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2018 California/Southwest Weather Thread


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Guest happ

You feel the coolness in the air even when it is sunny. May 2015 & 2016 were below average but wet in 2015.  Only 4 days 80+ for entire month 2 yrs ago; quite a bit warmer this year but May Day broke low maximum records.

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Laguna Beach: 69/49, San Diego: 70/61.

 

What happened to the moderating effect of the ocean water at Laguna Beach overnight?

 

Laguna Beach is surrounded by hills and these types of areas are susceptible to relatively colder air draining off the hills since cold air is denser and heavier than warm air. It is possible that this weather station in Laguna Beach is right up next to the hills in which there is more cold air drainage in times when the onshore flow is weak, resulting in colder readings. When the onshore flow is stronger, the relatively warmer air off the ocean probably mixes with the cooler air descending from the hills, resulting in milder readings.

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Yesterday messed up our chance to have 7 straight days of below normal high temperatures, but we begin a new streak today.

 

I remember one year in spring to early summer, Downtown L.A. had a streak of at least 40 below normal days, though some were within one to two degrees of the normal high.

 

I will bet that was either 2010 or 2011 when we had the really cool summers before the heat really cranked up for 2012 and beyond.

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Guest happ

Laguna Beach is surrounded by hills and these types of areas are susceptible to relatively colder air draining off the hills since cold air is denser and heavier than warm air. It is possible that this weather station in Laguna Beach is right up next to the hills in which there is more cold air drainage in times when the onshore flow is weak, resulting in colder readings. When the onshore flow is stronger, the relatively warmer air off the ocean probably mixes with the cooler air descending from the hills, resulting in milder readings.

 

Astute explanation :)

 

Colder ocean temps can play a role. Once I went to Thousand Steps beach in Laguna to check out the sea caves and was surprised how much cooler the water was compared to Huntington. Steep rocky coastline versus level terrain. Same thing in La Jolla. We swam in the morning at Mission beach/ San Diego and then got a hotel in La Jolla on a very warm/ humid day. SST could have been 10° cooler in the coves.

 

1000 Step is a fun beach. 

Google Hiking Trails

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Guest happ

Slight chance low clouds could clear up somewhat temporarily, but that would just produce another stratocumulus deck.

 

Are reverse springs a new feature of climate change?

 

Last spring was quite warm like so many over the past 6 years. May 2010/ 2011 were cool [mean: 65] but average max this month is like May 2015/ 2016 around 73-74. I don't see much in the models that suggests a cool/ cloudy summer.   

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Semi-reverse clearing pattern today. Just imagine how much more rain we could have got if we had this persistent troughing pattern December to March. Then again, even the long period of cold weather from late February to mid March did not bring much rain.

 

I am really surprised we didn't get bigger storms from late February on into March. I don't know why it didn't happen, unless the trough was just a bit too far east for storms to have a more over-water trajectory.

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Foothill Ranch shows temperatures getting up to 70 F by around noon, then the convective stratocumulus built up and sent temperatures plummeting to a bone chilling (for California) 61 F. Then it went back up to 65 F as some unknown feature caused the low clouds to temporarily evaporate.

 

I was at my cousin's house in Trabuco Canyon today, and it was so cool that I needed to wear a vest outside this afternoon. It was rather cloudy with a deep marine layer today with some drizzle in places and even some rain around Camp Pendleton.

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I seriously do not understand why it can be so cold from May to the middle or sometimes end of June and then suddenly it gets hot and summerlike by early July. If it were not for the 4 corners high I would bet our summers would be a lot more like San Francisco.

 

Also every year I have more and more reason to believe one of the main features of climate change is persistent blocking patterns that cause some places to be stuck under ridges for weeks or months and have record heat and drought while other areas stuck under troughs get record cold, rain, or snow or May Gray.

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Guest happ

I seriously do not understand why it can be so cold from May to the middle or sometimes end of June and then suddenly it gets hot and summerlike by early July. If it were not for the 4 corners high I would bet our summers would be a lot more like San Francisco.

 

Also every year I have more and more reason to believe one of the main features of climate change is persistent blocking patterns that cause some places to be stuck under ridges for weeks or months and have record heat and drought while other areas stuck under troughs get record cold, rain, or snow or May Gray.

 

"Cold" is subjective especially in May. Yesterday's mean [63°] here was 2 heating degree days. Average mean for May is 67-68° or 2-3 daily cooling degree days. Hardly earth-shattering. It is interesting that July is close to 7 degrees warmer than June; the largest difference between any months.

 

Often there are published articles/ discussions on the effects of global warming in California on Swain's blog. I'm waiting for the "precipitation whiplash" of consistent atmospheric rivers. Wouldn't it be great to have a very wet summer? [much better than 2015].  

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"Cold" is subjective especially in May. Yesterday's mean [63°] here was 2 heating degree days. Average mean for May is 67-68° or 2-3 daily cooling degree days. Hardly earth-shattering. It is interesting that July is close to 7 degrees warmer than June; the largest difference between any months.

 

Often there are published articles/ discussions on the effects of global warming in California on Swain's blog. I'm waiting for the "precipitation whiplash" of consistent atmospheric rivers. Wouldn't it be great to have a very wet summer? [much better than 2015].

 

A somewhat wet and warm summer would be OK, where the source of rain is monsoonal moisture and of course not wet every day, but more Hawaii-like and not like the cold rain we always get, and by wet I mean some days with monsoonal moisture and thunderstorms west of the mountains.

 

Then when we had that dying atmospheric river in mid-April, even though is was pretty solid overcast, you could feel the tropical origin of the air. Much warmer than this May Gray marine layer.

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Guest happ

North Pacific storms never make it this far south during summer. Persistent troffiness like the summer of 2010 strengthens coastal low clouds. It's all relative to comfort. July 2010 was the coolest recorded here in 24 years but maximum was still in the 80's.  

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