What a difference a week makes! The heat alerts are now well in our rear view, with a pleasant stretch ahead before chances for showers return to the forecast over the holiday weekend.
Temperatures finally dipped below average for some on Monday. That trend will continue through the weekend for all areas but the coast, where daytime highs will be about 5 degrees warmer than normal this weekend.
That puts the coast in the mid 70s to low 80s and the inland valleys scattered in the 80s all week.
However, lower humidity levels and stronger winds in the mountains and deserts will lead to elevated fire risks in those microclimates. Afternoon winds out of the west will peak around 35-45 miles an hour.
Starting on Saturday, all areas have at least a slight chance at seeing showers, which will stick around through Labor Day on Monday and might also bring thunderstorms on Sunday for all areas east of the coast thanks to an influx of monsoonal and possibly tropical moisture.
Those conditions would be courtesy of an area of low pressure and thunderstorms located well off the southern coast of Mexico that, according to the National Weather Service, has a 90% chance at becoming a tropical cyclone.
At this point, NWS says the behavior and impact of this potential storm has a great deal of uncertainty. You can see two separate tracks here — a northward track that takes the storm north toward the Southern California coast, and a westward track which takes it out to sea.
NWS says the latter is more likely as of now.
Depending on what happens, in addition to showers, the storm could also lead to coastal flooding and high tides arounnd 6.2-6.5 feet.
NWS says it's too early to predict wave heights or rainfall totals, but even with a track out to sea, there's a chance tropical moisture may still be funneled into the area during Labor Day Weekend.
Tuesday's Highs:
Coast: 75-82°
Inland: 83-89°
Mountains: 77-89°
Deserts: 96-104°
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