SLO County weather forecast for the week of Jan. 14: More rain is coming
San Luis Obispo County saw plenty of rain last week, and more is on the way.
A series of surface lows and frontal systems will move into the Central Coast starting Monday and continuing into Thursday. The first low-pressure system will produce strong to gale-force (25 to 38 mph) winds and rain showers on Monday.
Total rainfall amounts are forecast to range between 0.25 and 0.50 of an inch.
Another, stronger system will produce periods of moderate gale-force to fresh gale-force (32 to 46 mph with gust 50 mph) southerly winds along our coastline and moderate to heavy rain throughout the Central Coast, especially along the southerly facing slopes.
Tuesday’s storm is expected to produce between 1.25 and 2.50 inches of rain.
The third and most intense of the low-pressure systems will generate gale-force to fresh gale-force (32 to 46 mph with gust 55 mph) southerly winds along our coastline later on Wednesday into Thursday morning.
That system is forecast to produce between 1.50 and 4.00 inches of rain with higher amounts in the Santa Lucia mountains.
If forecast models verify, between 3 and 7 inches of rain is forecast Sunday evening through Thursday with Big Sur receiving as much as 10 inches of rain over this period.
The strongest winds and heaviest rain is expected on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Please see https://twitter.com/pge_johnfor rainfall graphics.
Looking ahead to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Santa Lucia (northeasterly) winds, dry weather and mostly clear to partly cloudy skies are forecast, with generally above-average daily temperatures.
Surf Report
A prolonged period of gale-force southerly winds along our coastline will continue through Thursday. These winds will generate 6- to 8-foot (180-degree, shallow-water) seas from Sunday night into Thursday.
Combined with these southerly seas will be a 7- to 9-foot northwesterly (295-degree, deep-water) swell (with a 13- to 23-second period) Sunday afternoon and night, increasing to 10 to 12 feet (with an 18- to 20-second period) on Monday.
This northwesterly swell will decrease to 9 to 11 feet (with a 16- to 18-second period) on Tuesday.
An 8- to 10-foot northwesterly (295-degree, deep-water) swell (with a 15- to 19-second period) is forecast along our coastline on Wednesday.
A 13- to 15-foot west-northwesterly (285-degree, deep-water) swell (with a 16- to 18-second period) is forecast along our coastline on Thursday, decreasing to 11 to 13 feet (with a 14- to 16-second period) on Friday.
High-swell conditions should continue through the following week.
This week’s temperatures
LOWS AND HIGHS, PASO ROBLES
MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
45, 55 | 47, 56 | 48, 59 | 46, 58 | 41, 60 | 40, 60 | 38, 62 |
LOWS AND HIGHS, SLO AND COASTAL VALLEYS
MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
50, 58 | 50, 59 | 52, 61 | 50, 60 | 45, 63 | 45, 63 | 45, 63 |
John Lindsey’s column is special to The Tribune. He is PG&E’s Diablo Canyon marine meteorologist and a media relations representative. Email him at pgeweather@pge.com or follow him on Twitter: @PGE_John.
This story was originally published January 13, 2019 at 2:43 PM.