First Alert Weather Alert for Hazardous Air Quality and Gusty, Blowing Dust Across the Valley
A First Alert Weather Alert is in place until midnight tonight for gusty, dusty conditions and blowing sand leading to terrible air quality across the Coachella Valley.
Strong winds will remain a big factor into our evening hours, despite otherwise sunny skies (we can't really see them) and cooler, but seasonal temperatures today and heading into this weekend.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has extended a Windblown Dust Advisory, now in place until 11:59pm tonight.
The dust has deteriorated visibility across the valley and led to a number of wash closures. Indian Canyon and Gene Autry have been closed the last two days, then officials closed Vista Chino earlier this afternoon.
Our breezy to windy weather pattern is likely to continue into the weekend and next week thanks to a series of storms pushing through the PNW. That consistent troughing pattern to our north is leading to slightly cooler temps and gustier winds across the mountains and deserts the next few days.
A weak shortwave to our north dips a bit to the south and will tighten our pressure gradient increasing west winds tonight and tomorrow morning. Pretty good chance we'll continue to see winds over 45mph tonight through Saturday AM, especially for our mountains, foothills and E-W passes.
No wind advisory for the Coachella Valley at the moment, but there is one in place for the Anza-Borrego desert for gusts up to 55mph.
I'm watching a disturbance to our north that could bring some rain chances west of the mountains by Sunday evening into Monday morning, which may bring some light showers to the coastal areas--unlikely to reach us hear in the valley. Otherwise, back to our drier weather pattern Monday and Tuesday.
