Hot end to April for Northern California, with Sacramento reaching high 80s by Friday
Northern California will experience a “major” warming trend, bringing Sacramento-area weather to the high 80s later this week, according to the National Weather Service.
The latest NWS forecasts show temperatures ratcheting up in Sacramento, from afternoon highs of 79 degrees Tuesday and 82 on Wednesday, up to 84 on Thursday and then 87 by Friday and Saturday. It will be sunny and clear through the end of the weekend, and temperatures may cool slightly to a high of 83 by Sunday.
That hot stretch is predicted to soar nearly 15 degrees above average for late April, but if Friday’s high doesn’t seem all that strange, that’s because it was even hotter the same time a year ago.
A high of 87 on Friday would come 3 degrees shy of the city’s all-time record for April 24 of 90 degrees, which was set in 2013 and tied in 2019, according to NWS data. The average for that calendar date, stretching back to 1942, is just 73 degrees, and it has only exceeded 85 degrees six times in nearly eight decades.
Sacramento’s forecast for the start of the weekend shows the capital city getting just as hot as the northern reaches of the Sacramento Valley, a relatively rare occurrence. Redding will top out near 87 degrees Friday and Saturday.
El Dorado County has issued a no-travel order restricting visitors to South Lake Tahoe during the coronavirus crisis, banning nonessential travel to the popular vacation spot in an effort to curb spread of COVID-19. For those who are there, though, high temperatures will be pleasant, rising to the mid 60s by Friday and Saturday, with sunny skies and calm winds.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 9:10 AM.
