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Hydrometeorological Discussion
National Weather Service / California Nevada RFC / Sacramento CA
615 AM PDT Wed Mar 18 2026

...WARM AND DRY WITH RECORD SETTING TEMPERATURES THROUGH SATURDAY...
...A SHOWER OR TWO OVER THE CREST OF SRN OR CASCADES FRI PM/SAT AM...

.METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (WED AM - TUE AM)...

Strong high pressure is anchored across southern CA this 
morning...keeping the storm track well to the north as a channel of 
moisture advects from near Hawaii to the northeast and intersecting 
the west coast near Washington state. The story this week continues 
to be the well above normal temperatures across the region with many 
daytime record highs being set and the potential for all-time March 
temperatures being recorded by the end of the week. Models continue 
to show the heat peaking either Thursday (March 19) or Friday (March 
20) with anomalies of plus 15- to plus 30-degF over seasonal normals 
anticipated as 500-mb heights top our around 5970-meters over the 
Desert Southwest.

The only opportunity for any precip across the region during the 
upcoming 6-day period is late Friday into early Saturday as a s/wv 
trof moves toward the coast near Vancouver Island...resulting in the 
moisture plume to sag southward toward the CA/OR border. 
However...with such a warm and dry airmass in place...the available 
moisture will erode considerably. Models are hinting at a couple 
hundredths of an inch over the crest of the southern OR Cascades 
near Crater Lake. That is all for precip.

Through the rest of the weekend into early next week...the upr ridge 
will flatten a bit...allowing for some cooler temperatures to filter 
in across the region. The models had been hinting at the potential 
for an incoming weak system on Tuesday into Wednesday of next week. 
However...the 18/00Z EC is now showing another upr ridge developing 
over southern CA for another round of warmer temperatures. 


Please Note: This product may NOT be routinely updated.
Please refer to the following product issued by the CNRFC
www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/Daily-Briefing for a graphical summary of
weather and hydrologic conditions.