Drizzle could dampen Southern California on Monday and Tuesday before a heat wave arrives just in time for Mother’s Day weekend — possibly pushing the thermometer to 90 degrees in downtown L.A. on Sunday.
Light rain is most likely across the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and neighboring foothills and along the Central Coast, but totals should remain under a quarter of an inch, the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said, “with many areas getting little to no rain.”
Expect cloudy and cool conditions, similar to a “very deep marine-like layer,” the weather service said. “Temperatures will remain well below normal with highs mostly in the 60s.”
Downtown L.A. and Burbank might top out at 67 degrees Monday. That’s under the average of 73 for May 4 for downtown, and the average of 75 for Burbank, according to meteorologist Andrew Rorke of the weather service’s Oxnard office.
Elsewhere on Monday, San Clemente could have a high of 64 degrees; Los Angeles International Airport and Escondido, 66; Oceanside, Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego, 67; Anaheim, 68; Long Beach and Irvine, 69; and Woodland Hills, 70.
Up to one-tenth of an inch of rain between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon is possible for Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego. Other parts of San Diego County could get a bit more, such as Oceanside, which could get about one-third of an inch of rain.
There’s a chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada and Central Valley on Monday and Tuesday, and snow in some mountain passes in Mono County. The San Francisco Bay Area also has a slight chance of light rain and drizzle, with more substantial wetting rains — up to half an inch — possible in the North Bay from Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Temperatures start warming up by Wednesday, with the heat coming on full blast by Friday. On Mother’s Day, there’s about a 50% chance of 90-degree temperatures in downtown L.A., and 100 degrees in the neighboring valleys.
The San Diego valleys could have highs in the 80s; the Inland Empire, near 90; and the lower deserts, more than 100 degrees, the weather service office in San Diego said.
That’s enough for a moderate risk, across Southern California, of heat-related illness for pets, livestock and people who are sensitive to heat.
By Saturday, the Central Valley could experience temperatures in the 90s, with Bakersfield and Fresno hitting 92; Sacramento, 91; and Stockton, 90.
On Mother’s Day, the San Francisco Bay shoreline could experience highs in the 70s to mid-80s, with Silicon Valley and the inland East Bay valleys reaching the lower 90s.
Starting on Tuesday just east of California’s North Coast, there’s a slight chance of thunderstorms. Across the North Coast area, warmer-than-average temperatures are expected to arrive later this week.
California is expected to have above-average temperatures in early May.
(Climate Prediction Center)
Expect the heat to continue. Temperatures in California are expected to be above average through mid-May, according to the Climate Prediction Center.
That would follow the hottest March ever on record for California, as well as nine other states — Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. It was also the hottest March for the contiguous United States in 132 years of recordkeeping.
