Can't Seem to Break that Rex Block. Drizzle and More Drizzle Before We See Much of a Change.

Wednesday is Regatta Day.  Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay.

Yesterday a cold front passed through our region.  It shifted far enough south to provide us with a steady cold drizzle for several hours.  Some would even say its was a moderate rain.  I heard one observer call it heavy, but by most central coast standards, it was pretty light.  The good news is that today is clear, and we should see more of the same for tomorrow.  So the weekend is not a total bust, if we are in a slightly cooler than average trend.  Of course, this is a big change from the hot weather the models suggested for the holiday just over a week ago.  Just goes to show how difficult it is during seasonal transition to predict the weather even a few days out.

The current belief is that while Monday will remain clear, as large low spinning off the coast of Washington will work its way down to central California by early Tuesday.  This thing it to remain mostly offshore until it begins to dissipate and fall apart late on Wednesday.  It will then shift toward the north and east, brushing us will some cooler air.  Still, we may see sporadic showers early to mid next week, as waves move across the area.  This is especially true for areas north and slightly east of San Francisco.  Few if any showers will make their way east of the Sierra foot hills.  After that we should return to drier weather.  Some clouds remain, and it will be a while before we 70F here in Santa Cruz.  even the usual warmer spots in the South Bay and around Concord will likely remain in the 60s through next Saturday.  It is possible that we will move into a warming trend around the 6th.  Time will tell.

Pea season is in full swing.  English style.

That rain is welcome to gardens, lawns and wild brush areas.  The good news is that our usual summer desert landscape will stay greenish just a bit longer this year.  It was evident yesterday that the ground is still moist, as a fair amount of water was running through the streets.  Usually a light rain this time of year will be sucked instantly into a parched earth.  And while we are feeling cooler air than usual, it is far from cold, so it is actually great seedling weather.  The cool has also not stunted the start to stone fruit season.  Snow Angle peaches are super yummy right now, along with other varieties of peach, apriums and cherries.  We are moving into that exciting time of year for our zone.  Peas continue to be abundant. but will slowly dwindle as temperatures rise.  Expect asparagus to start disappearing, as will fava beans, over the next month.  These will be replaced by cucumbers, tomato, eggplant and an ever increasing variety of summer squash.  All in all, the market is looking prime.  And if you had a winter planting, your gardens should be producing well these next few weeks.  We continue to harvest favas, peas, chard, and broccoli.  And we are looking forward to pulling our garlic soon.

Waves keep coming here in here in Santa Cruz.  The Slot delivers.

More surf is on the way.  It never really completely went away, as small north swells have kept the waves active between the longer period south swell.  It has been windy, although the past few days have had lighter winds, at least in the mornings.  That has kept the Santa Cruz points well packed, especially over this holiday weekend.  But the real news is the arrival of the second real south of the season late in the day Tuesday.  We should see waves build to over head by sunset, with a peak in the swell Wednesday afternoon.  Better spots will see 6-8 foot faces with this one, and some power packed into the long period.  Winds, again, could be an issue on the open coast, but town should be pretty darn fun.  This one will stick around through the end of the week.  Another shows up on Saturday, albeit a bit smaller.  Still, waves for the next week plus is not a bad thing in early June, considering the south swell season usually does not ramp up until July.

For the short term, mild weather.  Sun for a few days, then cooler with clouds and light rain possible.  Sun breaks back out on Thursday and it stays mild through next Saturday.  Possible warm up starting a week from today.  But again, I've been saying that for a while, so only time will tell.