Patchy fog lingers in Northern California as Sacramento gets break from rain
Fog descended upon Northern California late Monday night and has stuck around into Tuesday morning, including in Sacramento.
The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory for the southern Sacramento Valley and Northern San Joaquin Valley, in effect through 10 a.m., telling drivers that visibility of 1/4-mile or less could cause some morning traffic delays. As of 6:30 a.m., Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol had not reported any major incidents on Sacramento-area freeways.
Rain has let up in Sacramento, but NWS forecasts show a 20 percent chance of showers before 11 a.m. and 30 percent in the evening.
The next significant bout of rain is expected to begin Thursday night or Friday, part of another strong atmospheric river system that will bring breezy winds, rain and heavy mountain snow to Northern California this weekend, according to the NWS.
Sacramento will have a slight chance of showers early Wednesday, but is currently forecast to be dry Wednesday night and during the day Thursday. High temperatures will stay in the upper 50s to low 60s.
A total of .72 inches of rain fell Monday at Sacramento Executive Airport for a three-day total of about 1.88 inches since Friday, according to the NWS.
Sierra gets fog, snow, rain
The NWS Reno office also reported fog and low clouds starting late Monday evening in the northern Sierra Nevada range, as well as northwestern Nevada.
The Reno office in tweets said Tuesday through Thursday should be a “quiet weather period” with only light snow and rain in the Sierra mountains. By Friday, moderate to heavy snowfall should resume with the next atmospheric river coming in from the Pacific.
The last storm, which started just before Thanksgiving and continued to pound the Sierra through the weekend, ended up dropping several feet of snow in the Tahoe area. The NWS on Monday reported that 85 inches, or just over 7 feet, fell at Kirkwood Ski Resort over a seven-day stretch. Alpine Meadows got more than 1 foot and Squaw Valley got 28 inches, both in a 24-hour span.
There was plenty of rain, too. For the 24 hours ending at 9 a.m. Monday, Tahoe City recorded 2.72 inches, and the South Lake Tahoe area got just over 2 inches.
The NWS hasn’t predicted snowfall totals, but say snow levels will likely fall to 6,000 feet by Friday and 5,500 feet by Saturday. Mountain travel will be discouraged.
