally partly cloudy Thursday night through Wednesday.
Short Term: Overnight lows will cool into the mid 50s to the lower 60s. Tomorrow’s highs will be in the upper 70s. Lows Thursday night will cool into the mid 50s to the lower 60s. Temperatures will warm Friday into the upper 70s.
Winds: Winds will be generally less than 12 MPH tonight with locally stronger gusts, mainly near showers and thunderstorms. Winds Thursday through Friday night will be generally less than 12 MPH. Winds will increase out of the west then the northwest Saturday at 10 to 15 MPH but with local gusts to near 30 MPH possible along the west side.