Maybe this will help . . . Rain, snow make for unusual June weather

Courtesy of the Record Searchlight

Just think, only a week ago Redding was suffering from triple-digit heat.

On Friday, it never got above 70 degrees on the valley floor, the high country saw fresh snow and cars were sliding around on rainy roads, culminating a workweek filled with strange, unseasonably cool weather. At least 2 inches of snow fell Friday on Lassen Peak at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

"It's been coming down pretty much all day," said Amanda Whitty, a park guide.

Whitty said the snow didn't really stick to asphalt, so the park's recently opened main road stayed clear. The roads fared worse in the Redding area on Friday afternoon. In Cottonwood, three nearly simultaneous wrecks led to a California Highway Patrol officer being flown to a hospital. The southbound lanes of Interstate 5 were briefly closed. Farther north of Redding, the southbound lanes near the Vollmers exit also were closed when a truck jackknifed around a corner. The damp weather, which dumped at least 0.62 of an inch of rain in Redding on Friday, broke precipitation records the day before, when 0.69 of an inch fell. That broke a record of 0.63 set in 1943, said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, thousands of north state residents spent Friday afternoon hoping the clouds would break long enough so high school graduates could receive their diplomas outside. Enterprise, Shasta, Anderson, Foothill and West Valley high schools decided Friday afternoon to carry through with plans to hold their graduation ceremonies outdoors. Officials at most of the schools said they would move inside or cancel the program entirely only if lightning threatened to strike. If only they could have waited a week, the students wouldn't have had such concerns. Today, the chance of showers drops to 20 percent, and the rest of the week should return to temperatures normally associated with early June.

"Looks like it's coming back," Garcia said of the late-spring heat. "But we had a nice break."

Reporter Ryan Sabalow can be reached at 225-8344 or at rsabalow@redding.com.