March 18, 2025 – A brief lull in active weather expected today before light precipitation returns Wednesday into Thursday as we overall trend drier throughout the week.
Discussion
Thunderstorms and snow showers have wrapped up late tonight with all weather hazards for our County Warning Area (CWA) ending/has expired as midnight this morning. We enter a brief lull as we trend towards dry conditions expected by the end of the week. This morning will see cold morning lows, as skies clear across the Northern and Central Sacramento Valley with patchy fog over the eastern to central portions of the Valley. Morning lows across the lower elevations in the low to mid 30s are forecasted for much of the Northern Sac. Valley and as low as 32 degrees at Redding. Morning lows from the teens to low 30s are forecasted for the mountains to upper foothills respectively. The NBM (National Blend of Models) predicts a 40-80% chance of lows colder than 34 degrees with increasing chances are you move northward closer to the northeastern foothills.
This lull is driven by rising upper level heights as ridging moves over Northern CA on today into early morning Wednesday. This will see marginal increases in temperatures and mild weather until a progressive shortwave moves over Northern CA Wednesday afternoon but will be quickly out of our area by late morning Thursday. Impacts will be mainly focused on the mountains and Northern Sacramento Valley with scattered showers and accumulating snow above 5000 feet. Accumulations will be fairly light with 1-5 inches of snow across the Sierra and Southern Cascades, highest north of Interstate 80. Forecasted rain amounts for the Valley and foothills are under 0.25″ with less than a tenth for the Central Valley. Lastly, this will bring breezy winds to the area with gusts up to 30-40 MPH across the Central Valley, strongest in the northeastern foothills and up to 45 MPH over the Sierra. By Thursday late morning, showers will have tapered off and a return to dry conditions across much of the area.
However, we will see one last gasp attempt of active weather on Friday with chances (40-70%) of light precipitation across the Northern Sac. Valley and Southern Cascades areas. Little to no impacts are expected to amount from this but will continue to monitor trends to see things trend any wetter. By Friday afternoon, afternoon highs will be in the 60s in the Central Valley and upper 40s to low 60s across the mountains to adjacent foothills.
Extended Discussion (Saturday through Tuesday)
Drier weather is favored for the rest of the weekend and into next week as clusters support upper level ridging building back in. A drying and warming trend will bring above normal temperatures back to interior NorCal by the end of the extended forecast period.
The NBM shows a 75-100% probability of 70 degrees or higher on Sunday and on Monday, a 60-90% across the much of Central Valley and up to 95% over the Central and Northern Sacramento Valley. Crossing the 80-degree threshold isn’t out of the question early next week with a 40-70% chance north of I-80 and across the Northern San Joaquin Valley.