First Alert Weather Alert: Tracking persistent winds and air quality concerns
THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) - A First Alert Weather Alert remains in place through Monday at 1:00 p.m. as we continue to track dusty & gusty conditions in the Coachella Valley.
Our Timo's Skycam atop Edom Hill is showing much improved conditions compared to last night. We're not seeing nearly as much haze obscuring the Coachella Valley.
Thankfully, air quality is improving for most of us this evening. Just before 10:00 p.m., we're seeing good air quality for most of the valley. Most of the unhealthy areas are well off to our east, out by the Salton Sea.
There are a number of active advisories in and around the Coachella Valley. For the Coachella Valley proper, we are currently under an Air Quality Alert as a result of the persistent winds leading to sharply diminished air quality. A Wind Advisory is in place for the Pass and Desert Hot Springs as well as the high desert. A Winter Weather Advisory is in place for our local mountains as snowfall is expected.
We are continuing to track persistent winds across the desert floor. Even though these aren't the strongest winds ever felt, they are persistent enough to keep copious amounts of dust and sand elevated in the air. Winds will stay elevated overnight tonight into Monday morning as well. Gusts between 35-55 MPH are expected. Locally strong gusts up to 60 MPH remain possible.
Models finally start to show improvement Monday evening. We're expecting much calmer conditions for Tuesday.
Some showers are expected outside of the valley. There are slight chances for some stray drops to make it onto the valley floor, but no accumulation is expected. Our local Riverside and San Bernardino County mountains could see a few inches of snowfall, mostly above 5,500 and 6,000 feet – although snow levels are expected to drop to 3,500 to 4,000 feet by early Monday morning.
A First Alert Weather Alert remains in place through early Monday afternoon as the winds slowly diminish around that timeframe. Expect widespread impacts to air quality and visibility during this time. Looking ahead, there's quite a bit of fluctuation as several systems are moving in and out of our region. We warm up through the middle of the week, but we're tracking chances for showers that could cool us significantly by Thursday.
