A surge of gulf moisture makes for a sticky start to Wednesday
A gulf surge blanketed the Coachella Valley this morning, bringing sticky and humid conditions all around our local area.
Dew points, a meteorological measurement of how much moisture is in the atmosphere, reached an impressive 80° this morning in Palm Desert. Increased humidity can cause already hot temperatures to feel even warmer than they actually may be. This morning temperatures around our area reached the upper 80’s, but for some areas felt like the low triple digits, according to our First Alert heat index.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1027154803858845696″,”author_name”:”NWS San Diego”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;All the cities with Palm in the name (Palm Springs, Thousand Palms, and Palm Desert) had 79F dew points at 4 AM. Special shout out to a second station in Palm Desert that just hit 80F! &#lt;/p&#gt;– NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1027154803858845696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;August 8, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
This surge of moisture came from the southeast, which may also account for any odor you may be smelling related to the Salton Sea. Elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide there can spread the scent of rotten eggs around our area when humidity is high.
There were more low clouds in the desert than there were along the coast, according to the National Weather Service. We even saw patchy drizzle for some areas, and will continue to through the remainder of the morning. Expect slightly drier conditions in the afternoon hours with skies clearing later in the day.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1027159568579747840″,”author_name”:”NWS San Diego”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Here’s something different for ya. There are more low clouds in the Coachella Valley this AM than at the beaches! The mint green colors on the sat image represent low clouds, while dark red is high clouds. &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/cawx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#cawx&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/gulfsurge?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#gulfsurge&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/qeHCI5LGj8″&#gt;pic.twitter.com/qeHCI5LGj8&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1027159568579747840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;August 8, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
In addition to the moisture moving in from the southeast, we work with additional moisture from Hurricane John, brewing off the coast of Baja California. The storm is expected to weaken in the days ahead, but the moisture will continue to cycle back into Southern California through the remainder of the work week. By the weekend, we expect things to be a bit drier.
While we experience the additional humidity, your First Alert weather team will be back on storm watch! It’s possible we could see some overnight storms tonight and tomorrow, with the latter being more likely. This will most likely be for areas of higher elevation, like our local mountains and the high desert.
Take extra caution when spending time outside over the next few days. Additional moisture in the atmosphere can lead to increased risk for dehydration and fatigue. While temperatures will be dropping, you’ll still want to stay hydrated to account for the rising humidity.
Stay with your First Alert weather team on-air and online.
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