BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — We're staying sunny as stable weather returns, meaning an end to the breeze and below average conditions.
Expect today's sunshine and stability to warm us back to seasonal temperatures with highs in the low to mid-90s in the valley and Kern River Valley, mid to upper 90s in the Kern Desert, and low to mid-80s in the south mountains of Tehachapi and Frazier Park. It will stay a bit breezy through the mountain passes and down into the Desert today, but as high pressure builds overhead tomorrow, we're heading into a calmer and therefore hotter and hazier holiday weekend ahead, with the hundreds back for many locations by Labor Day.
With climbing temperatures will come climbing air quality readings too, as sinking high pressure traps the smog and smoke here in Kern County again. So the valley then looks to be back in those 100s by Sunday with air quality that's likely becoming unhealthy for sensitive groups yet again. Our Labor Day forecast is hot and hazy with a high of 102 in Bakersfield, so plan to take it easy.
The long range forecast keeps that high pressure in control over Utah through early next week, which means there's a slight 10% chance we see some monsoonal moisture from Arizona get dragged across the desert toward Kern County Tuesday into Wednesday. But we'll be so hot and dry there will be high evaporation rates and therefore I'm not confident we'll see any precipitation. But any surge of monsoonal moisture is concerning for California, as the last thing we need in this fire season is the threat of thunderstorms and dry lightning.
Beyond that, it looks like we could have a low tracking over the Pacific Northwest by the end of next week, potentially bringing a return to those cooler ocean winds by Friday, helping to take temperatures down and push the bad air quality out. We'll wait and see how it all shapes up...
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