What do you see there in the sky?
A Guide to Bay Area Cloud Watching
October 13, 2021 •
Weather
The Bay Area is famous for its microclimates. Learn about the patterns of rain, sun, and wind that make our home what it is.
When It’s Too Hot for Food to Grow
June 17, 2021 •
Central Valley temperatures are expected to stick near 110 for the next three days, making life difficult for important crops.
Atmospheric Rivers Like This One are Vital to Understanding California
January 28, 2021 •
Ten days ago the state set new heat records and brush fires broke out. Burn areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains rekindled. Then, over the last three days, a 2,000-mile-long filament of water in the sky burst over the areas that last week sat brown and smoking.
Add “Dry” to the List of 2020 Descriptors
November 23, 2020 •
Pandemic, civil rights protests, fires, election, and oh yes, possibly the second driest calendar year on record.
After Another Dry October, Have Water Worries Returned?
November 2, 2020 •
San Francisco records back-to-back fully dry Octobers for the second time in 170 years.
It’s a Dry Heat
February 27, 2020 •
What happens in an always warm world when it doesn’t rain for an unusual amount of time?
How to Start Adapting to California’s “Precipitation Whiplash”
November 8, 2019 •
Much of California enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate where the weather typically swings like a pendulum from warm, dry summers to cool, wet winters. Year-to-year, this pendulum can swing with great variation. If it doesn’t swing toward rain and snow … Read more
California’s Early June Heat Wave Cooked Coastal Mussels in Place
June 26, 2019 •
Bodega Marine Reserve research coordinator Jackie Sones has worked in or walked on the rocky shores of the North Coast almost every day for the last 15 years. But while she was surveying the reserve for sea stars in mid-June, … Read more
Was That A Cold Winter? Not Entirely.
March 5, 2019 •
Why was it so cold this winter? Temperatures this February in the Bay Area were colder than we’ve been accustomed to as of late, and this will go down as the coolest February in 30 years for some locations. But … Read more
University Scientists Feel the Pain of the Government Shutdown, Too
January 25, 2019 •
The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory is usually a bustling place. But these days, writes scientist Nicholas Bond, it’s distressingly quiet.