If you’ve lived in Yolo County for more than a week, you know the morning routine. You wake up, look out the window, and see... absolutely nothing. Just a wall of gray. That’s the Tule fog, a legendary Central Valley staple that basically owns the Woodland CA weather hourly forecast from November through February.
But here is the thing: most people check their weather app, see a "cloudy" icon, and assume it’s just a gloomy day. They’re wrong. Woodland weather is a complex beast driven by the geography of the Sacramento Valley. It’s a place where it can be 35°F and pea-soup thick at 8:00 AM, but by 2:00 PM, you’re stripping off your jacket because the sun finally punched through and pushed things into the high 50s.
The 2026 Winter Reality: Why the Hourly Forecast Lies
Right now, in mid-January 2026, we are seeing a classic "temperature inversion." Basically, warm air is sitting on top of cold, moist air trapped in the valley. This creates a lid.
Woodland is currently sitting at 35°F as of 8:00 AM. Humidity? A whopping 100%. If you’re looking at the Woodland CA weather hourly breakdown for today, Wednesday, January 14, you’ll see the temperature barely budging for the first few hours.
- 9:00 AM: 37°F (Dense fog, visibility under a quarter-mile)
- 11:00 AM: 44°F (Fog begins to "lift" into a low ceiling)
- 1:00 PM: 52°F (The sun finally breaks through)
- 3:00 PM: 59°F (Peak warmth, feels great if you're out of the shade)
The mistake most commuters make is trusting the "High of 59" and forgetting that for 60% of the day, it’s going to feel like a damp refrigerator.
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The Tule Fog Factor
Honestly, the Tule fog is the most dangerous part of our local climate. It’s not like coastal fog. It’s radiation fog. It forms on clear, calm nights when the ground loses heat rapidly. In 2026, we’ve actually seen a bit of a weird trend where the fog is "lifting" into what experts like Daniel Swain of Weather West call "Tule Stratus."
Instead of being on the ground where it causes 50-car pileups on I-5, it’s hanging a few hundred feet up. It’s still cold and damp, but you can at least see the taillights of the truck in front of you. This happens because the airmass aloft is unusually warm right now. We don't have much of a Sierra snowpack yet this year, so there's less cold air draining down into the valley at night.
When the North Wind Kicks In
If you want to know what really changes the Woodland CA weather hourly vibe, watch the wind direction.
Usually, our winds are light—maybe 2 to 5 mph from the North-Northeast. But when a dry "North Wind" event happens, everything changes. The fog gets scoured out in hours. The humidity drops from 100% to 30% in a single afternoon. Suddenly, the air is crisp, the sky is deep blue, and you can see the Coastal Range to the west like they're in your backyard.
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For today, the wind is almost non-existent. Windfinder shows a measly 2-knot breeze from the NNW. That means the "gray blanket" is staying put for most of the morning.
Agriculture and the Big Chill
Woodland isn't just a suburb of Davis or Sacramento; it’s an ag powerhouse. The weather here matters for tomatoes, almonds, and walnuts.
These trees need "chill hours"—specifically, time spent between 32°F and 45°F—to go dormant. Without it, the harvest is a mess. The 2025-2026 season has been "anomalously warm" according to recent NASA Earth Observatory reports. While we’re getting the fog, we aren't getting the deep freezes we used to see in the 90s.
Why the 500-Year Flood Risk Matters
You might notice the levees along Cache Creek north of town. The City of Woodland and the Army Corps of Engineers are currently pushing the Lower Cache Creek Flood Risk Reduction Project.
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Why? Because even in a dry-ish year, one "Atmospheric River" can dump five inches of rain in 24 hours. Cache Creek has overtopped its banks 20 times since 1900. If you’re checking the Woodland CA weather hourly during a storm and see "South Winds" gusting over 30 mph, that’s when you need to start watching the creek levels. South winds usually signal the arrival of those moisture-heavy tropical plumes.
Practical Advice for Navigating Woodland Weather
Don't just look at the temperature. Look at the Dew Point. If the temperature and the dew point are within two degrees of each other, you are getting fog. Period.
- Headlight Check: If you’re driving CR-102 or I-5 before 10:00 AM, turn your actual headlights on. Daytime running lights don't turn on your taillights, and that’s how people get rear-ended in the soup.
- Layer Up: The "Woodland Uniform" is a light down vest over a hoodie. You'll need the hoodie at 8:00 AM and the vest at noon.
- Garden Prep: January is actually a great time for dormant pruning here, but only if the ground isn't a swamp. With 100% humidity, things don't dry out. If you walk on your soil when it's this wet, you'll compact it into bricks.
The hourly forecast for the rest of this week looks stable. Highs near 60°F, lows near 34°F. It’s boring, but in the Central Valley, boring is usually better than the alternative. Keep an eye on the Friday night forecast, as a slight shift in the pressure system might bring some "Patchy Mist" back into the equation.
Check the dew point spread every morning. If it's less than 3°F, give yourself an extra ten minutes for the commute.
Watch the wind direction on your favorite app. A shift to the South means rain is coming; a shift to the North means the fog is about to vanish.
Verify your flood zone status if you're near the north end of town, as the 200-year protection projects are still in the implementation phase as of early 2026.