National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Critical Fire Weather Conditions Continue for Southern California; Much Colder in the Central and Eastern U.S.

Critical fire weather conditions will continue for coastal southern California through today due to moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds. Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warnings remain in effect. Cold temperatures continue today from the Midwest to the central Appalachians, with a brief warm up for the end of the week. Another Arctic cold snap is expected over the weekend. Read More >

ZOA CWSU Discussion KSFO TAF TDA
AWAITING CWSU INPUT
TAF TDA

KSFO/KSQL METAR
METAR
Area PIREPs
PIREP
   
Satellite Webcams, Ceiling≤030 Prob
Webcams

Click here to reload map


SIERRA 03 Hour Forecast SIERRA 12 Hour Forecast SIGMETs
TANGO 03 Hour Forecast TANGO 12 Hour Forecast
ZULU 03 Hour Forecast ZULU 12 Hour Forecast
Area Forecast Discussion Forecast Maps

286
FXUS66 KMTR 151124
AFDMTR

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Francisco CA
324 AM PST Wed Jan 15 2025

...New AVIATION, MARINE, BEACHES...

.SYNOPSIS...
Issued at 1054 PM PST Tue Jan 14 2025

Mostly clear skies, dry weather, light winds, cold mornings and
mild afternoons will continue through the week.

&&

.SHORT TERM...
(Tonight through Thursday)
Issued at 1054 PM PST Tue Jan 14 2025

While low elevation temperatures are running a degree or two
colder than 24 hours ago, surface dew points are around 5 degrees
higher than last night. This will put a limit on the cooling
tonight, as moist air cools much less efficiently than dry air.
As a result, the minimum temps will be a few degrees higher than
yesterday and there may be some mist in the air near river
valleys. Despite this, it will still be a chilly start across the
Bay Area and Central Coast with temperatures dropping into the
upper 30s and low 40s across the Bay Area, and down to the low 30s
across inland portions of the Central Coast. After the chilly
start, it will be another beautiful day with plenty of sunshine,
high temps in the 60s and light winds.

&&

.LONG TERM...
(Thursday night through next Tuesday)
Issued at 1054 PM PST Tue Jan 14 2025

There are some interesting developments in the long term forecast.
The overall pattern continues to be dominated by high pressure
offshore, and Wednesday and Thursday will be very similar to
the previous few days. By Friday, a weak cold front will move
through from the north, bringing cooler temperatures and some
clouds (no rain) back to the Bay Area skies. The 1000-500 mb
thickness and 850 mb temperature will only drop slightly, but the
disturbance will bring the return of onshore flow, and even a
marine layer. Remember the marine layer? The cold front will also
cause the max and min temps to drop, and more widespread frost
advisories are expected this weekend into early next week. The
onshore wind won`t last long. While the uncertainty balloons by
Saturday, it looks like there will be a return to offshore winds.
There is now a bi-modal solution in the ensemble guidance
regarding how strong these winds will be. The deterministic SJSU
2km WRF with GFS boundary conditions shows the SFO-WMC gradient
dropping below -18 mb by Monday. This would bring critical
offshore winds with hydraulic jumps and gusts in the 60-80 mph
range. However, a peak at the ensemble solutions show roughly 50%
support for this high end event, with the other members much less
aggressive, huddled around -4 mb. There are no solutions in the
vast gap between these two. This makes the forecast extremely
tricky. On one hand, it might make sense to split the difference
and go with the ensemble mean. The problem is that the mean has no
support in the individual solutions. The other option is to pick
one of the 2 extremes and message the uncertainty. That`s what we
will do for now. I am going with the weak scenario since it has
been more consistent in previous model runs. However, this new
emerging solution is too strong to ignore, so we will begin
messaging the possibility of very strong offshore winds. Just know
it can still go either way. While there is plenty of time for the
guidance to change, right now it looks like the winds will either
be gentle or just about as strong as they get on Monday. Stay
tuned.

If you`re here to see if it`s going to rain anytime soon, it`s
not. We`re looking dry through the end of next week, at least.

&&

.AVIATION...
(12Z TAFS)
Issued at 320 AM PST Wed Jan 15 2025

Generally VFR with some patchy fog (IFR to MVFR) in the N Bay.
Winds generally light and variable/to drainage flow. Patchy fog
again Thursday morning.

Vicinity of SFO...VFR.

SFO Bridge Approach...Similar to SFO.

Monterey Bay Terminals...VFR.

&&

.MARINE...
(Today through Monday)
Issued at 320 AM PST Wed Jan 15 2025

High pressure to the north will keep light and variable winds over
the coastal waters. Winds will ultimately become more northerly
by Thursday. Northerly winds will gradually increase on Friday
and persist into the weekend. Seas will build over the weekend
with increasing winds.

&&

.BEACHES...
Issued at 322 AM PST Wed Jan 15 2025

Still some energetic surf zone early on Wednesday with a moderate
period northwest swell. The northwest swell will gradually
subside later Wednesday. There is a slight risk of sneaker waves.
Remember to never turn your back on the ocean.

&&

.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...Frost Advisory until 9 AM PST this morning for CAZ516>518.

PZ...None.
&&

$$

SHORT TERM...Flynn
LONG TERM....Flynn
AVIATION...MM
MARINE...MM

Visit us at www.weather.gov/sanfrancisco

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube at:
www.facebook.com/nwsbayarea
www.twitter.com/nwsbayarea
www.youtube.com/nwsbayarea




   Select:      24HR Change/Gradients  |  Forecast Gradients   
OSO001
   Select:      MOS/BUFKIT  |  HREF Ceiling  |  WRF RH  |  WRF Ceiling  |  NBM MOS  |  LAMP MOS   






Yesterday ⇛Visible  ⇛Nighttime  ⇛GeoColor+GLM Today
 
24-Hour Temp Change 24-Hour RH Change

⇛Visible  ⇛Nighttime  ⇛GeoColor+GLM

Webcams