It's been a pretty mild August, besides the heat wave earlier in the month, temperatures have been near to below average recently. That changes this week. Heat and humidity ramp up for the second half of the week as high pressure expands west and monsoon moisture surges in.
Tuesday and Wednesday temperatures will only warm slightly, still trending near to 5 degrees above average across the county. The marine layer will become shallower in the days ahead and be more confined to the coast with patchy fog possible.
The monsoon has been pretty much absent this summer, well it returns this week and it is going to be a long stretch of tropical weather. Humidity starts to creep in on Wednesday and continues to build into the weekend with high humidity likely sticking around through the end of the month.
Starting Thursday, high temperatures will be up to 10 degrees above normal, while morning low temperatures will be up to 15 degrees above normal. The heat risk will be elevated not only due to the high afternoon temperatures but also getting little relief overnight with warm nighttime temperatures.
An Extreme Heat Watch has been issued for the inland, mountain, and desert areas for Thursday and Friday. For the inland and mountain communities, expect highs between 90 and 102 degrees and morning lows between 68 and 76 degrees, while the deserts will see highs between 110 and 115 degrees and morning lows only dipping between 88 and 93 degrees.
The National Weather Service will upgrade this watch in the next day or two and it will likely become a Heat Advisory for the inland and mountain areas and an Extreme Heat Warning in the deserts. I also suspect that they will last longer than Friday, likely in effect through the weekend.
This warm and muggy weather is looking likely to stick around through the end of August.
Tuesday's Highs:
Coast: 71-80°
Inland: 83-93°
Mountains: 85-97°
Deserts: 106-109°
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