A fast-moving storm front is expected to churn up winds and produce scattered rain across the Inland Empire Thursday, abruptly followed by a strong Santa Ana wind event, according to the National Weather Service.
The agency issued a wind advisory from 3 p.m. Thursday to 3 p.m. Friday, predicting winds ranging from 30 to 40 mph, with gusts to 75 mph in some locations.
According to the Weather Service, a trough of low pressure will sweep into the region from the Gulf of Alaska Thursday morning, dragging moisture with it, though not in copious amounts.
“It will have enough available moisture to generate a few showers,” according to the NWS. “Of greater impact will be the Santa Ana winds behind the trough. They will be strongest in the San Bernardino Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Inland Empire and parts of Orange County. Gusts of 40 to 60 mph are likely, with peak gusts of 65 to 75 mph in the most wind-prone sites.”
The Santa Ana conditions will ensue as the low is replaced by a ridge of high pressure settling over the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah, according to prognostication charts published by the NWS.
The ridge will hold in place into the weekend, when it gives way to another low, but no further precipitation is on the horizon because wet weather slated to reach California Monday night is expected to roll east from central California, without dipping farther south, forecast models showed.
High temperatures in the Riverside metropolitan area are expected to be in the mid 60s Thursday, with lows in the mid 40s. Highs will top out in the upper 70s Friday to Sunday, with lows in the upper 40s, forecasters said.
In the Coachella Valley, highs will be in the low 70s Thursday, and the mercury will steadily rise, with highs in the low to mid 80s Friday to Sunday, and lows in the mid 50s. In the Temecula Valley, temperatures will peak in the low 60s Thursday, with highs in the low to mid 70s Friday to Sunday, and lows in the mid 40s, according to the Weather Service.