Okay folks, here we go.  Another interesting week we have on tap.  When we woke up this morning, just back from south of the border, my wife looked out the window, and commented on how it looked like summer out.  And it kind of feels like it.  Except the wind is not quite coming up to summer time proportions as the fog pulls out.  Which is nice, as we had some small swell in the water today.  Have you ever noticed how cold the water around here is?  Luckily, the air warmed up into the upper 60s when the sun popped out around 11AM.  More of the same tomorrow, with possibly even lighter winds and a touch warmer air.  Then on Tuesday, we see more fog, but clouds fill in through the day, so we likely will not see afternoon sunshine.  And cool air moves down the coast, along with an approaching storm system.

Mid winter flowers bloom in Santa Cruz.  While not Mexico, it sure is pretty nice here too.

Wednesday will be cool, and wet.  We could see rain move in the early morning hours, but I imagine that would be mostly in the north part of the region, in the hills and splotchy.  Precipitation spreads over the region late morning, and becomes widespread by afternoon.  Snow in the Sierra.  About a foot will fall by Thursday morning.  Here in town we could be looking at over half an inch, more in the local mountains.  San Francisco and Marin will likely see over three fourths of an inch, and areas north could get an inch or more, with the bullseye around Point Arena.  Not a whole ton of water, but very much welcome.  Rain will spread south through the state down to about Point Conception.  Wednesday will be in the upper 50s and the night will be in the mid to upper 40s.  Thursday will be drier, but we still have a chance of rain.  Low 60s.  Another storm is hot on the tails of this first one, so don't expect too much clearing.

Right now it looks like the entire state will get a pretty wet system hitting starting early Friday and lasting through Saturday.  Several inches of rain forecast from the north coast well down past Point Conception, with rain falling down in northern Baja.  About a half inch in L.A., which is really good news.  The storm will be driving south and not getting to far inland.  Maybe another foot for the Sierra.  Some forecasts suggest more with a total of three or more feet at the best locations along the crest from the two storms.  Good for water and good for ski resorts if that comes to pass.  And another system is slated for Sunday into Monday.  Timing on that still a bit too far out to tell with much accuracy.  After the third storm, we should see some clearing and return to high pressure.  In short, rain off and on starting overnight on Tuesday and lasting for a week.  Hey, it almost sounds like winter.  What ever that is these days.