It may be the season, but it sure doesn”t feel like it.
Higher-than-normal temperatures are going to usher out 2013, what will be the driest year on record in the Monterey Bay region and most of Northern California.
There is no rain on the horizon through next Tuesday — New Year”s Eve — as a high-pressure system across the eastern Pacific Ocean continues to push any storm system out of the area.
So if rainwear is under the tree Christmas morning, you can keep it in the box for a while longer. Same thing for the cold-weather gear.
Daytime high temperatures should run in the mid- to upper 60s, with overnight lows in the lower 40s in the Monterey area, Gass said.
Monterey had a high of 64 Monday.
“It was sort of a pleasant day temperature-wise, but records — no,” said Bob Benjamin of the weather service. The only record high in Northern California for the day was in Oakland, which had a 67 compared to the previous record of 66.
In this area, Benjamin said highs have to get well into the 70s to get into record range. King City had a 73 on Monday and Salinas had 72, neither one a record.
The current dry spell will be added to more of the same to produce the driest 12 months on record “in most locations,” Gass said.
San Francisco stands to shatter its previous record for low rainfall — 8.96 inches in 1917. As of Monday, the city”s rainfall total for the past 12 months stood at 3.38 inches.
Closer to home, only 4.23 inches of rain have been recorded this calendar year at San Clemente Dam above Carmel Valley by the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. The normal, 12-month rainfall at the site — based on measurements between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30 — is slightly more than 21 inches.
“It”s too early to sound the alarm bell,” said district hydrologist Joe Oliver. But they are ready to ring that bell if the dry spell keeps going.
The district has an emergency meeting tentatively scheduled for Jan. 23 with resource agencies and California American Water, which would be scratched if heavens open up in January.
District officials are concerned about Los Padres Reservoir, which is down to less than 33 percent of capacity.
“If we don”t get more consistent flows (into the reservoir), we won”t be able to keep releasing into the river,” Oliver said. Releases from the reservoir are used to maintain levels in the lower Carmel River.