Gusty winds, then warm weather in store for Northern California this week
Forecasters anticipate strong winds and gusts Tuesday and early Wednesday in Northern California, issuing a wind advisory for most of the Sacramento Valley and a stretch of the Sierra Nevada range.
Sustained winds could reach up to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph in the valley and 60 mph or higher in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
Gusts are expected to top out between about 35 mph and 40 mph near Sacramento.
Winds that strong have potential to knock down tree branches and small or weakened trees, and could lead to power outages.
The gusts will be heavy but shouldn’t quite approach the intensity of the windstorm from late January, which brought peak wind speeds above 60 mph, uprooting trees around the Sacramento area.
The NWS wind advisory is in place through 11 a.m. Wednesday, though winds in the valley may die down by around 8 p.m. Tuesday while gusts in the mountains last through the morning.
It’ll be a bit breezy Thursday too, with gusts near Sacramento forecast to reach around 20 mph.
After Tuesday’s expected high around 69 degrees, temperatures will warm in Sacramento by the weekend, from the low 70s midweek to anticipated highs of 74 Friday, 77 Saturday and 78 on Sunday. Those temperatures would be about 10 degrees hotter than average for this time of year, NWS records show.
There’s no valley rain in the forecast
The Sierra range could see light snow showers Thursday. High temperatures at South Lake Tahoe are expected to rise from the upper 40s this week to the low 60s by Sunday, according to NWS forecasts.
