According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Edward Vallee, "A ridge of high pressure will dominate the West through the week, leading to temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above average." Portions of the West set new record-high temperatures over the weekend.
© Accuweather
While the coastal areas are expected to cool slightly during the week, the interior portions of the West will remain very warm.
Temperatures this week will be more typical of late August and early September than the middle of October.
The weather will be ideal for anyone with outdoor activities this week.
"By later in the week, a storm system will move into the Southwest," Vallee said. "This will stifle the warmth and return temperatures closer to average." This storm system could develop spotty showers and thunderstorms from Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Phoenix and Albuquerque, New Mexico, starting on Thursday.
With dry air and bright sunshine continuing across the Northwest through the week, record highs could be challenged later in the week. Temperatures in some locations across the West are running close to 10 degrees F above normal for the month of October.
Boise, Idaho; Casper, Wyoming; and Salt Lake City are running more than 8 degrees above normal for the month. A storm system may move toward the West Coast this weekend and bring an end to the consistent warmth.
There is no telling where along the West Coast that will be the track of this Very Strong El-Nino, or even if it will release it's vast potential energy in rain/snow.
But it is quite powerful as El-Nino goes, rivaling now the 1998 brick that sailed through through the window.
You can be very sure that the current heat wave in the West will end, and change will come. The very same forces that control the MSM also control the Meteorologists who have to do the forecasting. Don't expect them to forewarn or encourage preparation against a repeat of the Great El-Nino of 1023AD.