If you want sunshine and warmth, don’t travel to southern California next week.
Stay in the sunny Pacific Northwest, where the weather will be almost as perfect as one can imagine.
Much colder than normal water is found off the West Coast from Oregon to Baja, and southern California is cold and cloudy (see satellite image visible a day ago). gloomy June+
Sea surface temperature
This is the most recent chart of sea surface temperatures along the West Coast, with large areas below 50F (purple, below 10C). Too cold to swim in!
Much of the offshore waters are below normal, as indicated by the blues below.
Why is coastal water so cool? Perhaps, two reasons.
First, there have been persistent, unseasonal low pressure areas that have formed off the coast of southern California.
To illustrate, the upper elevation at 500 hPa (think about 18,000 ft pressure) this morning is shown below. A nice low with counterclockwise traffic located just off the coast of southern California. Such lows are associated with stronger winds and atmospheric turbulence stirring up the ocean above, mixing cooler water from below to the surface.
And then there were periods of high pressure forming offshore and northerly winds developing over the waters north of CA and Oregon. This pattern results in cold water upwelling to the coast within 100 miles or more of the shore (see diagram of coastal upwelling below).
Unfortunately for the frigid residents of coastal California, strong arctic winds will develop offshore this week as an area of strong high pressure forms over the northeastern Pacific Ocean (see pressure forecast and wind for Sunday).
It would be like placing a refrigerator element along the West Coast!
San Diego and LA Chill
To understand how bad it was, look at the observed temperatures in San Diego (blue bars show daily highs and lows), compared to the normal range (brown bands), highs and lows. The record low is also displayed.
All days but two days do not reach the normal high. The low for most of the day fell below the normal low. NO heat waves.
And the cold situation (with rain, by the way) is not over yet. Here are the latest extended temperature predictions for Los Angeles Airport. Not a single day above the mid-60s. Boring and cold.
During the same time period, Seattle will have temperatures from the 80s to the mid 70s, with enough variation to make it interesting.
I suspect you’ll find the front page of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce website reflects the new weather reality:
Note: this is not an actual page, but a fanciful simulation of one.
