SACRAMENTO, California —
A dry Thanksgiving weekend is on tap for most of Northern California, along with temperatures right around average apart from a warmer than normal Thanksgiving Day.
Temperatures on Thursday will rise into the upper 60s in the valley under a ridge of high pressure which has been in place following last weekend's storm event.
Sacramento will continue its streak of Thanksgivings without any rain and temperatures in the 60s. This streak of no precipitation is nothing compared to the stretch of rainfall measurements on the holiday failing to reach more than 0.01” in downtown Sacramento that lasted from 1943-1970.
The record high temperature on Thanksgiving in Sacramento is 75 degrees in 1959 while the coldest high recorded on Turkey Day is 46 degrees in both 1931 and 1954. This year's high will be comfortably between these two extremes.
On a national scale, it will be a relatively calm, albeit cool day of weather apart from a system delivering snow to the Rocky Mountains.
Friday will see cooler temperatures than Thursday thanks to that inside slider system clipping the northern portion of the state. As the front passes through, a few light showers are possible in the northern Sacramento Valley along with a dusting of snow in the Sierra.
Further south, the only impacts from this system passing through will be a period of gusty north winds. Gusts in Sacramento will be in the 25-35 mph range but gusts will likely exceed 40 mph along the western side of the valley and in the Sierra.
A wind advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. Thursday until 1 p.m. Friday for portions of the Sacramento Valley, the Delta and northern Coastal Range, strongest west of Interstate 5.
Mornings will be cold this weekend and beyond and valley lows will bottom out near freezing. NWS has issued a Freeze Warning through the weekend.
The coldest morning will be Monday, although freezing temperatures are not out of the question on Saturday and Sunday. NWS Sacramento places the odds of reaching freezing at 15% to 35% for Saturday and 20% to 50% on Sunday.
Looking further ahead, a pattern flip could be on the way in early December for Northern California. The Climate Prediction Center favors both warmer and wetter conditions than normal through the 8-14 timeframe.
