February 3, 2020 – Breezy northerly winds will persist into early Tuesday. Dry conditions expected throughout the week.
Discussion
A cold Pacific storm brought a total of 3 inches of snow to the Caltrans Maintenance Yard at Kingvale by the early evening. This storm has since exited with precipitation ending.
While the the Wind Advisory expired in the evening, lighter but still breezy northerly winds have persisted over much of the area. These have kept temperatures from dropping as much as they would otherwise in the clear skies and cold airmass that remain over the region. Temperatures are generally 5 to 13 degrees cooler than this time yesterday. Some spots in the Valley had reached around freezing at 3 am, such as Fairfield at 32 degrees (where wind is actually calm) and 33 at Beale Air Force Base (where the wind is light). Blue Canyon at an elevation 5280 feet is only 22, compared to 46 yesterday.
Freezing temperatures could be more of an issue Tuesday morning. Northern winds could keep most areas north of I-80 near or above freezing, but lighter winds to the south could allow colder temperatures to develop. Skies will be mostly clear, allowing the northern San Joaquin Valley to potentially see lows in the upper 20s. A building atmospheric ridge should mean a slightly airmass by Wednesday, with lows for cities like Modesto and Stockton forecast in the low 30s. Mountain lows could reach the single digits early Tuesday, teens early Wednesday. By Thursday morning, further ridge development will mean lows in the upper 30s for the Valley, with afternoon highs in the 60s, reaching up to around 70 for Redding.
Extended Discussion (Friday through Monday)
Stout high pressure will continue to dominate the weather for the beginning of the extended forecast. Temperatures will remain warm and in the mid to upper 60s for most of the Valley with the possibility of some 70 degree readings over the northern Sacramento. The foothills and mountains will get to enjoy the warmer weather too, with their highs spanning the upper 40s to the mid 60s. Come the weekend, heights quickly begin to lower in response to another longwave trough. It is looking like yet another cold, but dry system outside of some scattered mountain snow showers. There are still some ensemble solutions which are farther west, but at this juncture it does appear to be of the cool, dry, and breezy variety.