We have a nice clear start to the morning with morning lows near the low 50s at the coast and low to mid-40s for the valleys.
Looking ahead to the afternoon, mostly sunny skies will persist, and temperatures will trend above average for the inland valleys. Onshore flow will develop today, bringing breezy westerly winds to our mountains but bigger changes are coming tomorrow through Thursday.
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The combination of strong, gusty winds, along with very low humidity and dry vegetation, will elevate the fire danger. As a result, a Fire Weather Watch will be in effect from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday. Any fire that starts has the potential to spread rapidly.
Northeasterly to easterly winds could gust from 25 mph-50 mph during this time.
Weather
Some of the areas with the strongest forecasted winds include Oceanside, Ramona, El Cajon, Alpine, Campo, Mt. Laguna, Julian, Borrego Spring, and Ocotillo Wells. We could also see breezy conditions near downtown, too.
Critical fire weather will peak Wednesday as humidity levels drop 10-20%.
As we know, Southern California is off to a very dry start to the water year (Oct. 1). Santa Ana winds are very common during January, but what isn’t common is how dry it is. SD International Airport only had 0.01’’ of measurable rain for December. Meantime, much of Southern California is now in the Moderate Drought (D1) category as we go into this first full week of 2025. All of these forecast components elevate our fire weather threat Tuesday through Thursday.
Our dry weather pattern will continue but thankfully the snowpack is better than normal. Most of the storms this season have been targeting the central and northern parts of California with healthy amounts of snow. Click here for a look at the latest report.
MONDAY
- Coast: Mostly sunny - mid to upper 60s
- Valleys: Mostly sunny - mid to low 70s
- Mountains: Mostly sunny & breezy - low 60s
- Desert: Sunny - mid-70s
