Is it going to rain in Sacramento? What’s coming and how it could impact wildfire smoke
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect a 30% chance of rain Thursday and Friday.
But it’s probably not enough for an umbrella.
Thursday morning is expected to be mostly cloudy with a chance of showers after midnight extending into Friday morning before noon. Scott Rowe, the lead meteorologist of the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said valley communities will largely remain dry if not completely dry.
“If folks were to go out and about [Thursday] or Friday, forget their umbrella, they’ll probably be okay without them,” Rowe said. “The probabilities of it raining are just so low, even if it does rain, we’re not expecting much at all.”
Humidity doesn’t hurt
The slim chance of rain has drawn more humidity in the air, which definitely doesn’t hurt Sacramento’s notoriously dry climate that’s been suffering from wildfire smoke.
“We have much higher levels of humidity, even if it doesn’t rain, higher humidity is a really good thing,” said Chris Easter, the director of air quality and noise in Northern California at the Environmental Science Association.
The drought and last time it rained
The National Weather Service’s downtown Sacramento climate site, which is located near Sacramento State University, hasn’t received measurable rainfall in the downtown area since March 19, while other areas of Sacramento received some rain on Sept. 10.
But to exit the drought and experience some relief, Sacramento needs a massive amount of rain, something that California hasn’t seen since its wettest water year on record in 2016-17. In the meantime, Easter said the air quality is improving because of the humidity brought in by the chance of rain.
“These humid conditions are great,” Easter said. “It’s not as good as a massive storm event, but clearly these humid conditions have tamped down the smoke emissions ... so the humid conditions have done the trick keeping the wildfire smoke in check.”
On Oct. 5, part of the region woke up to better air quality than the day before, which in some areas reached unhealthy for sensitive group levels. The trend continues Thursday into next week as AirNow shows good readings with a reduction of ozone formation.
But Rowe warns that the moistness in the air is only temporary and to expect the air to get dryer into the weekend and into next week as winds are scheduled to pick up with the potential for fire weather issues.
So in the meantime, enjoy the humidity and air quality and prepare for whatever next week’s weather will bring us.
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This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 2:22 PM.