Technical NOAA Weather Discussion

FXUS66 KMTR 070638
AFDMTR

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Francisco CA
1138 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026

...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, AVIATION, MARINE...

.KEY MESSAGES...
Updated at 1124 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026

 - Warming and drying trend beginning today through the early 
   part of next week

 - Temperatures peaking Monday

 - Moderate risk for heat-related illnesses for sensitive
   populations across the inland valleys beginning this weekend

&&

.SHORT TERM...
Issued at 1124 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026
(Tonight through Friday)

Low clouds are building inland from the coast, covering the bays 
and working their way into some of the interior valleys. Expect 
chances for pockets of fog overnight, with the strongest chances in 
the North Bay. Because of the marine layer's influence and the 
covering of stratus, overnight temperatures look fairly mild woth 
most areas seeing lows in the 50s and upper 40s. Only far interior 
valleys and higher peaks will fall further into the 40s.

Thursday will see a slow erosion of the lower cloud cover, keeping 
certain areas on the cooler side compared to the areas that stay 
clear. Inland cloud cover will start clearing in the mid morning, 
however areas around the bays will keep cloud cover into the late 
morning and early afternoon. The immediate coast looks to keep cloud 
cover through the day with moderate to breezy winds, making for much 
cooler highs than the rest of the area. Expect highs around 60 
degrees along the immediate coast, then the 60s and 70s for areas 
more inland, and into the 80s for areas not experiencing the morning 
cloud cover. A few areas in the far interior portions of Monterey Co 
look to break 90 degrees.

Thursday night will offer fairly similar conditions to what we're 
seeing tonight, but with an earlier inland push of coastal stratus. 
This will lead to low clouds filling around the SF Bay and Monterey 
Bay in the mid evening and will cause a quicker cool-down. The lower 
clouds and the marine layer influence look to go slightly farther 
inland. This wont have too much of an effect in morning lows, but 
will make some areas a slightly cooler for Friday as they linger 
into the late morning and early afternoon.

While most areas will see slightly cooler conditions for Friday, a 
ridge builds to the north,leading to a small increase in 
temperatures for the interior North Bay. This will get things back 
on track for the weekend warming trend.
&&

.LONG TERM...
Issued at 1124 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026
(Friday night through next Wednesday)


Friday night will continue to see the affects of the building ridge 
with a compression of the marine layer and a reduction in the 
overnight inland push of coastal stratus. Cloud cover will still be 
prevalent along the coast, but will struggle to enter the SF Bay and 
reach more of the inland areas. 

The reduction of marine influence along with the building ridge 
calls for much more of the inland areas to break into the 80s for 
Saturday, while the coast sits in the low 60s, and the slightly 
inland areas stay in the 90s. A few of the more inland areas look to 
break into the mid 90s.

The reduction of the marine layer and building of the ridge 
continues into Monday, which looks to be the hottest day of the 
current forecast. Most of the interior valleys look to break into 
the 90s with widespread 80s for all but the near-coastal areas 
seeing the 60s and 70s. A building of a thermal belt will also call 
for much warmer lows on the higher peaks (60s and a few 70s) and 
will lead the peaks into the 90s as well from that warm start. Again 
the hottest area of the CWA looks to be interior Monterey Co, which 
will have a few spots looking to break 100 degrees.

The longer term forecast shows good cooling for Tuesday, yet things 
will stay on the warmer side as the ridge begins to flatten and push 
east. This will call for a slightly more zonal flow, leading to weak 
onshore winds into the mid week. The national blend of models looks 
to continue the steady cooling trend in the late week, but the 
latest batch of long term model updates are hinting more at another 
ridge building, which will warm things up again in the late week. 
The current forecast follows the blend, but as things continue to 
update, more considerations may need to be made for the potential 
warming trend.


&&

.AVIATION...
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 1124 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026

MVFR/IFR clouds are building inland from the coast and look to reach 
each TAF site into the late night and early morning. LIFR conditions 
look to effect STS and HAF into the early morning and last through 
the mid morning, with some fog chances at STS as well. Winds will be 
mostly light overnight and through much of the morning. CLoud cover 
begins to erode for the more inland sites during the mid morning, 
but doesn't clear around the bays until the late morning and early 
afternoon. The exceptions will be HAF which sees cloud cover rise 
back to IFR then MVFR levels, but never fully clears. Expect 
moderate to breezy winds into Thursday afternoon with these winds 
reducing again into the late evening. CIGs will lower back to IFR 
levels along the coast into the evening and will begin to fill 
around the bays again before nightfall.


Vicinity of SFO...IFR CIGs last through the midday on Thursday with 
moderate west-northwest winds. Cloud cover scatters into the midday 
with lower clouds expected to clear in the mid afternoon as gusty 
west wind build. Gusts look to peak around 25 kts through the 
afternoon and evening. Winds reduce into the late evening as IFR 
CIGs build once again.

SFO Bridge Approach...Similar to SFO.

Monterey Bay Terminals...IFR CIGs and light winds are expected 
through the mid to late morning. CIGs lower slightly for MRY into 
the late night with some reductions in visibility. VFR returns in 
the mid morning, first at SNS then MRY. Winds look to stay light at 
MRY, but become more moderate for SNS in the mid afternoon. Winds 
reduce into Thursday evening with IFR CIGs returning.

&&

.MARINE...
(Tonight through next Tuesday)
Issued at 1124 PM PDT Wed May 6 2026

Winds from the northwest continue to increase. Fresh to strong
north- northwest breezes will spread across both our coastal and
outer waters for the weekend resulting in in building rough seas
which will produce dangerous conditions for small crafts.

&&

.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory from 9 PM Thursday to 3 AM PDT Saturday for 
     Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 0-10 nm.

     Small Craft Advisory from 3 AM Friday to 3 AM PDT Saturday for 
     Pigeon Pt to Pt Pinos 0-10 nm-Pigeon Pt to Pt Pinos 10-60 
     NM-Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 10-60 NM-Pt Reyes to Pigeon Pt 0-10 
     nm.

     Small Craft Advisory from 9 AM Thursday to 3 AM PDT Saturday for 
     Pt Pinos to Pt Piedras Blancas 0-10 nm.

&&

$$

SHORT TERM...Murdock
LONG TERM....Murdock
AVIATION...Murdock
MARINE...Murdock

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Prepared by Boulder-Creek.com Weather at: Thu May 7 02:30:03 PDT 2026
From the National Weather Service