‘Major’ weather pattern change to Sacramento, western U.S.

(FOX40.COM) — The Sacramento area and the western United States will be seeing a “major pattern change” next week that could bring much cooler temperatures, rain and even snow.

A drier-than-normal period for the West is expected to give way to a cooler, wetter pattern that could lead to “possibly heavy” periods of snow in the Sierra Nevada, according to the National Weather Service.

The Sacramento area could see spotty, light showers as early as Sunday evening and into Tuesday, FOX40’s chief meteorologist Adam Epstein said, but it would be less than a tenth of an inch across those three days.

“In the Sierra, I do expect to see 2 to 8 inches of snow,” Epstein said. “Snow levels will start around 6,000 feet on Sunday and drop to as low as 4,000 feet by Tuesday with that colder air moving in.” The area should expect to see more activity next weekend, Epstein said.

Nearly the entire state of California is looking at a “likely above” normal chance of precipitation from Feb. 12 through Feb. 16, according to the National Weather Service, as well as below-average temperatures.

That would provide a much-needed boost to an “unusually low” Western U.S. snowpack. California’s snowpack stands at 59% of average for this time of year, according to a report last week, and is just 36% of where the state should be by April 1.

The largest snow-producing months in the Sierra Nevada are January, February and March – meaning there’s still time to catch up.

“Recent California winters have seen this pattern of long, dry and warm stretches interrupted by intense storms,” the manager of the Department of Water Resources Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit said in an announcement last week. “We are now two-thirds through what should be the best snow-producing months of the year. While there is still time for February and March to deliver additional snow, the farther into the season we get with below-average conditions, the harder it will be to catch up.”

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.