Cloudy skies arrive in SoCal

Temperatures expected higher in the Inland Empire before going back down next week

May gray returned to Southern California Tuesday as residents awoke to cloudy skies — a pattern forecasters say could continue into early next week.

A coastal eddy, coupled with a weak upper level trough moving inland and north, brought in a deeper marine layer, which reached San Bernardino on Tuesday morning, said San Diego-based National Weather Service meteorologist Philip Gonsalves.

And while afternoon temperatures were kept in the 60s and 70s, a slight warmup the next couple days is in store.

A brief increase in temperatures is expected Wednesday and Thursday, said David Sweet of the NWS Oxnard office, as the sea breeze won’t be as strong, and the marine layer won’t be as thick.

Temperatures could get into the low 70s on the coasts on Wednesday and Thursday, but will mostly remain in the 60s all week.

Some parts of the Inland Empire could see temperatures in the low 90s those days, Gonsalves said.

In Los Angeles County, valley areas were anticipated to see temperatures in the mid-80s by midweek, Sweet said.

But by Friday and through the weekend, those temperatures will dip back to the mid70s to low-80s, both forecasters said.

“This is about as typical as it gets,” Sweet said. “We’re headed into an extended period of seasonal temperatures, with low clouds and fog in the morning and warming in the afternoons.”