CHICO — Just on the heels of one storm, another, colder system is approaching this weekend with low temperatures expected to linger on after.
Sara Purdue, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said the chances of heavy rain in the valley, specifically in the Butte, Glenn and Tehama county areas, is minimal with most locations seeing only about a tenth of an inch through the weekend. Purdue said the rainfall will be higher further north in Shasta County as well as local foothills and mountain areas such as Paradise and higher.
Though rain likely won’t be a defining factor of the upcoming storm system, it is expected to be cold and could bring additional snow as low as 2,000 feet on Saturday afternoon and even lower to 1,500 feet Saturday night into Sunday.
“This is a very cold system,” Purdue said. “Colder than the previous one.”
Beyond the weekend system, cold temperatures are expected to stay for a while with the potential for freezing conditions overnight, once the clouds clear, Purdue said. On Saturday night, temperatures are expected to range from 26-31 degrees followed by 26-38 on Sunday night.
The storm won’t be particularly windy in the valley, though Purdue noted that some areas just north of Chico as well as along the coastal mountain range could see gusts up to 30 miles per hour. Other than that, mountainous areas could see upwards of 55 mph winds through the weekend.
Freezing conditions for this time of year aren’t uncommon and typically don’t have a heavy impact on agriculture. Colleen Cecil of the Butte County Farm Bureau said the rain is welcome.
“Wet and cold weather in January will have very little negative impact on Butte County agriculture and in fact, the more the better as far as rain goes right now,” Cecil said.
The possibility of snow may also be greeted with a warm welcome by many. Earlier this week, the California Department of Water Resources conducted its first snow survey at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada region to find that the snowpack was at merely 30% of its yearly average for early January.
Cecil said that for now, it’s a matter of keeping an eye on the snowpack and hoping for more rain.
“Obviously, we are, as farmers are always watching the weather forecast, because we have had little to no precipitation and thus no snow,” Cecil said. “It won’t be until late February and March, into spring, when precipitation and freezing temps start to become a problem for farmers. Rain and frost during bloom have a negative impact and continuous rain has the potential to delay rice planting in the spring. Nothing to be alarmed about at this point in the weather forecast. And if we get more rain than the forecast predicts, that’s OK too.”
Because of the cold weather warning, the National Weather Service is urging people to dress appropriately in layers with limited skin exposure, bring pets indoors and make sure they have somewhere warm to go and finally, bring in plants that are sensitive to the cold.
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