Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA

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892 FXUS66 KMTR 020702 AFDMTR Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service San Francisco CA 1202 AM PDT Sun Jun 2 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 109 PM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 Cooler temperatures continue into Monday with coastal stratus developing overnight. Significant warming begins Tuesday with moderate HeatRisk across the interior regions through Thursday. && .UPDATE... Issued at 609 PM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 The story of the day was strong onshore wind. Several locations around the Bay Area had gusts into the 40+ mph range, including San Francisco and SFO. This was caused by the gradient between strong high pressure over the Eastern Pacific, and low pressure over the intermountain west. Zooming in, the gradient between SFO and SAC reached as high as 4.4 mb this afternoon. The synoptic gradient was also enhanced by much higher temperatures over the Sacramento Valley than coastal areas stuck in the marine layer. San Francisco only reached 62 degrees today, while Sacramento reached 88. This warmer, less dense air contributed to the lower pressure over the Central Valley and helped drive the onshore winds. After decreasing late tonight and Sunday morning, winds will pick back up in the afternoon as the pattern remains relatively unchanged. && .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Sunday) Issued at 109 PM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 Coastal stratus continues to gradually erode in the western San Mateo Peninsula and the Monterey Bay region, expected to clear through the rest of the afternoon. Widespread marine layer stratus is expected again across the lower elevations in the SF Bay Area and Central Coast tonight into Sunday morning, facilitated by a deep marine layer (2000 ft or greater as measured by the Fort Ord profiler). This is also helping to generally moderate temperatures from yesterday`s warm readings. The most dramatic cooldowns have been in the interior valleys of the East Bay, South Bay, and southern Monterey County, where temperatures are as much as 20 degrees cooler than yesterday at the same time. The North Bay has cooled down slightly, but downsloping winds from the coastal ranges are themselves moderating the cooling effect of the marine layer, which is also slightly compressed compared to the situation further south (1200 feet as measured from the Bodega Bay profiler). All this corresponds to high temperatures extending from the upper 70s to the lower 80s for the interior valleys, with the mid to upper 80s expected in the North Bay and southern Monterey County valleys, mid 60s to lower 70s along the Bayshore and near Santa Cruz, and the upper 50s to lower 60s along the Pacific coast. Lows tonight are generally in the low to mid 50s, except down into the low 40s across the higher elevations. && .LONG TERM... (Sunday night through next Friday) Issued at 109 PM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 Relatively cool conditions continue into Monday. Impacts from a deep upper-level trough impacting British Columbia will be limited, and limited mainly to the North Bay, where the fringes of a cold front will moderate high temperatures to the mid 70s to lower 80s in the valleys. Any rain will be limited to the extreme northern reaches of Sonoma County with insignificant accumulations. The pattern changes on Tuesday with a strengthening ridge over the Pacific migrating into the Western United States. In the interior regions, temperatures are expected to rise into the 90s to the low 100s into Thursday with a moderate HeatRisk, meaning that there`s a risk of heat-related illnesses for sensitive populations (children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people without access to shade or air conditioning). The coastal regions remain quite uncertain. The main questions concerning the coastal forecast will any remaining sea breezes be strong enough to outweigh the general warming trend, how far will they travel inland, and how deep will be the remaining marine layer be. To give just one example of the potential uncertainty, the current forecast calls for highs in downtown San Francisco to top out at 78, but some of the model guidance extends into the mid 80s. There is still a chance that the upper level trough stalls over the West Coast, but the model ensemble clusters suggest that the most likely outcome is that the ridge will start to build more towards the north and bring heat impacts into the northwestern United States. In addition, some of the global models show a southerly wind reversal setting up sometime later on Wednesday into Thursday. With the end of the heat still at least several days out, it`s a good idea to stay tuned for further updates as forecast confidence increases. && .AVIATION...
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(06Z TAFS) Issued at 1201 AM PDT Sun Jun 2 2024 At this hour, winds are still gusty in the SF bay region, with SFO reporting gusts upwards of 35 knots. SFO-SAC gradient continues to show a 4.1 mb difference, indicating these strong winds will likely last a bit longer into the night. Nonetheless, winds are expected to ease ever so slightly, but, will likely remain at least breezy for most locations. Many terminals are currently seeing IFR CIGs, which models do not seem to agree with, with many suggesting MVFR conditions instead. Current troughing would suggest CIGs being higher, in MVFR territory, though this is not the case. It is possible that sea salt lofted into the lower atmosphere by strong winds could be contributing to the formation of these low clouds by posing as a nuclei source, and thus permitting subsequent IFR conditions. All to say, a bit of an uncertain forecast tonight for the TAFs, especially in regards to CIGs. Current confidence is that CIGs will lift in the mid morning to become MVFR. Late clearing of stratus is expected Sunday morning to early afternoon, with strong and gusty onshore winds redeveloping. Vicinity of SFO...Currently IFR. Moderate confidence in clouds beginning to lift towards the mid morning hours of Sunday to become MVFR. Winds will continue to gust overnight but as the SFO-SAC gradient is forecast to decrease overnight to around 1.7mb, gusts should begin to decrease below the 30 knot mark through the night. However, into the late morning Sunday when VFR returns, the gradient increases once more, inducing strong and gusty westerly winds once more approaching the 33 knot mark. It is not out of the question that gusts may go higher than this, though confidence on gusts reaching higher is low. SFO Bridge Approach...Similar to SFO. Monterey Bay Terminals...IFR conditions persist through the first portion of the night, though slowly rise to become VFR by the mid to late morning. Late clearing of stratus is expected, with VFR lasting only a few hours in the afternoon of Sunday, and with SCT clouds. Winds will increase out of the west to become breezy with gusts nearing 20 knots. Stratus and low clouds return in the early evening to bring MVFR conditions once more.
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&& .MARINE... (Tonight through next Friday) Issued at 609 PM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 Strong northwest winds with gale force gusts expected over portions of the northern waters today continue into the early night. Winds reduce overnight, but still remain hazardous for small craft across most of the waters. Significant wave heights of up to 11 to 12 feet in the outer waters north of Pigeon Point continue into Saturday night with 6 to 10 feet elsewhere over the open water. Seas begin to diminish towards the end of the weekend and into next week. && .CLIMATE... Issued at 127 AM PDT Sat Jun 1 2024 Record high temperatures at the long term climate stations for June 4th and 5th: Station June 4th June 5th Santa Rosa 98 in 1949 102 in 1926 Kentfield 101 in 1981 102 in 1926 Napa 102 in 1981 105 in 1903 Richmond 90 in 1955 86 in 1983 Livermore 105 in 1960 104 in 1926 San Francisco 92 in 1949 95 in 1883 SFO Airport 92 in 1955, 1949 89 in 1972 Redwood City 100 in 1981 97 in 2002, 1972 Half Moon Bay 71 in 1955 74 in 1958 Oakland downtown 96 in 1981 87 in 2002 San Jose 98 in 1904 100 in 1926 Salinas Airport 92 in 1949 87 in 1949 King City 102 in 1981, 1957 105 in 1926 && .MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
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CA...None. PZ...Small Craft Advisory from 3 PM this afternoon to 9 PM PDT this evening for Mry Bay-SF Bay N of Bay Bridge. Gale Warning until 3 AM PDT early this morning for Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 0-10 nm-Pt Reyes to Pigeon Pt 0-10 nm. Small Craft Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for Pigeon Pt to Pt Pinos 0-10 nm. Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM PDT Monday for Pigeon Pt to Pt Pinos 10-60 NM-Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 10-60 NM-Pt Pinos to Pt Piedras Blancas 0-10 nm.
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&& $$ SHORT TERM...DialH LONG TERM....DialH AVIATION...AC MARINE...Murdock Visit us at www.weather.gov/sanfrancisco Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube at: www.facebook.com/nwsbayarea www.twitter.com/nwsbayarea www.youtube.com/nwsbayarea