Heres a new meteorological mouthful for us all to chew on: monsoonal moisture.
Born each summer in the deserts of the Southwest and Baja California, this weather phenomenon usually hangs out to the south. This week, though, the Bay Area is getting a small dose of the stuff.
On Wednesday morning, parts of the East Bay near Livermore got a taste of the soft wet air, including a few drops of actual rain on the ground.
“Monsoonal moisture comes up from the desert and the Gulf of California, and this time it moved all the way north into the Bay Area,” said Spencer Tanger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. “We saw some isolated showers in the East Bay, but the moistures not reaching the ground because its pretty dry.”
Tanger said that thunderstorms “caused by a combination of that moisture coming in from the south and also a water system to our west” could pop up Wednesday afternoon in the East Bay, the Peninsula, the North Bay and the Santa Cruz mountains.
Throw in high clouds, a bit of muggy humidity and dry thunderstorms — and youve got the makings of a eclectic summer day in Northern California.
“There is still much uncertainty as to how far south the potential for thunderstorms is,” according to the NWS forecast for Wednesday. “Dry air near the surface should reduce chances for precipitation making it to the ground. Temperatures today are expected to be similar to Tuesday, but by Thursday the cooling trend will continue for the Bay Area and last through the weekend. Longer range models show a slight warming trend expected for the beginning of next week.”
