Category: Forecast

November 5, 2022 I’m watching with great interest an atmospheric river of air currently moving from west to east across southern Oregon and the northernmost counties of California. A powerful low will slowly drop southward into the Pacific Northwest then will carve out a trough of low pressure which will eventually sink all the way…

November 5, 2022 This upcoming storm system is more of a big event than it is a storm. This could turn out to be one of the biggest storms of the rainfall season.  For today and tonight, a flat zone of high pressure over central and southern California will keep us dry with pleasant afternoon…

November 4, 2022 The air, both at the surface and aloft, has warmed a great deal today. Midday temperatures are generally in the mid to upper 50s, which is about 4 to 5 degrees warmer than 24 hours ago. The balloon sounding indicates the air aloft is much warmer with the freezing level above Vandenburg…

November 4, 2022 In the short term, we will just observe variable amounts of cloud cover from time to time from a storm system moving through the Pacific Northwest. A strong westerly flow is currently steering all the action north of a California/Oregon border. There are changes afoot out there, however. A powerful Pacific storm…

November 3, 2022 A northwest flow both at the surface and aloft continues to generate the usual upslope clouds banked up against the north facing slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains and the west facing slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada. As of midday, Bakersfield was reporting a broken deck of clouds at 5,500 feet and…

November 3, 2022 The current storm system stretches as a trough of low pressure from Montana to southern California. There are lingering showers over the Kern County mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Doppler radar now indicates the valley is free of showers. The air mass now invading central California is cold. the freezing level is…

November 2, 2022 The second phase of the current storm is well underway. An area of light showers has developed over mainly Santa Clara and San Benito Counties and is moving into Merced and Stanislaus Counties. This impulse is rotating through a cold trough of low pressure currently over California. It will affect most of…

November 2, 2022 Amounts of precipitation yesterday were fairly light, but it’s a start. Most locations ranged from .10 to .25. The important thing is that it did actually rain. The trough of low pressure is still overhead and will continue to be through tonight. With a little luck, a second impulse will move through…

November 1, 2022 As of midday, a cold front was stretched from the northern Sierra Nevada southwestward to just west of Monterey. Locally moderate to heavy rain is occurring in a band of moisture roughly 75 miles wide. This has spread into the Stockton/Modesto area and just west of Merced County. Rain will advance steadily…

A considerable amount of mid and high level clouds is blocking the sunshine this afternoon, lowering temperatures between roughly 1 and 4 degrees from yesterday at this time. These clouds are not ahead of the upcoming rain event, but rather a benign, dry disturbance running from west to east across central California.   Now we…