Relief comes to Sacramento region after long heat wave. Here’s where highs are headed

Sacramento will be under partly sunny skies with high temperatures in the low to mid-80s this week, a welcome relief from scorching triple-digit heat residents experienced in recent days.

The cooler weather will arrive after Sacramento beat another record during a lengthy heat wave, according to the National Weather Service.

Last Wednesday marked the 42nd time downtown has reached 100 degrees or hotter in 2022, surpassing the previous worst of 41 days of triple-digit heat set in 1988.

The tally grew to 44, after 100-degree days Thursday and Friday, before highs dropped from 10 to 20 degrees Saturday across the Sacramento region. On Sunday, highs topped 92 degrees in downtown Sacramento. Forecasters expect a mostly-sunny high of 89 on Monday.

By Wednesday, the forecast high for Sacramento is 81 degrees. Temperatures will rise to about 85 on Friday and Saturday, the weather service predicts.

Air quality remains moderate, according to AirNow, as smoke lingers from the Mosquito Fire in Placer and El Dorado counties.

“Smoke will promote ozone formation around the Sacramento region as a ridge of high pressure aloft slowly starts to weaken over Northern California,” reads the AirNow website. “However, the main air-quality impacts will continue to be due to wildfire smoke from the Mosquito Fire near Auburn.”

The thickest areas of smoke will be in the foothills, east and northeast of Sacramento, and they may see unhealthy to hazardous particle levels, according to AirNow.

Increasing winds on Monday and Tuesday will help cool temperatures in the region.

This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 2:46 PM.