Fair Weather for Now. Cold and Wet By Week's End.

The next few days are to continue with the sunny and fair weather. Tomorrow, Monday, looks to be the warmest of the coming week, with up to 80F expected in Mountain View. Mid 70s in San Francisco and coastal locations, as well as the central valley. Temperatures and weather to remain moderate through mid week, with daily highs dropping a few degrees daily through next weekend.

The big news is the change of weather expected to arrive later in the week, as early as Thursday. Poor weather potential really increases by Saturday night. A cold Alaskan air mass is to begin moving slowly down the coast starting around Tuesday. The storm is to sit and gather strength in the Gulf of Alaska, as cold Arctic air pumps into its core. This system is to hold together and bring rain to the coast and snow to the mountains of California later in the week.. And, yes, this one is very cold. By next Monday we could potentially see snow levels dropping to around 3000', giving the Bay Area some snow capped hills.

Thursday should be the day we begin to see the shift in the weather, with increasing winds later in the day, and a high temperature earlier in the day, as cold air begins to usher in. A chance of rain on Friday, as winds continue with dropping temperatures. Saturday is a repeat of Friday, with a slightly greater chance of rain. It looks like the brunt of this system will hit us on Sunday and into Monday. Plan for a wet commute on Monday (with a chance on Friday as well).

This is potentially the first big storm of the season for the high Sierra, and could be a season opener for the resorts. There is already 6-30" of snow in the mountains (deepest at the crest). If this next storm comes to pass, we could see the addition of 2-5 more feet of snow. This could be the first time since 2004 that we had significant snow for the Thanksgiving holiday. And, if we are to believe the models, the holiday will be beautiful and clear. Currently, the fantasy charts end the month with another whopper of a storm, arriving around Monday (29th).

This week in surf, swells continue in the moderate range, with the best in quality looking to be about Wednesday morning. Winds are to be a bit of an issue, with strong NW winds forecasted Monday and Tuesday. We get a bit of a lighter, more variable wind for Wednesday, before the S/SW winds begin to churn up ahead of Friday's system. By the weekend, we can expect a little bit of victory at sea.

As for the gardens, this is a good afternoon to get out and take care of any yard work. Next weekend looks like a wash, and a cold one at that. If you have any young and/or tender plants, it may be a good idea to get out a few floating row covers. We had been hoping to see some of our sumer squash put out a little bit of a fall crop, but I think these plants may not do too well with this approaching system. Typical over winter vegetables should be fine, as the coldest weather should be brief, with some rebound as early as Tuesday. And don't forget to get your garlic in the ground, if you have not already done so. If you wait to long, you'll end up with small bulbs and small cloves that you will curse all summer long.