Seven of Sacramento’s 10 hottest summers happened in the last decade

Will this weekend’s heat wave usher in another record-breaking summer?

Sacramento has experienced extraordinarily hot summers for most of the last decade, the latest federal data show.

The average temperature in the city from June to August of 2024 was 77.3 degrees, the hottest summer on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Seven of the city’s 10 hottest summers on record occurred during the last 10 years, according to the federal data, which stretches back to 1948.

The average summer temperature in the city from 1948 through 2000 was about 72.8 degrees. The city exceeded that average during each of the last 13 years.

The same trends occurred statewide. Last year was the hottest summer on record in California, and the average summer temperature in California exceeded the average for 1901 to 2000 during each of the last 13 years.

Climate change is a possible culprit. A 2018 UC Davis study predicted that Sacramento temperatures are expected to be 10 degrees warmer by 2100.

The report also predicted that the number of days at 104 degrees or higher will increase from four to 40 in midtown Sacramento by 2100.

Last year included a brutal, record-breaking heat wave in Sacramento from late June to early July. All told, there were 11 days in Sacramento last year when temperatures reached at least 104 degrees, federal data show.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center recently said that Sacramento and California will likely have a hotter-than-normal summer this year.