Spring heat wave sets multiple records in Sacramento. What’s in the weekend forecast?
Northern California temperatures eased past longstanding records Tuesday and Wednesday, and the early-spring heat wave still has a couple of days to go.
Sacramento Executive Airport reached 84 degrees on Tuesday and 81 on Wednesday, well above the previous all-time highs of 78 set March 22, 1960, and March 23, 2007, according to the National Weather Service.
Downtown Sacramento warmed to 82 degrees on Tuesday, matching a mark set more than a century ago in 1915. Then it ticked up to 83 degrees on Wednesday, breaking a daily record set in 1997 by 3 degrees.
Stockton and Modesto also set new records each day, the weather service said. Wednesday hit 86 in Stockton and 85 in Modesto, both topping daily records by 5 degrees.
Blistering for March, Sacramento’s new record highs swelled more than 15 degrees warmer than the historic normal for this time of year, which is about 66 degrees, according to the weather service. Temperatures don’t reach the mid-80s in Sacramento, on average, until early June.
The heat will threaten even more records before the weekend arrives.
Weather service forecasts as of Thursday morning predicted a high of 83 degrees later in the day, which would match the daily record for downtown Sacramento and surpass the 81-degree record for Sacramento Executive, both of which have stood since 1997.
Highs will dip closer to 80 degrees Friday and Saturday — well above normal, but not quite within striking distance of all-time records. Sacramento is then expected to cool to the low 70s with a chance of showers Sunday. Showers could continue early next week, forecasts show.
Sacramento continues to ride the weather roller coaster.
A month ago, city and county officials were setting up warming centers for homeless residents. Nighttime temperatures dropped to freezing or below freezing four straight nights in late February, setting record lows.
Daytime highs then kicked up to the mid-70s degrees to start March, only to plummet to the mid-50s less than a week later.
Last week, Sacramento got measurable rain for the first time in more than two months, ending a record-long dry spell for winter. Far from a downpour, only about a quarter-inch fell at Sacramento Executive Airport, all on March 15.
Will it snow in the mountains?
The storm track bringing possible showers to the Sacramento Valley this weekend will also include a chance of snow showers in the Sierra Nevada range.
Snow could potentially start to fall near South Lake Tahoe on Sunday night, at elevations of about 7,600 feet, according to the latest weather service forecasts. Daytime temperatures in the mid-60s Friday and Saturday are expected to fall to the mid-40s by Monday near Tahoe.
The weather outlook for precipitation is unsettled, though, and the weather service said its forecast confidence is low.
