Sacramento is in for another dreary weekend. How many times has rain spoiled fun this spring?
Sacramento is in for another chilly and possibly rainy weekend.
Yes, another one.
It’s too easy to get used to 75- and 80-degree clear, sunny days and think, “This is spring.”
In reality, rain is just as much a part of the season as allergies and stinky Callery pear trees.
The Sacramento Bee looked at two months of weather data to catalog the temperature highs and precipitation in the city on weekends so far this spring. An editor confirmed the measurements with the National Weather Service.
For this analysis, we are including Friday as part of the weekend.
Here’s how many rainy and chilly weekends Sacramento has had since the meteorological start of spring on March 1:
How much rain has Sacramento gotten this spring?
Although there were 13 days of measurable rainfall in March, the month came in below normal with 2.04 inches measured at the rain meter stationed at Sacramento State.
April came in above normal, with 1.72 inches on four days of measurable rain.
Twelve of those 17 combined days between March and April (71%) were a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
March had it worse — with three of its five weekends completely rained out. In April, it rained on two Fridays and one Saturday.
Has it been abnormally cold in Sacramento this spring?
Not really, though a few days have dipped well below normal.
The highest temperature recorded in March was 78 degrees on the 20th. The coldest day — according to high temperatures — was March 2 with a high of 54. March 3 and March 4 had the lowest lows at 42 degrees overnight.
However, both months rang in around or above normal for high and low temperatures. March’s usual high is near 66 degrees. This year, it averaged 66.2. The low averaged around 47 degrees, above normal. April saw temperatures slightly above normal with an average high temperature of 74.3 and the average low was 49.5.
The lowest low in April was 38 degrees on the 6th (that day saw a high of 63). The lowest high was 52 on April 4 — but it hit 89 degrees on April 22.
As for the weekends, only one in March (15-17) was consistently above 70 degrees. In April, two weekends rose above 70 degrees and one of those ranged from highs of 80 to 88 degrees.
The coldest weekend was April 5-7, when the city hit a low of 38 degrees and high temperatures ranged from 56 to 66 degrees. The first weekend in March was that month’s coldest, with a low of 42 and highs ranging from 55 to 61 degrees.
What’s next in the Sacramento weather forecast?
Temperatures will drop between Friday and Saturday, by about 10 degrees, according to the weather service’s seven-day forecast on Wednesday afternoon.
Highs on Thursday and Friday are expected in the low 80s, dropping to 62 degrees on Saturday as a storm moves in and drops rain over the capital region. There’s an 80% chance of rain on Saturday before skies clear on Sunday, ushering in high 60-degree temperatures.
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