El Niño’s Here. What Does That Actually Mean?
Two strong historical El Nino wet winters nurture hope for relief from our current drought. But there are several good reasons to hedge about the coming winter.
Weather
What Is An Atmospheric River, and How Does One Affect California’s Rainfall?
Current climate change research suggests California’s weather could become even more variable than in the past, a “new normal” of drier dry periods punctuated by wetter winter storms.
First Person: Watching the Weather with Daniel Swain
Climate scientist Daniel Swain runs the California Weather Blog, a must-read for weather nerds. He's most famous, though, for something he did almost as an afterthought: He’s the one who...
High Pressure Ridge Gone at Start of Rainy Season
Is California's drought caused by "natural variability" or was it much more likely to happen under climate change?
Where Do Birds Go When it Rains?
Guest naturalist Josiah Clark reveals how birds cope with stormy weather.
Q&A: Pixar Animator Simon Christen on His Remarkable Time-Lapse of Bay Area Fog
Somewhere between animation and photography, Swiss-born Simon Christen has found his happy place: time-lapse photography. His “day job” is as an animator for Pixar Studios in Emeryville. But in his...
Was California’s Extreme Drought Part of Our New Climate Normal?
Was California's record-breaking 2013-2015 drought a window into the future?
The Fish We Never Knew
The Galapagos damselfish exists only in the specimens collection at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the victim of an unusually strong El Nino. Thoughts on the fish,...
Ask The Naturalist: How Will the Drought Impact Amphibians?
Question: Will newts, frogs and salamanders be out in full force in the Bay Area this spring?
The Beauty of an Atmospheric River
The forecast calls for big rain this weekend from an "atmospheric river," a plume of moisture stretching thousands of miles across the Pacific and splashing onto land right smack on...
