SLO County weather forecast: Windy, hot, extreme fire danger for week of Oct. 23

Here is this week’s weather forecast by PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.

Increasing high pressure over the Great Basin is forecast to produce a major Santa Lucia wind event Monday into Tuesday. These winds will produce dry and warm to hot conditions throughout the Central Coast, including the beaches.

Strong to gale-force (25- to 38-mph) Santa Lucia (offshore) winds, with gust to 45 mph, are expected Monday morning. These offshore winds could produce wind gusts of 55 mph near the Estero Bay area, especially along Highway 41 from Morro Bay High School heading toward Atascadero. These winds may also hit parts of eastern San Luis Obispo, including Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo High and French Hospital Medical Center.

These northeasterly winds will decrease to fresh to strong (19- to 31-mph) levels Tuesday, further lowering by Wednesday. Air temperatures are expected to continue to rise, reaching the low to high 90s in the coastal valleys and along the beaches Monday and Tuesday, with mild overnight lows. Note: These Santa Lucia winds, warm to hot temperatures and low relative-humidity levels will produce extreme-fire-danger conditions.

Persistent northwesterly (onshore) winds will allow the marine layer to redevelop along the coastline by Wednesday night/Thursday morning, producing cooler temperatures. A week low-pressure system is forecast to produce gentle southerly winds and mostly cloudy skies, with areas of mist and drizzle along the coastal regions Friday. The long-range charts, which are subject to change, are advertising rain from Nov. 1 through Nov. 5.

Surf report

A 7- to 9-foot northwesterly (310-degree, deep-water) swell (with a 13- to 20-second period) is forecast to arrive along our coastline Monday afternoon, increasing to 8 to 10 feet (with a 15- to 17-second period) on Tuesday. This swell will decrease to 4 to 6 feet (with an 11- to 13-second period) on Wednesday into Thursday.

Typhoon Lan will travel north along the east coast of Japan and then toward the Aleutian islands, becoming extratropical. This storm is forecast to drop to 940 millibars, with hurricane-force winds blowing over a large fetch that will stretch from the coast of Russia past the Aleutian Islands. If the numerical models verify, a 3- to 5-foot northwesterly (295-degree, deep-water) swell (with a 22- to 25-second period) will arrive along the San Luis Obispo County coastline on Friday, building to 8 to 10 feet (with a 20- to 22-second period) Saturday. This long-period swell will further increase to 9 to 11 feet (with an 18-to 20-second period) by Sunday.

Seawater temperatures will range between 52 and 56 degrees through Tuesday, increasing Wednesday into Friday.

▪  ▪  ▪ 

At PG&E, the safety of our customers and employees is our top priority. Buckling up is such a simple thing to do: It only takes two seconds, and no other single action has as much lifesaving potential. If more adults wore safety belts, their kids would, too. Besides, it’s the law.

This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "SLO County weather forecast: Windy, hot, extreme fire danger for week of Oct. 23."