Balmy weekend weather expected for Sonoma County

Gardeners, golfers and folks just goofing around are in for continued balmy weather this holiday weekend following a record high Thursday in Santa Rosa.

“It means that spring has sprung,” said Cindy Stewart, manager at King’s Nursery in Santa Rosa.

Spring arrived officially on March 20, setting the stage for this week’s streak of daytime high temperatures 10 to ?20 degrees above normal, said Brian Mejia, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

The continued warm, dry spell, with 78-degree highs expected Saturday, coinciding with Passover, and on Easter Sunday, signals “a green light for green thumbs,” Stewart said.

The weekend shapes up as a fine time for those wanting to plant flowers and vegetables for spring and summer, she said, with only one hint of caution: a slight chance of overnight frost that is typical in mid-April.

However, Accuweather, a private forecasting service, predicts low temperatures in the mid- to high 40s all the way through next month.

Stewart said that when people get the urge to dig holes in the ground they usually do so, and she’s not about to advise holding off.

Santa Rosa hit 86 degrees Thursday, topping the previous record of 84 for the date, set in 1968, Mejia said.

San Rafael set a record at 84, 2 degrees above the old mark, also set in 1968, and Napa tied its record of 83, likewise from 1968.

Last Sunday, Santa Rosa recorded a daytime high of 61 degrees, then warmed up to 71 on Monday, followed by a three-day stretch over 80 during a week that averages in the high 60s.

The last time Santa Rosa had a streak like that was the first week of February, when temperatures in the low- to high 70s (and one 80-degree day) made people warm but worried that it wasn’t raining.

A large dome of high pressure over the Pacific Ocean brought this week’s unseasonably warm weather, Mejia said.

Daytime highs are expected to hold steady at 76 Monday through Wednesday, then cooling on Thursday to 68, with a good chance of rain from a “Pineapple Express” Thursday night into Friday, he said.

The storm system from Hawaii could bring some moderate to heavy rain, he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@guykovner.