CALIFORNIA, USA — Most of the summer for Northern California has been much hotter than average with a record hot month in July. The average high in Sacramento was almost 104 degrees.
Early August remained hot with many days over 100 degrees.
The last few weeks it's been closer to normal with highs near the average of 95-93 degrees and a handful of days below average in the upper 80s.
Starting Thursday a rare cooler system will take shape and bring some of the coolest conditions of the summer so far with rain chances for some areas.
Thursday afternoon will see wind kick up in the valley near 20 mph and some stronger gusts closer to 30 mph. The Sierra will also see winds in that range but stronger gusts above 40mph. There is a fire risk on the east side of the Sierra in the Reno area which extends to the far northeast corner of California.
On Friday temperatures continue to cool and valley locations will top out in the low to mid-70s. This is rare and we typically see similar highs in late October. The Sierra will see communities like Truckee and South Lake Tahoe top out in the 50s. Above 8,000 feet we could get a dusting of snow although most precipitation chances remain north of I-80. There will be chances of light showers in the Sierra late Friday and early Saturday.
Brief but heavy rain via thunderstorms is possible in the Park Fire Burn Area and there is a Flash Flood Watch issued for that risk.
For valley locations, the rain chances remain low, but there is still a slight chance for light rain between Friday and early Saturday. There will also be lots of cloud cover in valley locations during the day on Friday.
Saturday is a clearing day with the system moving out but cool, low 80s remain for the highs. This is about 10 degrees below average.
Sunday we return to the 90s for highs, and then next week between Monday and Wednesday highs will be near 100 degrees.
A brief change to "fall" weather will only last a few days, but its a huge departure for normal weather in August.
Watch more on ABC10 | California Storm: Cold summer storm and potential for Sierra snow