Frost Watch inland for SLO County, High Wind Warning for Santa Barbara County

Weather headlines:

-Large systems moving through the western United States will bring multiple episodes of strong to damaging winds and dangerous fire weather conditions to portions of California over the next few days.

-The forecast will remain mostly dry through next week.

Detailed forecast:

Significant jet energy is propagating through the back of an upper trough early this weekend and slowly shifting eastward across the Great Basin.

A jet streak will enter the base of the trough Saturday evening and move over Arizona on Sunday, leaving Southern California with extensive surface hill formation from the Central California Valley to the Central Great Basin.

Strong upper-level support and offshore pressure gradients will produce damaging wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph from the northwest to north on Sunday from the I-5 corridor through the Ventura County Mountains to the Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains and the eastern Santa Ynez Range this evening into Sunday afternoon.

As a result, a High Wind Warning has been issued for Santa Barbara County until 6 p.m. Sunday.

On Sunday, the eastward shift of the surface ridge across the central Great Basin will rotate more offshore.

Winds will again shift toward the northeast, with stronger winds concentrated in wind-prone areas in Santa Ana.

Slope drying in this pattern, combined with the strong to damaging winds, results in critical fire weather conditions.

Light to moderate winds are expected to weaken Monday through Tuesday.

Minimal day-to-day temperature changes are expected, with a slight warming trend early next week.

High temperatures are expected to be above 70 degrees in most areas through Tuesday.

Combined with the aforementioned expansion of surface ridges amid the drying deep layer profile, abundant nighttime radiative cooling will result in Sunday evening low temperatures reaching the 30-32°F range, creating a freeze watch for the southern Salinas Valley, interior San Luis valleys Obispo County, justified. and the Antelope Valley.

Otherwise, the severe drying out caused by subsidence prevents the formation of precipitation.