A cold winter storm is forecast to hit the Sacramento Valley, bringing with it near-freezing temperatures, rain and the possibility of snow at low elevations this week.
Though the Sacramento area saw “seasonably warm” days on Monday and Tuesday, temperatures are expected to drop into the mid- to upper-30s Tuesday night and extend through Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Rain is forecast to return to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, according to the weather service, with the heaviest precipitation expected Thursday night and Friday morning.
Snow is forecast to fall in some low-elevation areas of the northern Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills Wednesday through Friday, according to the weather service.
“We're expecting 1 to 4 inches of snow, possibly down to around 500 feet in elevation,” said Idamis Del Valle-Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the weather service. “Mainly, north and west of Red Bluff.”
Del Valle-Shoemaker said snow falling in the northern portion of the Sacramento Valley is “not that uncommon,” and added that it occurred most recently in December 2021.
For higher-elevation areas like the Sierra, snow is expected to be heavy. The weather service issued a winter storm warning for the western slope of the Sierra, Western Plumas County and Lassen Park from 10 a.m. Tuesday through 4 a.m. Saturday.
CHP officials are warning motorists of “possible major travel issues” on Sierra passes and urged against mountain travel.
In addition to wet and cold weather, the storm moving across Northern California is forecast to bring heavy winds along with it.
“We're expecting gusty winds this afternoon, tonight and [they] might linger into early Wednesday morning,” Del Valle-Shoemaker said. “In the Sacramento area, specifically, 30 to 35 [mph gusts].”
She added that the weather service is forecasting “stronger winds elsewhere”: Some portions of the northern Sacramento Valley could see gusts up to 45 mph, and the San Joaquin Valley could see gusts up to 40 mph.
The weather service issued a wind advisory for the Sacramento Valley, Northern San Joaquin Valley and the foothills through 4 a.m. Wednesday, noting that “tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.”
PG&E announced it has opened its Emergency Operations Center and is pre-positioning crews, equipment and other resources across Northern and Central California ahead of the storm.
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