Technical NOAA Weather Discussion

FXUS66 KMTR 010558
AFDMTR

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Francisco CA
1058 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026

...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM...

.KEY MESSAGES...
Updated at 1039 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026

 - Cooler weather continues through the week

 - Beneficial wetting rain expected in the North Bay

&&

.SHORT TERM...
Issued at 1039 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026
(Tonight through Wednesday)

Cool and wet. A deep 500 mb trough will slowly move towards the 
coast over the next 24 hours. The marine layer is currently 3,200 
ft deep as measured by the 00Z OAK sounding. This deep marine 
layer, combined with the approaching trough, will very likely 
bring some coastal drizzle Tuesday morning. Afternoon 
temperatures will be 5-15 degrees below normal as the 850 mb
temperature drops below 10C/50F for the first time since May. By 
Tuesday night a very weak cold front will bring a good chance for 
light rain to the North Bay. This front will move southward 
through the night and into Wednesday morning, bringing lower rain 
chances to the rest of the Bay Area and Central Coast. Wednesday 
will be similar to Tuesday with cool temperatures and another 
chance for rain in the North Bay overnight as a second disturbance
moves through.

&&

.LONG TERM...
Issued at 1039 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026
(Wednesday night through next Monday)

Rain chances peak Thursday morning with an 90% chance of 
precipitation in the North Bay, and a 70% chance of at least 
1/10" at Santa Rosa. Again the rain chances fall off quickly as 
the system moves south, but there's a decent chance (20-50%) for 
lighter rain across the cwa. The cooler weather will continue 
through Friday as the trough produces a cut-off low near the 
Pacific Northwest. By the weekend, high pressure will build over 
the desert SW. The interaction between the low pressure to the NW 
and high pressure to the SE brings more uncertainty to the 
forecast. If the trough is dominant the cooler weather will stick 
around, if not then we can expect a warming trend this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center continues to track Invest 95E in the 
Eastern Pacific. While there is now a 100% chance of tropical 
cyclone formation over the next 48 hours, the circulation center 
was displaced from the thunderstorm activity and it struggled to 
get organized today. The eventual track of this system is still 
uncertain, with the ensembles showing a bi-modal solution. One of 
these outcomes would bring wind and rain to Southern California 
around Sunday or Monday. Either the PNW cut-off low will move far
enough south to pull the decaying tropical cyclone towards 
Southern California, or high pressure will build south of the low,
forcing the storm harmlessly to the NW. While there is a lot of 
hype around different deterministic solutions, it's much more 
appropriate to look at ensembles in this time range. Both the GEFS
and ECMWF ensemble show a 20-30% chance of tropical depression 
level impacts in Southern California, and a 10-20% chance of 
tropical storm type impacts. Even in the worst case scenario, our 
cwa wouldn't get nearly as much rain or wind as Southern 
California. The current high end scenario (90th percentile) would 
bring 1/4" of rain to the Central Coast. The most likely outcome 
is no significant impacts, and the ensembles have trended more in 
that direction over the last 24 hours. There is virtually no 
chance for hurricane impacts in California. It's worth watching if
another system forms behind 95E, as persistent troughing could 
keep the door open through next week.

&&

.AVIATION...
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 1019 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026

MVFR stratus has lingered through the day across portions of the SF 
Bay Area, and is beginning to expand again across the North Bay and 
into the Monterey Bay region. High clouds may interrupt the 
radiational cooling across portions of the South Bay and Central 
Coast, but a very deep marine layer should support stratus decks 
heading far inland through the course of the night. Stratus should 
clear back to the immediate coast through the course of Tuesday 
morning into the early afternoon, with a gentle to moderate onshore 
pattern wind developing in the afternoon and evening hours. Tuesday 
night, lower confidence in stratus impacts as the fringes of a 
decaying front begin to impact the region, with a shift to a more 
southwest wind flow expected as the front or its remnants approach. 
Chances for rain in the North Bay lie just after the end of the 24-
hour TAF period.

Vicinity of SFO... MVFR stratus with gentle southwest winds through 
the night and into Tuesday morning. Moderate confidence in a 
moderate westerly breeze developing in the afternoon and evening 
hours on Tuesday, with winds turning to the southwest and the south 
through the evening and overnight periods. Low confidence of MVFR 
ceilings Tuesday night before the end of the TAF period, with 
greater confidence in low-end VFR clouds over the terminal.

SFO Bridge Approach... Similar to SFO.

Monterey Bay Terminals... MVFR to low-end VFR ceilings persist 
through the latter part of Tuesday morning. A gentle onshore wind 
persists through the afternoon and evening, with the winds turning 
from the southwest over MRY tonight to the west for the afternoon 
and evening. Low confidence in a return of stratus to SNS Tuesday 
night as winds diminish.

&&

.MARINE...
(Tonight through next Sunday)
Issued at 1019 PM PDT Mon Aug 31 2026

Gentle westerly to northwesterly breezes persist through the week
with intermittent periods of moderate breezes. Wind driven seas
remain slight to moderate through the week with long period
southerly swells persisting thanks to tropical cyclone activity.

&&

.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM PDT Tuesday for SF Bay N of Bay 
     Bridge.

&&

$$

SHORT TERM...Flynn
LONG TERM....Flynn
AVIATION...DialH
MARINE...DialH

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Prepared by Boulder-Creek.com Weather at: Tue Sep 1 02:30:03 PDT 2026
From the National Weather Service