Plenty of heat on this Fourth of July for northern California, with natural lightning fireworks due to thunderstorms over Lassen County this afternoon. The showers and thunderstorms will fade tonight, but our summer heat is going nowhere. Additional lightning-caused fires are certainly a possibility over Lassen County this afternoon and evening, but hopefully enough rain accompanies the lightning strikes to lessen the threat. We'll have fewer clouds late tonight and a bright start to Monday. Lows will range from the 50s in the mountains to the 60s and 70s in the foothills and valley. Monday afternoon will be mostly sunny to sunny and slightly hotter with highs ranging from the 90s in the mountains and foothills to 100s in the valley.
Our overall weather pattern is still dominated by a strong ridge of high pressure over California along with most of the western United States. A small trough of low pressure currently off the California coast will move onshore later this week, but the only effects we can expect will be a minor cooling of our highs, and that will be temporary. The ridge is forecast to become much stronger and more dominant as we progress through the week and move into next weekend. Highs will be much hotter for our entire region, and more Advisories and Warnings will eventually be issued. Valley lows will warm from the 60s into the lower and mid 70s. Valley highs will climb from the 98-103 degree range to the 108-113 degree range by next Monday.
