Wheatland, California 7 Day Weather Forecast

Wx Forecast - Wx Discussion - Wx Aviation

502
FXUS66 KSTO 072113
AFDSTO

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Sacramento CA
113 PM PST Fri Mar 7 2025

.SYNOPSIS...
Dry and seasonable weather with some occasional breeziness
expected through the weekend and into early next week. A
pronounced pattern shift toward active weather with is then
expected from Tuesday through the end of the week. Periods of
moderate to heavy rain and mountain snow alongside gusty winds
will bring significant travel impacts to interior NorCal,
especially through the middle of the week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
GOES-West imagery depicts mostly clear skies across the region
today, with attendant temperatures early this afternoon already
eclipsing the high temperature marks from yesterday. This trend
toward warm, dry, and occasionally breezy weather will be brought
upon by building ridging aloft into the weekend. With the ridge
axis centered offshore today, high temperatures into the upper 50s
to mid 60s are anticipated throughout the Delta, Valley, and
foothills, with 40s to 50s at higher elevations. While a drastic
warm up is not anticipated, as ridging becomes more prominent over
the region by the weekend, more widespread 60s to low 70s are
expected at lower elevations with 50s to 60s at higher elevations
through Monday.

A few periods of breezier winds are expected today ahead of the
building ridge, Sunday as the ridge translates eastward, and late
Tuesday as a strong, deepening trough begins to impact the region.
As a result, north winds gusting 15 to 25 mph are expected today,
with similar wind gust magnitude from a southerly direction on
Sunday. Strongest southerly gusts are expected late in the day
Tuesday with gusts 20 to 30 mph from Interstate 80 southward and
gusts 25 to 35 mph north of the Interstate 80 corridor. Some gusts
up to 45 mph will be possible along the Sierra crest as well.
While increasing southerly winds will keep high temperatures
seasonable, lowering heights as the trough approaches will work in
contest to cool high temperatures closer to the upper 50s to mid
60s at lower elevations and 40s to 50s at higher elevations on
Tuesday afternoon.

&&

.EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Late Tuesday THROUGH Friday)...
Some minor timing differences exist between ensemble guidance,
but by late Tuesday, a trough is expected to rapidly deepen from
the Gulf of Alaska toward the West Coast. Given the slight timing
differences, exact precipitation onset remains a bit uncertain,
but general consensus indicates that widespread precipitation will
be ongoing by Wednesday morning at the latest. Despite the deep
nature of the expected trough, the majority of ensemble guidance
indicates it being rather progressive. As a result, heaviest
precipitation is anticipated on Wednesday as the trough is more
directly overhead, with a very gradual tapering in intensity
through Thursday.

Aforementioned increasing winds late Tuesday, look to continue
their upward trend into Wednesday. Given the orientation of the
trough, a south-southeasterly wind direction is favored at this
time. While wind gust magnitude remains a bit uncertain,
probabilities of gusts up to 45 mph currently sit around 30 to 60
percent from Interstate 80 southward, with 60 to 80 percent
probabilities north of the Interstate 80 corridor and along the
Sierra/southern Cascades. Winds are expected to taper off by
Thursday, but additional breezy to gusty winds remain possible
Friday as the next potential shortwave arrives.

A moderate intensity atmospheric river moisture plume is on tap
to accompany this midweek system and given expected trough
deepening, periods of moderate to heavy rain and snow are expected
with this system. Current probabilities of precipitation up to
1.5 inches throughout the Valley and foothills sit around 50 to 80
percent at this time, with 60 to 80 percent probabilities of
precipitation greater than 3 inches along the Sierra/southern
Cascades. Snow levels are expected to begin around 4000 to 5000
feet late Tuesday through midday Wednesday, falling to 3000 to
4000 feet by Wednesday evening, and falling further to 2000 to
3000 feet by Thursday morning. Resultant probabilities of snowfall
greater than 4 feet sit around 50 to 80 percent above 5000 feet,
with some 30 to 80 percent probabilities of up to 1 foot between
3000 and 5000 feet (highest above 4000 feet). Additional light
snowfall accumulations will be possible between 2000 and 3000
feet, but uncertainty in this occurrence is high at this time.
Heaviest snowfall at this time is expected on Wednesday with some
potential for periods of snowfall rates 2-3 inches per hour at
times. With periods of moderate to heavy rain and snow and strong
southerly winds, take time now to prepare for significant weather
impacts, particularly regarding mountain travel next week.

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR conditions expected over the next 24 hours. Generally breezy
north to east winds today with gusts up to 20 to 25 kts until 00z
Saturday. After 00z, light winds in the Valley and lingering winds
across the Sierra up to 15 kts throughout the remainder of the
forecast period.

&&

.STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.
&&

$$