One More Day in the 90s Likely Before a Cooldown into Next Week

Even warmer today as Palm Springs experiences it’s second day of the year in the 90s… February is still fairly early for the 90s—even for the Coachella Valley. We broke the record for warmest/maximum low temps after morning temps didn't even fall out of the 50s earlier today.

Temperatures rose a few degrees more this afternoon, with our warming trend expected to linger through Wednesday as an upper-level ridge builds in. 

Today marks our 11th consecutive day with unusually warm temperatures. In fact, we've seen 21 of our 25 days thus far for February have all been above average. When we factor in January, we've seen ~65% of the year with daytime highs above where we should be.

Just looking at the most recent few years, we've been averaging that first day in the 90s in mid March.

This means at or near-record temperatures continuing across the region with highs in the 80s to 90s for inland areas, 60s to 70s for the mountains, and 90s for the Coachella Valley. 

Late Wednesday night into Thursday, Santa Ana winds will bring minor cooling, particularly for inland areas, but most of our coastal areas stay pretty warm. Winds could gust up to 35-45 mph through mainly mountain passes and coastal slopes. I’m concerned about critically dry conditions with humidity levels dropping below 15% east of the coasts, heightening our wildfire risk across Southern California. While temperatures will still likely stay above normal on Thursday, we could see a few added clouds that limit the extent of warming. 

Right now it looks like a significant cooling trend begins on Friday, as a series of low-pressure systems move in, dropping temperatures across the region by 10-20 degrees. 

Some extended forecast models showed a minor chance for some rainfall late this week, but right now models look pretty dry for the Coachella Valley. I’ll keep you updated as newer model runs come in. 

By the weekend, highs will continue to fall, with temperatures dipping below normal as we head into early March.