Acting as a pretty on the nose metaphor around election day, Hanford was hazy, and didn’t act as expected. An impactful haze settled into Hanford on Monday, keeping temperatures significantly cooler than expected ahead of election day. By the end of the forecast period, though, things fell into place. Weathernation had the top forecast, and it was on the strength of a nearly perfect Election Day forecast. No word on if they have been contacted by any pollsters for 2024. Actuals: Monday, High 71, Low 47 Tuesday – High 80, Low 48
Let’s do an Election Day forecast, shall we? In the parlance of politics, we’ll head from one blue state to another, but we’ll travel through some red states along the way. It will take 4 days, or about as long as it will take to count all the votes, to cover 2107 miles. The fourth day will be slightly shorter than the first three, with those first three days concluding after 544 miles of driving at around 68mph. Most cars can stream audio now, so maybe avoid the AM radio and just enjoy the open road for this trip.
DAY ONE (Wednesday)
Champaign, Illinois
As the jet has drifted back a bit to the north, things have started to warm up for the middle of the country, and our drive on Wednesday can likely be done with the windows down if the car gets too stuffy. There won’t be much weather to remark on, save for breezes that could gust to 15mph at times. Noting treacherous. We’ll arrive in suburban Tulsa for the night.
DAY TWO (Thursday) Thursday will be similar to Wednesday, though with a diminished chance of a prevailing wind. We will drive through central and western Oklahoma, still cleaning up after a calamitous ice storm, and pass through the Texas Panhandle into New Mexico under sunny skies. We will stop at the San Ignacio exit west of Santa Rosa and completely be out of touch with the rest of civilization.
DAY THREE (Friday) As we approach California, we will do it through the desertified parts of the Southwest. New Mexico and Arizona will remain clear and dry, but a system moving into the West Coast will stir some winds inland. Watch for tumbleweeds in this part of the world. The drive will end at Silver Spring Road between Kingman and Seligman in Arizona.
DAY FOUR (Saturday) As is often the cast, the feature moving into the West Coast will lose a lot of structure as it gets into the mountains, but that doesn’t mean it will be completely obliterated. In fact, well defined fronts will still exist, including a cold front we will drive though in southern California. That’s not to say it will be particularly rainy, if at all, as the frontal passage will be between Barstow and Mojave, right in the heart of the desert. When we descend into the central Valley at Bakersfield, we’ll probably get into some soupy overcast with drizzle. Expect that right on down to Hanford. Strange, right? The only part of the trip with rain will be the part in California.
Hanford, California
By Armona at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17978087
All right, everyone, let’s get back to work for the week, and start our November with an Election Day forecast in the Central Valley of California.
At 853PM, PT, Hanford was reporting a temperature of 55 degrees with clear skies, calm winds and haze. The haze is expected to linger overnight. There is an air quality alert of the Central Valley, in part because of the inversion and stillness leading to the aforementioned haze. Broadly, the western US is under a ridge, but a weak area of upper level troughing exists, centered over California. This is helping to keep temperatures a bit cooler than they would be otherwise, but there isn’t really an impetus for precipitation. The undercutting trough will shift to the east over the next couple of days, allowing a little bit of heat to return and the haze to become less likely by Tuesday. Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, haze in the morning High 81, Low 48 Tuesday – Clearer still, a bit warmer, High 84, Low 47
TWC: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 84, Low 46 Tuesday – Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds, High 83, Low 45
AW: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny; air quality will be unhealthy for sensitive groups High 84, Low 47 Tuesday – Sunshine and very warm; air quality will be unhealthy for sensitive groups High 83, Low 46
NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny High 80, Low 49 Tuesday – Mostly sunny, High 80, Low 50
WB: Tomorrow – Sunny High 82, Low 49 Tuesday – Mostly sunny, High 82, Low 47
WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 81, Low 47 Tuesday – Partly cloudy, High 81, Low 48
FIO: Tomorrow – Clear throughout the day. High 84, Low 49 Tuesday – Clear throughout the day. High 83, Low 47
I’m the only one calling for a warm up, but the margins are so slim, I don’t think anyone will notice. Here is the satellite, in which you can see a few wispy clouds.
