Is winter here to stay? Morning tied Sacramento’s coldest for the date in 100 years
In a state battered for months by a historically bad wildfire season, there may be no better sight than that of valley rain and mountain snow.
Northern California got plenty of the latter this past weekend, with peaks in the greater Lake Tahoe region and highways in the Sierra Nevada range blanketed in white. Elevations above 4,000 feet saw 6 to 10 inches for the 24 hours ending Sunday, the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said.
More Sierra snow and potentially heavier rain in the Sacramento Valley are anticipated later this week, in addition to some more freezing or near-freezing overnight lows in the Sacramento area, according to the latest NWS forecasts.
Morning temperatures have already dipped to record lows. Early Monday, reported temperatures at Sacramento Executive Airport and downtown hit a respective 34 and 36 degrees, each tying daily records for Nov. 9. The all-time mark downtown was set a century ago, in 1920.
Stockton on Monday set a new all-time low at 33 degrees — less than one week after setting a record afternoon high of 84 degrees for Nov. 5, according to the NWS.
There’s another freeze warning in place early Tuesday morning throughout most of the Sacramento Valley, where temperatures could range from 28 to 32 degrees, NWS forecasts show. The capital city’s expected low of 31 would break a record of 35 degrees that has stood since 1946 for downtown. It would also be 13 degrees colder than average for this time of year.
Highs are expected to remain around 60 degrees all week in Sacramento, with a chance of rain Thursday night and lighter showers possible Friday through Sunday, forecasts show. Light snowfall may begin in the mountains Thursday, becoming more moderate on Friday. The NWS hasn’t yet predicted specific totals for rain or snow.
Valley rain mostly missed Sacramento this past weekend, but Roseville and Yuba City got more than a tenth of an inch, and areas farther east into the foothills got between a half-inch and full inch of precipitation. Trace amounts of rain fell Saturday at the Sacramento Executive Airport weather station, but downtown didn’t get any over the weekend, the NWS said.
You may have to bundle up, but it’s a welcome turnaround for fire-stricken Northern California, which had above-average temperatures and very gusty winds prompt red flag warnings on nearly a weekly basis from late August through late October. A record-smashing 4.2 million acres have burned this year, according to Cal Fire.
Fire and weather officials have said for months that it would take a significant storm system bringing widespread precipitation to end the current wildfire season.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 10:27 AM.
