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Hydrometeorological Discussion
National Weather Service / California Nevada RFC / Sacramento CA
620 AM PDT Tue Mar 17 2026

...WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE WEEK...

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

Strong high pressure continues to slowly make its way toward the CA 
coast this morning...expected to shift inland later today across 
southern CA with 500-mb heights peaking near 5920-meters. Dry 
conditions will persist through the period as a deep moisture plume 
shifts from near the Hawaiian Islands to the northeast...eventually 
intersecting the west coast well north of the area across the state 
of Washington. PW values within this feature are peaking somewhere 
just shy of 2.00-inches near Hawaii with about 1.33-inches along the 
WA coast...bringing widespread precip to coastal BC and WA. 

Through the rest of the week...the high pressure ridge will ever so 
slowly make its way eastward toward the Desert Southwest with 
temperatures now looking to peak either Thursday March 19 or Friday 
March 20 across CA and NV with afternoon anomalies reaching from 
plus 15- to plus 30-degF over seasonal normals. This will most 
definitely allow for several daily record high temperatures to be 
broken (some already have early on in this event)...and there is 
also a potential for all-time March high temperatures to be set as 
well.

For the weekend...the upr ridge will begin to flatten a bit and the 
moisture plume over the Pacific Northwest will sag southward as a 
s/wv trof approaches the BC coast. At this time...look for the 
moisture plume to erode as it reaches down to the CA/OR border on 
Saturday. Along with a rather dry and warm airmass already in 
place...not anticipating any measurable precip down to the upper 
Klamath River basin. 


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.