Swell Matrix

Area Forecast Discussion

National Weather Service San Francisco CA

412 am PDT Mon apr 27 2026

Short Term

, Issued at 1208 AM PDT Mon Apr 27 2026 (Today and tonight)

The radar is showing some light returns over the marine environment as well as on some of the higher peaks, indicating some lingering light rains along with the drizzle along the coast.

Some of these chances will linger into the day for a few isolated spots, particularly in higher elevations on the Big Sur Coast, the North Bay Mountains, and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Rainfall totals will be fairly light, with mostly traces to a few hundredths expected. Cloud cover will be more on than off through the first part of the day, but sunnier conditions are expected for the afternoon, leading to slightly warmer conditions than previous days. The onshore flow and lingering moisture will prevent too much of a warm up, but this will be the start of our warming trend.

This warming trend will be less pronounced for the coast and areas slightly inland as the marine layer rebuilds and becomes better- defined into Monday night and early Tuesday. Marine stratus will also keep things on the cooler side for the coast, but areas inland will begin to see much warmer and sunnier conditions into the work week.

Long Term

..issued at 1208 AM PDT Mon Apr 27 2026 (Tuesday through Sunday)

The combination of a building ridge to the north and a cutoff low to the south will set us up for an interesting gradient of temperatures through the mid-week and into the weekend.

The pressure gradient caused by the low to the south looks to keep the marine environment and the coast breezy, and will help keep the marine layer intact. This will result in high on the immediate coast to stay around 60 degrees through the week, and areas slightly inland mostly staying in the 60s.

The more interior areas will not benefit from the marine influence, leading to warming and drying more akin to a typical ridging pattern. Wednesday will offer widespread highs in the 70s for areas away from the coast, with a few isolated 80s. Conditions look to continue to warm for the interior through Friday with more areas breaking into the 80s and possibly the 90s in the southern Salinas Valley.

Model agreement got much worse for the weekend than last night, and the movement of highs and lows through the Pacific has not become any less complicated across any of the main long-term models nor ensemble clusters. There are hints toward a Rex-Block (high pressure to the north, low pressure to the south) forming into the weekend, but the positioning vary quiet a bit across models. In most cases, it looks like the Bay Area and Central Coast will see some cooling due to the low bing closer than the high pressure. It could also include some light rain into the next work week, but confidence isn't great. There are also some hints at the Rex-Block losing momentum and this pattern arriving and exiting at a slower pace.

Be sure to keep checking back in to see if we start May with some moisture.

Aviation

(12z TAFS) Issued at 412 AM PDT Mon Apr 27 2026

A mix of MVFR to VFR conditions across the region this morning will lift starting in the late morning hours, with lingering chances of isolated showers dissipating by the afternoon. Gentle to moderate onshore pattern winds develop this afternoon and evening, diminishing overnight as MVFR-low end VFR ceilings return to the terminals.

Vicinity of SFO, Low end VFR ceilings will scatter out in the afternoon hours with MVFR stratus returning in the overnight period. Breezy west-northwest winds will develop this afternoon and evening before diminishing overnight.

SFO Bridge Approach, Similar to SFO.

Monterey Bay Terminals, VFR conditions through the day with mid- level cloud cover scattering out in the later morning. Breezy northwest winds will develop this afternoon and evening with light drainage winds overnight as MVFR ceilings return to the terminals.

Marine

(today through Saturday) Issued at 412 AM PDT Mon Apr 27 2026

Moderate west to northwest breezes persist through the middle of the week, increasing to fresh to strong northwest breezes by Thursday. These stronger winds will build rough seas of 8-12 feet in exposed waters Wednesday through Friday.

Watches, Warnings, Advisories

Ca, None. PZ, Small Craft Advisory from 9 PM this evening to 3 AM PDT Wednesday for Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 10-60 NM.

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