Category: Forecast

December 14, 2021pm It’s been quite a morning and early afternoon so far. It was fun watching an area of showers off the southern California coast blossom into a pineapple connection as heavy amounts of precipitation have been falling over the valley floor but more especially over the southern Sierra Nevada. I’ll start from the…

December 14, 2021 Precipitation is widespread over all of central California and much of southern California at this hour. The moisture field at the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere has finally overtaken the rain shadow which resulted in a mostly dry day yesterday. Precipitation will continue for much of the day then the…

December 13, 2021pm It’s a rare day to observe visible satellite imagery. There is a significant rain shadow across the central and south valley. If you look at the cloud patterns from above, you see wave clouds which are indicative of powerful winds aloft. Most locations on the valley floor have recorded less than .10…

December 13, 2021 Showers have spread as far south as Fresno and will work into the remainder of the valley over the next few hours. This storm will be coming inland in phases. Phase  2 will arrive tonight and Tuesday and will be the main event. The other challenge will be wind. Already this morning,…

December 12, 2021pm You  may remember that in late October we were talking about a blockbuster winter storm moving in and that many times forecast models have overestimated things like precipitation estimates. A similar situation exists today as a powerful winter storm is moving southward out of the Gulf of Alaska. Generally light precipitation has…

December 12, 2021 If you’re a meteorologist, you wait for big weather events to occur and that has happened today as a powerful winter storm is dropping out of the Gulf of Alaska and will be positioned off the Oregon/northern California coast late tonight through Monday. This system has very strong upper air dynamics. Also,…

December 11, 2021pm Other than some high, thin clouds, we are enjoying a mostly sunny afternoon. A weak ridge of high pressure currently covers the eastern Pacific off the California coast, stretching inland to the Great Basin and Desert Southwest. We are now monitoring the progress of an intensifying storm moving out of the Gulf…

Actual Humidity range Yesterday: Delano, 100%/89%  Porterville, 98%/68%.  Dew points:  Upper 30s to the lower 40s. Kern: Upper 30s to the lower 40s. Percentage of Sunshine Today/Tomorrow: Visalia: Today: 20%, tomorrow 10%.  Bakersfield: Today: 40%/. Tomorrow, 10%.   ET Rates Over the Past Seven Days:. Stratford .19, Parlier .18, Arvin .29, Orange Cove .20, Porterville…

December 10, 2021pm Skies are mostly clear this afternoon with the exception of territory along the foothills in Tulare County and upslope cloudiness banked up against the north facing slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains. The air is pretty dry behind yesterday’s storm. This will contribute to strong radiational cooling tonight. Barring anything unforeseen, upper 20s…

December 10, 2021 In the short term, the main forecast challenge will be below freezing temps tonight and Saturday night. The threshold of this air mass is upper 20s and lower 30s. More below in the frost discussion.   A fairly weak upper high will be above us, creating a warm air inversion which will…