Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Eureka, CA
Issued by NWS Eureka, CA
697 FXUS66 KEKA 081321 CCA AFDEKA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED National Weather Service Eureka CA 521 AM PST Fri Nov 8 2024 .SYNOPSIS...High pressure continues to clear skies and bring chilly overnight temperatures. Light rain is possible Saturday in Humboldt and Del Norte. A larger system arrives Sunday night and Monday, bringing widespread rain and gusty southerly wind. && .DISCUSSION...Ridging has brought mostly clear skies, light winds, and another chilly night. Many interior valleys are forecast (or already observing) temperatures in the 30s this morning. Stratus is being observed on satellite offshore early this morning, but has yet to make a push toward shore. High clouds will increase later today as a weak system approaches the area. This could limit overnight cooling slightly, but regardless another chilly night of mid to high 30s is forecast for much of the interior. This system saturday will bring a slight chance of a few sprinkles, primarily to Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. A stronger system arrives Sunday night into Monday, bringing more widespread rain across the area and gusty southerly winds. NBM is showing an 80-90% chance for 1 inch of rain to Humboldt and Del Norte counties, and a 40-60% chance for much of Mendocino, Lake, and Trinity counties. The higher elevations in Del Norte and the King Range could see up to 2-3 inches of rain. Southerly winds are forecast to be particularly high on exposed ridges and coastal headlands of Del Norte and Humboldt, where NBM probabilities of a peak gust greater than 50 mph are around 60-80%. Elsewhere, peak gusts of 20-30 mph are possible. Another wave of rain and wind is possible midweek. JB && .AVIATION...High pressure has started to move off to the east this morning, but skies remain clear across the area. An area of stratus has developed off the coast, but remains at least 5 to 10 miles offshore. For inland areas VFR conditions will continue through tonight, although in the afternoon some high clouds may move in. Winds will generally remain light through the day across the area. The main question in the forecast is when the stratus will move onto the coast. The models generally keep it offshore through 18-20Z. After that a weak sea breeze will likely develop and it could move onto the immediate coast impacting KCEC and/or KACV. This evening or tonight it is more likely to move onshore, but even this isn`t a high probability. The HREF peaks around a 50 percent probability of a ceiling below 1000 feet. MKK && .MARINE...An approaching frontal boundary is bringing light south to southeast winds to the area this morning. These are expected to remain light through the day. Late this afternoon a new swell is expected to build in, initially this will be 3 feet at 16 seconds combining with existing swell of 6 feet at 13 seconds. These will combine and be around 8 feet at 15 seconds Saturday morning. Winds are expected to increase on Saturday as the frontal boundary nears the area. This is expected to finally move past the area Saturday evening bringing 15 to 20 kt southerly winds. Late Saturday night and early Sunday is expected to see a brief lull in the winds between systems. Sunday afternoon southerly start to increase again ahead of the next front. These are expected to peak Sunday night into Monday morning with strong to near gale force winds. These will be the strongest in the waters north of Cape Mendocino. The NBM is showing a 15% probability of gale force winds north of Cape Mendocino. Monday night into Tuesday morning the models are showing a large swell moving into the waters peaking around 18 to 20 feet at 16 seconds. This swell is generated by a strong low currently near the Aleutians. Both the ECMWF and the GFS are in good agreement on this low deepening to around 965MB and moving into the Gulf of Alaska over the next several days. The ECMWF and GFS wave models as well as the NBM wave heights are all in good agreement on this 18 to 20 feet wave by early Tuesday morning. Still a small shift in the track of the low could result in a big difference in wave height. MKK && .EKA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CA... Frost Advisory until 8 AM PST this morning for CAZ104>106- 112-113-115. NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATERS... None. && $$ Visit us at https://www.weather.gov/eureka Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at: https://www.facebook.com/NWSEureka https://www.twitter.com/NWSEureka For forecast zone information see the forecast zone map online: https://www.weather.gov/images/eka/zonemap.png