April starting to turn dry and warm

April 7, 2020 – A few lingering showers over mainly the mountains into Thursday, otherwise dry weather with gradually milder temperatures expected through the remainder of the week.

Discussion

Deep closed low continues to move slowly south off the coast and is now centered to the southwest of the Bay Area. Radar shows light wrap-around showers to spread across the southern two thirds of the forecast area from the east and southeast. Current temperatures range from the upper 20s and 30s in the mountains, to the 40s to around 50 across the Central Valley.

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The slow moving upper low continues to produce showers over the region this morning, particularly north of I-80. Some areas of patchy fog are also being reported around Stockton. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/4pIYT8d8Ka

— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) April 7, 2020

The low will continue to move slowly southward today, then will wobble around SoCal during the second half of the week as ridging from the eastern Pacific attempts to build into NorCal. Wrap- around showers will continue to be possible across the far southern portion of the forecast area while sunshine returns to the north. Locally breezy north winds will be possible Wednesday across the northern Sacramento Valley, and gusty east winds across the higher elevations of the northern Sierra Nevada. Temperatures will return to average, or above average, beginning Wednesday.

Extended discussion (Saturday through Tuesday)

Despite the early week system still lingering over the Desert Southwest, eastern Pacific ridging will provide ample warm and dry weather in its wake. Toward the conclusion of the weekend, the mentioned ridge may retrograde slightly with flow amplifying over the Central Great Basin. Depending on the position of these synoptic features, some uptick in northerly winds may be possible on Sunday and Monday. While the forecast is currently dry, isolated showers may possible over higher elevations of the Sierra as that trough grazes the region. High temperatures will be quite warm running around 5 to 10 degrees above climatology. Widespread highs across the Valley and Delta should reach the mid/upper 70s with pockets of lower 80s into the northern Sacramento Valley. Skies will remain mostly sunny under the influence of the ridge with some additional clouds over the mountains from diurnal heating.