changes coming

The high temperature in Chico yesterday was 72 degrees under mostly sunny skies. It was beautiful! Too bad I was stuck indoors all day at a conference in Sacramento. Oh, well. The weekend looks nice, with mainly sunny skies and highs in the 60s. There will be a slight chance of a shower late Saturday night/ early Sunday morning. It will remain dry and mild until Tuesday, when a pretty powerful, colder storm moves in. Clouds will thicken, winds will pick up, and rain will begin to fall in the valley (snow in the mountains) by Tuesday and continue into Wednesday of next week. The National Weather Service is saying this is a pretty wet storm (meaning lots of moisture), so look for decent amounts of rain and snowfall. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say a half inch in the valley and at least 5-10 inches of snow in the mountains. Due to the colder air mass associated with this storm, I can guess the snow elevations will be low- probably around 3000 feet. We'll see if I'm right in the coming days. For now, enjoy the dry and mild weather. Here's the latest seven day forecast for Chico from the NWS: Today Sunny, with a high near 75. West northwest wind around 7 mph. Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 45. Light and variable wind. Saturday Increasing clouds, with a high near 69. Calm wind becoming southeast 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Saturday Night A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly before 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Calm wind. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday A 20 percent chance of showers before 10am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph in the morning. Sunday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 38. Monday Sunny, with a high near 66. Monday Night A slight chance of rain. Partly cloudy, with a low around 39. Tuesday A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. Tuesday Night Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Wednesday Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Wednesday Night A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36. Thursday A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58.