Author: Trudy Hibler

December 9, 2022 Clouds are beginning to increase from the northwest. These are precursors of a powerful winter storm which will buffet California with strong winds and heavy rain and snow, just about everywhere but the deserts. The surface models are interesting this afternoon. They show tightly wound isobars, which are lines of equal pressure.…

Shortened report due to an early morning health checkup for John. We’ll have the standard report this afternoon.   December 9, 2022 Low pressure is currently intensifying west of Washington state this morning. This storm will be a full blown winter event as it will engulf all of California over the weekend. Like many winter…

December 8, 2022 Clouds are increasing this afternoon ahead of a weakening trough of low pressure off shore. Rain has spread over parts of northern California, however satellite imagery off the central coast shows the cold front weakening. The thrust of the movement is eastward rather than southeastward, so expect no more than sprinkles or…

December 8, 2022 The main challenge this morning is the amount of ground fog. Most of it stretches from west of Bakersfield northward, basically paralleling Highway 99 up to Merced County. There are also pockets of fog elsewhere. Clouds are increasing over northern California ahead of a weak trough of low pressure which will move…

The first challenge this evening will be overnight low temperatures, discussed below in the frost summary. As of midday, there was a combination of sunshine and scattered clouds over most of the valley. Dew  points as of midday are in the mid 40s with air temperatures in the low to mid 50s. With mostly clear…

Most of the valley early this morning is covered in either dense fog or low clouds. Bakersfield is reporting an overcast based at 4,600 feet while Porterville and Visalia report overcast between 5,000 and 5,500 feet. Fresno is down to ¾ mile visibility in fog while Merced County has fairly widespread dense fog. Now that…

December 6, 2022 A weak upper low has moved southward parallel to the coast and is centered just west of Monterey this afternoon. Doppler radar shows widely scattered light showers over southern Monterey County and San Luis Obispo County. The low will continue heading southeastward and will be centered over Kern County during the predawn…

December 6, 2022 Light showers are drifting through Merced County at this hour. This activity is due to a weak  upper air disturbance which will be moving through during the course of the. The best chance of measurable rain will be from now through this evening, mainly due to the daytime heating process. On Wednesday,…

December 5, 2022 The sun has finally broken through over much of the valley this afternoon. There are still a few isolated light showers, mainly near the foothills. Those will end shortly after sunset. The center of circulation of a weak area of low pressure remains over northern California this afternoon. Models indicate one more…

December 5, 2022 The storm that dumped copious amounts of precipitation over the Sierra Nevada and substantial rain over much of the valley is now a shadow of its former self. It’s currently over northern California. There are weak disturbances moving through the low and some may be strong enough to produce isolated light showers…