We will be out of the office this afternoon. We wish you all the very best in 2021 and always.
January 1, 2021
Some areas have dense fog while others have a low overcast while still others have mostly clear skies this morning. Widespread lower 30s are common throughout the citrus belt this morning from Madera County all the way to Kern County. 2021 will start out quietly here in the valley after the areas of fog and low clouds burn off. However, higher level clouds will begin to increase later this afternoon, leading to variable cloudiness tonight through Saturday. assuming the cloud cover becomes dense enough, the rest will be the fog will only be patchy Saturday morning.
Over the weekend, a zonal flow will set up across the eastern Pacific and into the west coast. The next storm will spread light showers southward to about the north Bay counties along the coast and the northern Sacramento Valley inland. High pressure will not budge over the southern 2/3 of California.
By Sunday evening, the high will be suppressed southward as a strong low approaches the northern California coast Sunday night. northern California will be the recipient of locally heavy rain and strong gusty winds at times. The dynamics of this storm, as has been the case so often this year, will simply weaken as it progresses southward. Even so, from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning, precipitation will be widespread along with gusty southeast winds at times beginning Sunday evening. The heaviest precipitation will be from Fresno County north and especially towards the center and east side of the valley while the west side deals with a rain shadow.
A temporary slot of high pressure will build in Tuesday night, continuing through Wednesday evening for dry weather. Precipitation will again spread into central California beginning Wednesday night and lasting through Thursday. The unfortunate part of this system is that each set of projections that comes out, shows the system as weaker than the previous set and are showing it tracking further north. I had though at one time that this would be a significant event. Now it appears to be more of a garden variety storm, especially north of Kern County.
Beyond Friday, we will revert back to the dominant La Nina pattern of this winter with a parade of storms moving from west to east into the Pacific Northwest, affecting the northern 1/3 of California from time to time. There will be a slight chance that territory from Fresno County north could get clipped from time to time, but at this point I don’t really have enough evidence to make that an official forecast at this time.
Forecast: Areas of fog and low clouds this morning. becoming partly cloudy this afternoon. Mostly to partly cloudy tonight through Saturday with patchy night and morning fog. Increasing cloudiness Sunday. Mostly cloudy Sunday night through Tuesday with light rain becoming likely, mainly north of Kern County, from late morning through Tuesday morning. mostly to partly cloudy Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday. increasing cloudiness Wednesday night with light rain becoming likely Thursday into Friday, mainly north of Kern County.
Temperatures: Highs today will be in the mid to upper 50s, falling into the low to mid 30s tonight. Highs Saturday and Sunday will warm into the upper 50s to the lower 60s with lows Saturday night generally in the mid 30s to the lower 40s.
Winds Discussion: Winds will be light to near calm through Saturday night. winds later Sunday will be mostly out of the east to southeast at 8 to 15 MPH, increasing to 10 to 20 MPH Sunday night with stronger gusts along the west side and from Fresno County north. There is a slight chance of localized strong, gusty winds near the base of the Tehachapi Mountains Sunday night through Monday.
Next report: January 2/am