March 28, 2018 – Dry and warm this week with breezy north winds at times.
Discussion
Upper level ridging will bring dry weather and increasingly warm weather through Thursday, when temperatures are expected to peak. Upper level ridging begins to flatten out Friday ahead of an approaching shortwave trough, which moves through Saturday. This will bring a slight cooling trend, but it is a dry system, so no precipitation is expected.
Highs today are expected to peak in the low 80s over the northern Sacramento Valley, upper 70s elsewhere in the Valley and Delta, 70s in the foothills, with upper 40s to upper 60s over the mountains. The last time downtown Sacramento reached 80 was on October 29. Redding saw 80s more recently, with the airport reaching 81 on February 4. Thursday the area will generally see a few degrees more warming. Friday will be a couple degrees less warm. By Saturday, much of the area will be in the 70s.
Extended discussion (Sunday through Wednesday)
Relatively stable zonal flow aloft with slight ridging into early next week will bring dry weather and warm afternoon temperatures to northern California. The next shot of precipitation for the area arrives Tuesday as a shortwave trough aloft will bring some lift to generate some chances for rain. Any rainfall is expected to be light and mainly confined to the mountains. Afternoon high temperatures will range between 5 and 10 degrees above normal.