The San Francisco Bay Area is getting a humid start to the workweek thanks to a weather pattern hundreds of miles away that’s driving an influx of sub-tropical moisture.
In recent days, an extremely strong ridge of high pressure has been building above the Rocky Mountains, causing record-high temperatures in the area. That high pressure is funneling monsoonal moisture from the Gulf of California northward into the state and has increased the risk of dry lightning as well as heavy thunderstorms during the normally dry summer months across parts of the state.
“The monsoonal moisture surge is about 150, 200% of normal for moisture for this time of year,” Rachel Kennedy, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said of Bay Area weather. “It’s contributing to that increased humidity.”…