DAYS 1-5 (SEPTEMBER 18-22)

Down the home stretch of astronomical summer we go to the autumnal equinox at 8:05 p.m. next Tuesday (September 22). How will our weather be leading up to and including that day? We start with a cold front moving offshore this morning and some lingering clouds over eastern areas, and fog patches mainly in lower elevations with little wind. Drier air sends those packing and we see abundant sun but also some passing fair weather clouds. High pressure builds into the region tonight through Saturday night. This promotes cool nights and a mostly sunny, pleasant Saturday. By Sunday, we’re seeing high pressure try to hold on but eventually give way to a trough of low pressure approaching from the west, but also being deflected to the south as the atmosphere starts to develop a block. The question for Sunday is how quickly clouds advance and how much rain can get into the region before day’s end. Currently, my leaning remains toward a slower scenario with the rain concentration being Sunday night and early Monday. It remains to be seen if a second surge of rain can get in here Monday night or Tuesday, so far now I’ll lean toward rain chances south and drier north in the region.

TODAY: Clouds linger eastern areas early including some patches of fog in lower elevation locations, then sunshine and passing clouds. Highs 68-75. Wind NW increasing to 10-15 MPH with higher gusts.

TONIGHT: Mostly clear to partly cloudy. Lows 40-47 inland, 46-53 coast / urban centers. Wind calm.

SATURDAY: Sunshine can be filtered at times by high clouds. Highs 67-74. Wind variable up to 10 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy. Lows 47-54. Wind variable to SE up to 10 MPH.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. Highs 65-72. Wind SE up to 10 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT / MONDAY: Cloudy. Chance of rain, especially southern areas. Lows 53-60. Highs 60-67. Wind E 5-15 MPH.

MONDAY NIGHT / TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy. Additional rain possible favoring the South Coast region. Lows 53-60. Highs 61-68. Wind E 5-15 MPH.

DAYS 6-10 (SEPTEMBER 23-27)

For a good portion of this period we watch low pressure to the south while high pressure to the north is expected to stay in control most of the time with a generally dry, cool stretch of weather. However, I cannot rule out low pressure surging northward enough to bring a period of rain in sometime in the September 24-25 time frame, so we will keep an eye on this potential.

DAYS 11-15 (SEPTEMBER 28 – OCTOBER 2)

Leaning dry September 28-30 and wetter October 1-2.