A “moderate” Santa Ana wind event is in the forecast across the Inland Empire toward the end of this week, though meteorologists remain uncertain about the likely intensity of the winds.
“For Friday onward, offshore flow looks to return as another area of high pressure aloft builds in the eastern Pacific,” according to a National Weather Service statement. “This favors another multi-day round of Santa Anas, as well as another warming trend that pushes daily highs roughly 5 to 10 degrees warmer than normal.”
Prognostication charts published by the NWS showed high pressure ridges ringing California by Friday night, including one over the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah, influencing wind patterns through Sunday.
“(Forecast models) currently support a more moderate Santa Ana event on Saturday and Sunday across areas susceptible to easterly winds, so namely across more of the Riverside and San Diego County mountains and foothills,” the Weather Service stated.
Forecasters could not yet predict the strength of the gusts, and no wind advisories had been issued as of Monday.
According to the NWS, sunny and warmer conditions are anticipated throughout the week regionally, with highs in the Riverside metropolitan area around 80 degrees Monday to Wednesday and cooling down into the low 70s Thursday and Friday. Daytime temps for the weekend were expected to be generally the same, with lows this week in the upper 40s.
For the Coachella Valley, the temperature band was expected to be about the same, with highs peaking in the low 80s and overnight lows in the mid to upper 50s for the week, while in the Temecula Valley, the highs Monday to Wednesday are expected to hover in the mid 70s, then drop to the upper 60s for the balance of the week, with nighttime lows around 50.