Video Forecast: From Fog to Gusty Winds This Week

Patchy dense fog will again slow the morning commute especially for areas near the water / inner bay through 9-10am Monday.A weather system moving over us into tomorrow morning will hopefully mix down drier air during the afternoon, encouraging a little more sunshine and modest warming inland. But for now ? the fog just seems to keep winning the battle esp. in the North/East Bay valleys thanks to a light offshore breeze pumping in that cooler, foggy air from the Sacramento/Stockton areas.Windy by MidweekA compact weather system will drop over us and down the Sierra on Wednesday with the pressure gradient really stacking up by Wednesday evening. Winds near 5000 feet will be N/NE close to 70 mph but for Bay Area hills that speed will probably drop into the 35-50 mph gust range. That said, possibly damaging wind issues are possible into Thursday morning with power outages and the possibility for an uptick in fire danger due to drier, gusty conditions. It will likely not be warmer though ? cold air is the driving force behind the blast of wind ? so even with downsloping effects ? we?ll probably still see lower 60s for highs (possibly warmer near the coast)?but at least the fog should be mostly scoured out.Long Range ? Unusually DryAll signs in the extended models reaching out to nearly Dec 13th look dry for the Bay Area with only a few chances for showers closer to that date, but for the far North Bay in the form of scattered showers…if that. This will likely send us out of Fall with rainfall and Sierra snowpack totals below average for this time of year.I hope you enjoy your Monday and remember to keep a close on the wind forecast around midweek. – Rob Mayeda