First Alert Weather Alert: Winds stay strong tonight before easing on Monday

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) – We remain under a First Alert Weather Alert through Sunday evening as we continue to track potentially damaging winds in our area. Saturday certainly brought strong winds and poor air quality, and so far on Sunday, we're seeing very similar conditions.

Like Saturday night, we're seeing more hazardous air quality in some spots. Since around lunchtime, gusts have been kicking up more dust and sand, leading to worsening air quality. Our primary pollutant across the valley is PM10 – typical for these dust storms.

An Windblown Dust Advisory remains in place until 8:00 a.m. Monday for air quality concerns. The valley floor is still notably not under a Wind Advisory from the National Weather Service (as of 3:00 p.m. Sunday), but the entire surrounding area is. That includes the San Gorgonio Pass, the High Desert, our local mountains, and even Imperial County to our south. That advisory was extended to 3:00 a.m. on Monday.

Gusty winds will remain a factor through the evening. 40-50 MPH gusts are likely through dinnertime with isolated gusts closer to 65 MPH in the San Gorgonio Pass. These winds remain strong into the overnight hours.

Monday morning will be relatively calmer, but some stray breezes are still possible. By lunchtime, though, much calmer and more tolerable conditions build back in. Wind gusts look to stay below 20 MPH for most spots by dinnertime.

Calmer and mild conditions are on the way on Monday. Highs look to stay a few degrees below average before becoming more seasonal on Tuesday. As calmer weather builds back, so do our temperatures: expect highs in the upper 90s and low 100s through the second half of the week.

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