Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS San Joaquin Valley, CA
Issued by NWS San Joaquin Valley, CA
053 FXUS66 KHNX 201028 AFDHNX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 328 AM PDT Mon May 20 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... 1. Gusty west winds will continue to develop across the Kern County mountains and desert each afternoon and evening. A Wind Advisory is in effect for the Mojave Desert Slopes through 8 AM this morning. 2. Temperatures will lower to near normal today then climb to around 3 to 6 degrees above normal by Wednesday followed by cooling again to a little below normal this weekend. 3. There is a 20 chance for isolated thunderstorms over the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite to SEKI this afternoon and early evening. && .DISCUSSION... High temperatures on Sunday topped out around 2 to 4 degrees above climatological normals for this time of the year. An upper trough is deepening over the west tonight and phasing with a weak upper low off the Baja CA coast. This will bring slight cooling across the region today with maximum temperatures lowering to near normal. East Pacific riding nudges closer to the coast the next couple of days for a modest warmup to around 3 to 6 degrees above normal by Wednesday. Additional short wave energy then dives down from the Gulf of Alaska later in the week and reinforces troughing across the west. Temperatures will drop back to around normal on Thursday and Friday and then a few degrees below normal this weekend. Here are probabilities for a maximum temperature of 90 degrees or above for locations across the San Joaquin Valley on Wednesday afternoon. Merced 26%Hanford 56% Madera 26% Visalia 56% Fresno 66% Porterville 36% Reedley 11%Delano 56% Lemoore 46%Bakersfield 46% There is sufficient moisture for some cumulus buildups across the Sierra Nevada this afternoon and a 20 percent chance for isolated showers and thunderstorms through early this evening. Moisture is on the decrease after today with just cumulus expected during the afternoons the rest of the week. The SFO-LAS pressure gradient is up to around 11 MB tonight with westerly gusts continuing to around 50 mph across the Mojave Desert Slopes where a Wind Advisory is in effect until 8 AM this morning. Guidance shows these winds increasing again this afternoon which may warrant another advisory through Monday night. A lighter flow is expected on Tuesday then gusty westerly winds will redevelop each afternoon and evening the rest of the week. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions will prevail across the central CA interior for the next 24 hours. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... None. && .CERTAINTY... The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is high. The level of certainty for days 3 through 7 is medium. Certainty levels include low...medium...and high. Please visit www.weather.gov/hnx/certainty.html for additional information and/or to provide feedback. && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 8 AM PDT this morning for CAZ338. && $$ DCH weather.gov/hanford