Breezy Around the Bay Today; Rain May Hold Off Until Monday/ Tuesday

Gusty winds out there this morning.  Use caution when crossing bridges or driving on high ridge lines.  Winds are blowing out of the north at over 25mph with gust up and over 35mph.  That is a strong breeze.  Expect a fair amount of branches to fall and debris in general blowing around.  If you have a yard, and trees, later this week may be an opportune time to do a little raking before the next round of rain.  Avoid the mountains today if you can, as strong NE winds are continuing to blow.  While today is not seeing as strong of a breeze (or wind) as last Tuesday, it is notable that we have seen fairly consistent east winds over the crest for a week now.  I sure is balmy up there, but things will moderate later in the week.

Cold as well today.  This wind is the result of out high pressure system shifting into north, occupying Oregon and western Great Basin.  This is creating a local gradient, ushering in cold breezes.  Today will struggle to reach 60F (and it will feel colder with wind chill), while yesterday saw 73F here in Santa Cruz.  Can't complain too much about the coming weather, just because it has been so fantastic the last few weeks, and especially the last four days.  I hope you all made the most of it while it lasted.  We will have a short reprieve this Thursday and Friday, with calmer conditions and high 60s projected for the coast and high 40s in the Sierra.  Windy conditioned return on Saturday, and the cold ushers in for a longer stay on Sunday.

The PNA has now moved negative and the NOA positive, and the storm door is opening.  As the west coast high pressure is shifting north and east, an new one is forming just east of the dateline and a bit south of the Aleutian Islands.  This will allow for low pressures to move below the higher pressure and right into the California coast.  The first system to run into the cost, late on Saturday, will get slowed and weakened by the exiting high pressure.  In a sense, this first system is to open the door. It will bring colder air for Sunday and a little rain may trickle in, but mainly to our north.  Marin is the most likely to receive rain on Sunday, and that looks light at best.

With the door propped open on Sunday, the real storms are expected to arrive some time around Tuesday.  Exact timing of the waves is still a few days off for forecasting. Still expect heavy rains, cold air and strong winds (you remember those stormy conditions, right?) and two distinct waves of weather between Tuesday and Friday of next week.  Several inches of rain, and snow measured in feet is what is expected.  Air should be relatively cold with this system, but right now we are not expecting any snow in the bay area hills.  The PNA is forecasted to dip even further negative through the month, so we are not expecting any lengthy ridge to sit upon us and break up the storms.  We can expect a fairly stormy period through the end of February and into March.

Get your yards and gardens in order.  If you made any new plantings in the past few weeks, take a good look at your seedlings.  Are they well established and hardy?  If not (or you are not too sure), you may want to consider some sort of element protection such as a floating row cover, or a make shift Visgueen green house.  It should not be too cold with the first set of systems, but the following week looks like it may make an arctic (cold) and tropical (wet) tap.  Better be a little over cautious, than loose a spring's crop.  We have some young peas just breaking ground and plan to build them a small hot house to live in the next month.  The favas are just loving life right now, in full bloom, and looking great.  Hoping those weather the storms well.

Yesterday I mentioned that citrus is doing well.  Have you ever had a Cara Cara orange?  They are truly majestic, with a lighter colored flesh than the navel and just the right amount of sweet.  How about a Blood orange?  Another beauty, with deep red colored flesh (and again, just the right amount of sweet).  Both are at their peak right now, and available in local groceries and farmer's markets.  They combine really well with roasted beets, shaved fennel and avocado (all in season locally) in a salad over winter greens.  You don't even need dressing, just squeeze some OJ, drizzle a nice olive oil and sprinkle a little sea salt.

Cold and windy today.  Mild and warming through Friday.  Winds on Saturday, cold on Sunday and slight chance of rain over the weekend.  After that it is storm city.  Wax up the powder boards and break out the rain gear.  Winter is back.