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Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS San Joaquin Valley, CA
Issued by NWS San Joaquin Valley, CA
493 FXUS66 KHNX 161009 AFDHNX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 309 AM PDT Sun Jun 16 2024 && .KEY MESSAGES... 1. A cooling trend will bring temperatures closer to seasonal average for today. Monday temperatures will be around 3 to 5 degrees below normal. 2. Snowmelt from the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, will continue to result in dangerously cold and fast flows along rivers and waterways. 3. Strong wind gusts will develop along the Mojave Desert Slopes each afternoon and overnight through Monday. Afternoon and evening breezes will develop across the San Joaquin Valley with locally gusty conditions near the passes of the West Side Mountains through Monday. 4. The gusty winds coupled with low relative humidity will bring elevated fire weather concerns to the Kern County mountains and desert and the San Joaquin Valley through Monday with a peak over the weekend. 5. Starting Tuesday a warming trend will begin with triple digits anticipated starting Friday lasting through next weekend. && .DISCUSSION... An upper level trough continues to swing down from the Pacific Northwest this afternoon to reinforce the broad trough across the western CONUS. The broad trough continues with reinforcing Pacific Northwest upper waves through mid-week. The shift in the pattern starts heading into next weekend. Here the heat dome over the eastern CONUS ridge backs into the Desert Southwest as a ridge over the Central Pacific builds to connect with it over the Golden State. This ridge continues through the weekend with upper level 500 MB heights nudging in the 590s. This supports another probable heat wave, the specifics of how hot remains debatable, the above normal temperatures look to hold on for foreseeable future. The impact weather, here on Sunday, remains with the very strong winds over the Mojave Slopes. Breezy conditions for the San Joaquin Valley. Then trending down on temperatures. The probability of wind gusts exceeding 60 mph for the Mojave Slopes this evening and over are near 100 percent at the Highway 58 and Highway 14 junction near the town site of Mojave spreading north and south along Highway 14. There is a 40 to 60 percent chance the wind gusts exceed 70 mph in that area. Even a 20 percent chance of Hurricane force wind gusts on the Slopes just east of Frazier Park. The High Wind Warning will continue with the high impact to transportation expected for the aforementioned region. The Breezy and dry weather impacts focus on fire weather, see below, impacts for the region. Temperatures probabilities for daily maximums probability to remain below 93 degrees this afternoon range from 64 to 89 percent. Monday the focus on the impact continues with Mojave Slope winds and San Joaquin Valley below normal temperatures and breezy conditions. The probability of wind gusts exceeding 60 mph lowers on Monday, however poses a continued risk to transportation, to 20 to 60 percent with the highest probability being to the southwest of the town site of Mojave. The chance of temperatures remain below 90 degrees in the San Joaquin Valley ranging from 84 to 98 percent, and even remaining below 85 degrees the probability range is 14 to 39 percent. Tuesday beings the turn around on San Joaquin Valley temperatures and the relaxing of the Mojave Slope winds. The PoE of 90 degrees (near normal readings) ranges from 51 to 91 percent across the Valley. Wednesday through Friday the temperatures slowly trend up to the 100 degree mark by Friday. The PoE of 100 degrees on Friday range from 26 to 41 percent. Confidence is fair looking at Fresno Air Terminal point the mid percentile (25th to 75th percentile for stats enthusiasts) ranges from 97 to 102 degrees on Friday. Saturday and Sunday the cluster analysis of the upper heights is of better than expected levels of confidence with ridging centered over the western CONUS, the main difference will be where this ridge axis is located. The range remains from just off the California coast for the western extent to the Great Basin on the eastern side. Provides enough uncertainty providing some hope to avoid a major excessive heat episode. Focus on the urban hot spot of Fresno for Saturday and Sunday the mid- percentiles range with maximum temperatures from 101 to 108. The impactful concern is the overnight low temperatures with moderate to high confidence of 70 to 74 degrees not allow for good cooling recovery. Looking at the PoE of 105 degrees for Saturday and Sunday the range is 31 to 51 percent for the Valley locations. When focusing over the Kern County Desert the PoE of 110 remains low with the range from 11 to 51 percent. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions will prevail across the Central CA interior for the next 24 hours. Local reductions of visibility near fires and along the Mojave Slopes in the Kern County Desert. && .FIRE WEATHER... The region has elevated fire weather risk. The drier fine fuels have sparked a few fires around the region over the recent past. This afternoon`s concern continues for along the Mojave Slopes, near the Grapevine, and western hills. The best probability of 20 mph wind and less than 20 percent humidity continues in those regions with near 100 probability from I-5 extending northeast along the Mojave Slopes. Monday elevated fire danger spreads along I-5 on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley and in the Merced/Madera/Fresno region of the SJV. The probability of winds greater than 20 mph and relative humidity below 20 percent increases along I-5 to 60 to 100 percent. The Merced/Madera/Fresno regions 30 to 60 percent probability with those same parameters. This coupled with the fine fuels has prompted the Storm Prediction Center`s Fire Weather Unit to highlight the region for an elevated fire weather risk. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... ISSUED: 06/15/2024 12:56 EXPIRES: 06/16/2024 23:59 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... High Wind Warning until 5 AM PDT Tuesday for CAZ338. && $$ public/aviation/fire weather...Proton DSS/PIO....AS weather.gov/hanford