An unusual feature conspicuous on satellite imagery this morning over Pacific west of CA: multiple, seemingly organized thunderstorm clusters over the ocean headed eastward toward California (& not just along front).

Weather West has provided unique perspectives on California weather and climate since 2006. Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist focused on the dynamics and impacts of extreme events—including droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires—on a warming planet.

2025年1月15日 · At global scales, the EAS does indeed dominate, but at regional scales, changes in atmospheric circulation–horizontal and vertical winds that dictate storm tracks and local weather patterns–become important as well.

Wild October weather across much of California October in California is unlike autumn virtually anywhere else in North America. It's a calendar month during which searing heat and extremely dry Santa Ana winds can occur just as easily as powerful windstorms and driving rains.

2018年7月4日 · The extreme heat and localized strong offshore winds along the SoCal coastal plain will clearly lead to major fire weather concerns Fri-Sat.

Instead, a quite unusual weather set-up will facilitate a long-duration, moderate-to-strong intensity offshore wind and fire weather event this week across a broad swath of Southern California.

Over the next 7-10 days, the recent pattern across the West Coast appears likely to persist–with frequent (warm) atmospheric river events across the Pacific Northwest into northernmost California but less active conditions south of the SF Bay Area and little precipitation across SoCal.

2024年10月24日 · Right now, things are looking quite warm again across much of the U.S. West again by early November–including virtually all of California–as anomalously strong ridging returns. Fire season continues across central and southern CA; risk will continue to spike during offshore wind events

2024年11月18日 · It’s now looking like 2024 will feature yet another autumn-to-winter transition featuring a rather dramatic period of “hydroclimate whiplash”–a rapid swing from anomalously dry to anomalously wet conditions–across much of CA and other portions of the West.

2024年12月6日 · Early next week, a relatively strong “inside slider”-type low pressure system will dip southward over the Great Basin, bringing a period of moderate to strong offshore Santa Ana winds and elevated fire weather conditions to southern California (where significant rain has yet to occur this season).