Author: John Hibler

March 15, 2018 Summary: Showers of rain and snow are still occurring in the Tulare County portion of the Sierra Nevada and the Kern County mountains due to upsloping.  This will continue to generate showers in those areas for the next few hours.  Currently, skies are mostly clear north of Kern County up until you…

March 14, 2018 Summary: Isolated thunderstorms are currently breaking out in Kings and Kern Counties with an isolated storm also showing up near Mendota in Fresno County.  This activity is no surprise as cold, unstable air associated with the latest trough of low pressure to move inland is now taking control.  The showers and thunderstorms…

March 14, 2018 Summary: There are light scattered showers throughout central California this morning.  The Sierra Nevada is a notable exception as lift from a southwesterly flow aloft continues to keep precipitation going over the higher elevations, some of it locally heavy at times.  The snow level in the Sierra Nevada is somewhere near 7,000…

March 13, 2018 Summary: The precipitation so far today has been fairly scattered and light.  There is a cold front stretched across north/central California this afternoon.  To illustrate this, the freezing level earlier this morning over Oakland had dropped 6,300 feet while at Vandenberg the freezing level was just under 10,000 feet.  Obviously, there is…

March 13, 2018 Summary: Doppler radar continues to indicate light showers are moving into the central California coastal region with a few showers over the Coast Range.  Lurking behind is a cold front which will move inland later today and tonight, spreading precipitation which could be locally heavy, mainly north of Kern County.  A significant…

March 12, 2018 Summary: Doppler radar is already picking up on some light showers just off the central coast.  These showers will be moving on shore soon in a northeasterly direction.  This is a portion of subtropical moisture which is wrapping around a very large low pressure system well off the Oregon/northern California coast.  It…

March 12, 2018 Summary: We have a temporary ridge of upper level high pressure above us today which will drive most locations into at least the mid 70s if not higher.  In the meantime, over the Pacific Ocean is a huge low pressure system which is shifting eastward.  Low pressure will begin to center itself…

March 11, 2018 Summary: Best dynamics from last  night’s storm went through Kern County where fairly heavy precipitation occurred.  Arvin, for example, recorded .45 while most other locations were below a quarter of an inch.  This system moved quickly off to the east.  Now we have a weak ridge which will control our weather today…

March 10, 2018 Summary: A large area of light rain is currently moving over the coastal mountains and will overspread the valley over the next few hours.  There are two areas of moisture moving in from the southwest.  The first is an atmospheric river of air headed towards  northern Baja and southern California.  The other…

March 10, 2018 Summary: Heavy mid and high level clouds are streaming into California from the subtropics.  A low pressure system associated with this cloud cover will move closer to the coast this afternoon.  Already this morning, Doppler radar has been indicating isolated light showers over the valley.  However, the deeper moisture is just off…