February 1, 2022
Lower level clouds continue to regenerate against the north facing slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains and the west facing slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada. The west side of the valley has clear skies as drier air infiltrates the region. The amount of frost tonight will, in part, be determined by when and if these clouds dissipate. More below in the frost discussion.
Currently, gusty winds are blowing down the west side of the valley. At last report, Hanford was reporting gusts to 22 MPH and Lemoore 25 MPH. A strong northwest push of air is moving down the valley which will be replaced by a north/northeast flow as upper level high pressure off shore builds into the Pacific Northwest and northern California. The high will center off the coast of the Pacific Northwest Thursday and through the weekend. Weak disturbances will move outu of western Canada and into the Great Basin from time to time. All the medium range models show the continuation of the blocking ridge pattern. One advantage we do have is the fact that the coldest air will move to our east with no possible damaging freezes.
Forecast: partly to mostly cloudy tonight in Kern and Tulare Counties. Mostly clear to partly cloudy elsewhere. Mostly clear Wednesday through Friday. Mostly clear skies will continue Friday night through Tuesday.
Short Term:
| Madera 30/57/30/59 | Reedley 30/56/29/60 | Dinuba 28/57/29/59 |
| Porterville 29/56/30/60 | Lindsay 27/56/28/61 | Delano 30/55/31/61 |
| Bakersfield 40/53/38/58 | Taft 37/55/38/57 | Arvin 32/55/30/61 |
| Lamont 32/56/30/59 | Pixley 28/57/28/61 | Tulare 27/56/28/59 |
| Woodlake 29/57/29/60 | Hanford 30/55/30/60 | Orosi 28/55/29/60 |
Wind Discussion: Winds through the evening hours will be mainly out of the northwest at 8 to 15 MPH, diminishing after midnight. Winds along the west side, especially along the Interstate 5 corridor, will be out of the north to northwest at 10 to 20 MPH, diminishing during the early morning hours. Winds Wednesday through Friday will be generally variable in nature and no more than 7 MPH with periods of near calm conditions.
Rain: Expect dry weather for at least the next 7 to 10 days.
Frost: Dew points along the west side have fallen into the low to mid 30s From Merced north dew points have dropped into the upper 20s to the lower 30s. Porterville had a dew point of 43 degrees Dew points in Tulare County will be slowly coming down during the course of the night, the main trick to tonight’s forecast will be the regeneration of low clouds in Kern and Tulare Counties. It’s about 50/50 trying to discern whether that drier air above will mix down, dissipating the cloud cover and allowing strong radiational cooling to commence. For this forecast,, I’m going to operate under the assumption that most, if not all, locations will clear out during the course of the night. The threshold of this air mass in those low lying regions is about 26 to 27 degrees. Most locations will range between 29 and 32 degrees with hillsides generally in the low to mid 30s. the inversion tonight will be weak, as it typically is behind cold fronts, with temperatures at 34 feet generally ranging from 3 to 5 degrees warmer.
Thursday and Friday mornings may be a degree or two colder as the dry air mass settles in. over the weekend, daytime highs will begin to nudge up, slowly dragging overnight ltows with them. Even so, colder locations Saturday through Monday will dip into the lower 30s. the air mass settling into the bottom of the valley is the one we’ll deal with for several days.
Still nothing longer term to suggest anything worrisome.
Lows Tonight:
| Terra Bella
30 |
Porterville
28 |
Ivanhoe
26 |
Woodlake
28 |
| Strathmore
28 |
McFarland
27 |
Ducor
29 |
Tea Pot Dome
29 |
| Lindsay
27 |
Exeter
28 |
Famoso
29 |
Madera
29 |
| Belridge
28 |
Delano
29 |
North Bakersfield
30 |
Orosi
28 |
| Orange Cove
29 |
Lindcove
27 |
Lindcove Hillside
32 |
Sanger River Bottom
26 |
| Root Creek
27 |
Venice Hill
28 |
Rosedale
29 |
Jasmine
29 |
| Arvin
32 |
Lamont
32 |
Plainview
28 |
Mettler
29 |
| Edison
30 |
Maricopa
29 |
Holland Creek
31 |
Tivy Valley
28 |
| Kite Road South
31 |
Kite Road North
28 |
AF=Above Freezing
Next report: February 2