Could this be Sacramento’s hottest weekend ever? Heat wave threatens multiple records
There’s a decent chance that this could be the hottest weekend ever in Sacramento’s recorded history, dating back nearly 150 years.
The National Weather Service on Friday morning upped earlier estimates for the heat wave blanketing interior California, now predicting a high of 111 degrees Saturday and 110 degrees Sunday in the capital city.
A Sacramento Bee review of weather service records found that, going back to 1877, there has only been one weekend whose two-day maximum temperature averaged more than 110 degrees.
It happened less than a year ago, on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, 2020 — when the state experienced a heat wave so sweltering that the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s grid, imposed rolling blackouts for the first time in nearly two decades. Highs of 111 degrees Aug. 15 and 112 degrees Aug. 16 made for the hottest Saturday-Sunday pairing ever in Sacramento.
The NWS Sacramento office in a tweet Friday morning shared an infographic showing there is a chance — not likely, but not out of the question — Saturday’s max temperatures could reach 114 degrees or higher across a large swath of the Sacramento Valley, including nearly all of Sacramento County.
A high of 114 would match the hottest temperature ever recorded in downtown Sacramento, set nearly a century ago in July 1925. The all-time record at Sacramento Executive Airport, in south Sacramento, is 115 degrees, reached June 1961.
It would only take each day heating up 1 degree beyond forecast expectations for this weekend to meet the marks set Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 for Sacramento’s hottest weekend of all time.
A reading of 112 degrees would tie Saturday with six other days for downtown Sacramento’s third-hottest day ever, including the daily record for July 10, set in 2002.
NWS meteorologist Scott Rowe says Sacramento normally experiences a 110-degree day roughly four in 10 years. It happened twice in 2020 and twice already this year, on back-to-back days in mid-June.
But readings of 111 or higher have only happened in the city 16 times since 1877, the weather service says. Only on two occasions has it surpassed 110 on consecutive days: the record-setting weekend from August 2020, and July 17-18, 1988. The latter pair were a Sunday and Monday that each reached 112 degrees.
These readings come from weather service’s Sacramento 5 ESE station, which has been placed at various locations in or near downtown over the past century. It’s currently near Sacramento State, a few miles east of downtown.
In a strict meteorological sense, days of the week are arbitrary. The weather doesn’t care whether it’s a Saturday or a Wednesday.
But practically speaking, extreme heat on the weekends tends to send larger crowds to waterways like the American River, Folsom Lake or Lake Tahoe to escape the heat. There are higher volumes of drownings and water rescue incidents on those bodies of water during hot weekends.
Extremely hot weekends also raise concerns about the potential for heat exhaustion for those attempting outdoor recreation.
Authorities urge people to stay indoors as much as possible and to remain well-hydrated.
Numerous indoor cooling centers will open during the heat wave around the city and county.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 8:29 AM.
