A bicyclist enjoys a ride along the Bay Trail as the stormy weather breaks up in Foster City, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016. The weather is expected to be mostly sunny for the next few days. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)
If November was a month marked by rain, December has fast been defined by fog that’s accompanied bone-chilling temperatures.
This week, one of those elements is expected to undergo a change.
“It’s gonna be high and dry,” National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle said Monday morning. “We are going to have some warming up. Parts of our forecast area will be in the mid-70s by the middle of the week. It’s not a heat wave, but it’s going to be well above normal.”
Those warmer temperatures will develop thanks to a ridge of high barometric pressure that’s been building above the state. Mehle said that ridge is “gaining strength” and that it’s biggest Bay Area effect will be on the Central Coast and areas of the South Bay, including Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
That said, the higher pressure will not wipe out completely the tule fog that has enveloped areas of the region since last week. Mehle said conditions remain in place for the fog, and that’s it’s likely to blanket the East Bay valleys through the San Joaquin Delta, as well as parts of the South Bay and North Bay valleys.
Those areas are expected to have temperatures that remain cold, though not as chilly as they were a week ago when temperatures in some area never escaped the 40s. Temperatures early this week are expected to reach the high 50s and possibly the low 60s in the warmest spots of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The fog is not expected to be as thick, nor is it expected to produce an all-day blanket.
“It should thin out by late in the afternoons,” Mehle said. “It’s also not supposed to be as thick as we’ve seen it can be. In the Central Valley.”
Mehle said the visibility should remain anywhere from one to three miles.
“And it should get less and less as we move through the week,” he said.
As the fog lessens, the chance that rain could make its way into the Bay Area pattern may increase, Mehle said. After four storms rolled through the region in November, the Bay Area entered the week having gone 17 days without precipitation.
“We do have rain in the forecast, but that’s not until Sunday,” he said. “Even that is low-confidence at this point.”
What will not lessen are the hazards at the coastal beaches. The weather service said more sneaker waves and powerful rip tides are expected up and down the California coast and advised people to be extremely cautious this week.
“It’s still gonna be dangerous,” Mehle said. “We want people to be aware that those hazards haven’t lessened.”
Originally published at Rick Hurd