Redding, officially the City of Redding, is the county seat of Shasta County, California, in the northern part of the state. It lies along the Sacramento River, is 162 miles (261 kilometers) north of Sacramento, and 120 miles (190 km) south of the Oregon border. Interstate 5 bisects the entire city, from the south to north before it approaches Shasta Lake, which is located 15 miles (24 km) to the north. The 2010 population was 89,861. Redding is the largest city in the Shasta Cascade region, and it is the sixth-largest city in the Sacramento Valley, behind Sacramento, Elk Grove, Roseville, Vacaville and Chico.
Climate
Redding has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Winter (October–April) provides the most precipitation of any season in Redding—the weather tends to be either rainy or foggy and at times, snow occurs. Summers are hot and dry, but rain is possible, usually with a thunderstorm. The average daily maximum temperature in July stays near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). The highest official recorded temperature in Redding was 118 °F (48 °C) on July 20, 1988. That was recorded at the nearby Redding airport. Some people in town recorded as high as 122 °F (50 °C) that same day. Redding has an average possible sunshine of 88%, the second-highest percentage (after Yuma, Arizona) of any US city.
The city receives an average of 4.8 inches (12 centimeters) of snow annually.[18] It rarely gets sleet or freezing rain. Frost occurs commonly in December through February, less often in March or November. In spring, rain is common. The city is located near the southernmost point of the influence of the westerlies, and it therefore gets much more rain than most places in the Sacramento Valley; temperature differentials between land and sea cause moist air from the latter to flow over the city, producing precipitation, cloud and fog in the winter. The direction of this wind reverses in the summer, as hot, high-pressure air flows from land to sea, making the area very dry. Tornadoes are extremely rare; flooding occurs only around the area near the Sacramento River. The coldest temperature recorded in Redding was 17 °F (−8 °C).