Sacramento ties Saturday’s heat record from 1988, breaks Friday’s 59-year-old record

Sacramento saw a back-to-back days of record heat, with Friday’s temperature just barely beating out a nearly 60-year-old record and Saturday’s temperature tying a record from 1988.

The National Weather Service’s Sacramento office recorded a high of 96 degrees Friday afternoon at Sacramento Executive Airport, surpassing a 1961 value of 95 degrees. On Saturday, the recorded temperature of 93 degrees tied the record for the Sacramento Executive Airport set 32 years ago.

Over the past week, temperatures in Sacramento have been unseasonably warm. The average daily high temperature for this time of year is 78 degrees, according to the NWS.

Farther north in Redding, a record high temperature of 99 degrees was reached Saturday, surpassing the previous record from 1988 of 98 degrees. On Friday, the heat, reaching 98 degrees, tied the old record of 98 set in 1988.

This year has also been somewhat dry, according to weather service data. Since the beginning of the year, Sacramento has seen less than 5 inches of rain, compared to the normal value of 12.6 inches. At the same time last year, Sacramento had seen nearly 20 inches of precipitation.

Forecasters predict that Sacramento will experience more “dry weather with above normal daytime highs gradually cooling to near normal by next Saturday.” Temperatures in the Valley will remain in the low 90s through Tuesday.

“Highs will decrease slightly on Sunday over today’s highs but still remain well above seasonal normals for this time of year,” NWS meteorologists wrote in a forecast discussion. “Little change is expected on Monday with similar conditions expected. Tuesday a light north wind develops that should help to warm temperatures a little.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 4:58 PM.