SACRAMENTO, Calif — Although it won't be especially warm early on for this Memorial Day weekend, temperatures will warm to near average levels by Sunday and even warmer Monday.
Overall, the weather this weekend will be pleasant for outdoor activities. Saturday will be the coolest day of the three day weekend thanks to the presence of a weak low pressure system sweeping across Northern California. High pressure will build into California on Sunday and Monday, and temperatures will rise into the mid-to-upper 80s by Monday.
Mostly sunny skies and light to moderate winds will be paired with the weekend warming trend. In the Sierra, thunderstorms are possible and temperatures will be in the 50s on Saturday before warming into the 60s and 70s on Sunday and Monday.
Water temperatures remain on the chilly side, but Northern California's waterways will no doubt still be popular places this weekend.
If you’re headed up to Lake Tahoe, the water temperature is only 50 degrees. In the foothills and the valley the reservoirs, lakes and rivers aren't much warmer thanks to the frigid snowmelt feeding into them.
Although flows aren’t as fast as last year, they are still dangerous.
“Absolutely we should be warning the public to be careful. But it's not it the flows themselves are not abnormally high, it's just this is the time of season that happens”, said Andy Reising, manager of the water supply surveys and water supply forecasting unit in the hydrology branch of Department of Water Resources.
The combination of cold temperatures and fast-moving waters is a dangerous combination and people die every year in the spring and summer due to this deadly duo.
There is still plenty of snow to melt in the Sierra, especially in the northern third of the state. About 33% of the amount of snow that was on the ground April 1 (the typical snowpack peak) remains as of May 22.
This will be the second straight year of above average reservoir levels thanks to last year's record snowpack followed by another above average snowpack this year.
Heading into the unofficial start of summer, all Northern California’s major reservoirs are well above average, and most are at or near capacity.
As of May 22, Shasta is at 96% of capacity (115% of historical average), Oroville is at 100% (126% of historical average) and Folsom is 95% full (120% of historical average).
The major difference this year in reservoir levels compared to Memorial Day last year is Trinity Reservoir, which was at 51% of capacity last year. This year, it is at 87% and will likely continue to rise through early summer.
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