Memorial Day weekend, often considered the unofficial start of summer, is unlikely to bring sunshine and hot temperatures to California beaches this year, but weather officials say a slight warming trend could bring some sunshine on Sunday and Monday.
Most of the state is expected to see cool, mostly cloudy weather over the holiday weekend on Friday and Saturday, with scattered drizzle possible in the morning, especially in Southern California, due to a deep saltwater layer.
But it’s not all gloomy, especially as the weekend progresses.
“We’ll have warm, sunny days through the weekend, with the nicest weather likely on Memorial Day Monday,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “Temperatures will trend up.”
“Temperatures are expected to warm up by a few degrees by Memorial Day,” Schoenfeld said, especially compared to Friday and Saturday. A deep water layer over Southern California is expected to extend into the inland hills and valleys on Saturday but will weaken, with highs in the valleys reaching the upper 70s by Monday. Downtown Los Angeles is expected to reach the mid-70s and parts of the desert near 100 degrees.
Here’s a look at the warming trends expected over the Memorial Day weekend and next week: Monday and Tuesday are going to be significantly warmer for most areas.
Before you all start making fun of me, a 2 degree warming is a trend. A boring one, but a trend nonetheless 🥴😅🌡️#CAwx pic.twitter.com/ErJFpunxhQ
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) May 23, 2024
Southland’s beaches will be slightly warmer, but a saltwater layer will keep the coast cloudy and temperatures slightly below average for this time of year.
“The beaches are expected to remain pretty cool,” Schoenfeld said. There’s always a chance that one or two beaches will have “spots of sunshine,” but temperatures along the coast will likely stay in the 60s, she said.
Similar marine clouds will spread across the Central Coast and Bay Area, keeping temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s Fahrenheit for much of the weekend, with a chance of rain on Saturday. The warmest day will also be Monday, with highs reaching the upper 60s Fahrenheit along the coast and 70 to 80 Fahrenheit inland.
Memorial Day weekend will start out fairly cold with a chance of light rain along the coast, but warmer temperatures will return Sunday into Monday. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/mlL0L5fjEH
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) May 24, 2024
The weekend warming will be most noticeable inland, where high temperatures on Monday are expected to be about 10 degrees warmer than Saturday’s average. From the Sacramento Valley to the Central Valley, temperatures on Monday are expected to reach the low 90s Fahrenheit.
There is a chance Strong winds Rain could fall along the Santa Barbara coast, the Antelope Valley and the Central Valley on Friday and continue into Saturday, but California is otherwise expected to have a relatively calm weekend.
