If you were putting in an order for perfect weather for Easter Sunday, you couldn’t do much better than Sunday’s forecast of sunny skies and near-80s temperatures.
“It’s almost like we drew it up, right?” joked city parks director Aaron Aguirre.
That’s good news for the thousands of people who will be crowding into Woodward and Roeding regional parks as well as neighborhood parks. But families hoping to spend the day alongside the San Joaquin and Kings rivers will need to find other venues —the Fresno County Department of Public Works and Planning has closed those parks as an additional safety measure.
The Sheriff’s Office last month closed both rivers to recreational uses because of dangerously fast-moving and high water.
The closed county parks include Avocado Lake Park, Choinumni Park (day use and campgrounds), Lost Lake Park (day use and campgrounds), Winton Park, Laton-Kingston Park, Skaggs Bridge Park, and China Creek Park.
While some greenspaces at Woodward and Roeding will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, the pavilions and picnic tables at both parks are fully reserved for both Saturday and Sunday, Aguirre said.
Drivers will not need to stop at the toll booths at the parks’ entrances but instead can either pay for parking at kiosks or use the department’s mobile app on their phones, he said.
Capacity Closures Possible
Parks employees will be counting traffic and will halt entries once the number of vehicles in the park reaches the maximum of 1,200 stalls at Roeding and 1,400 at Woodward, he said.
Changeable message signs near the parks will be updated, as will the parks department’s social media postings on Facebook and Instagram, Aguirre said.
Fresno police will be monitoring traffic to prevent drivers from waiting in long lines to enter the park, although some lines likely will form prior to the parks’ 6 a.m. opening both days this weekend, he said.
Although the number of vehicles will be controlled, visitors also may walk or ride bicycles into the parks, he said.
Meanwhile, extra staff will be on hand in the parks to stay on top of emptying trash bins and keeping bathrooms clean and stocked with supplies, Aguirre said.
Warm Weather Will Be Brief
People visiting parks or even just spending time in their backyards this weekend should slather on the sunscreen and break out their shorts. The forecast high for Sunday in Fresno will be in the upper 70s to near 80 degrees, meteorologist Brian Ochs said Friday. That’s a few degrees warmer than the typical high temperatures for this time of year in the lower 70s, he said.
Folks who are heading up to Shaver Lake this weekend will see high temperatures around 66 degrees on Sunday and dropping to 59 degrees on Monday, Ochs said.
Saturday’s weather will be a little cooler, with highs in the lower 70s and clouds.
The weekend’s warmer temperatures will cause an increase in snowmelt off the massive Sierra snowpack, which could heighten flooding problems in the Valley, Ochs said.
Enjoy Sunday’s warmer, sunny weather while you can — after the high temperatures peak on Monday around 84 degrees, the weather will cool back down into the high 60s starting Wednesday, with a possibility of rain showers in the foothills and a dusting of snow in the Sierra as low as 5,000 feet, he said.
