Weather Alerts for California

Recent Locations: Rutherford, CA  

1. High Surf Advisory for: Coastal Del Norte; Northern Humboldt Coast; Southwestern Humboldt; Mendocino Coast

2. High Surf Advisory for: San Diego County Coastal Areas

3. High Surf Advisory for: San Francisco; Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore; San Francisco Peninsula Coast; Northern Monterey Bay; Southern Monterey Bay and Big Sur Coast

4. High Surf Advisory for: San Luis Obispo County Beaches; Santa Barbara County Central Coast Beaches; Ventura County Beaches

5. High Wind Warning for: Central Siskiyou County

6. High Wind Warning for: Modoc County; Northern and Eastern Klamath County and Western Lake County; Central and Eastern Lake County

7. Wind Advisory for: Coastal Del Norte; Del Norte Interior; Southwestern Humboldt; Northern Humboldt Interior; Southern Humboldt Interior

8. Wind Advisory for: Interstate 5 Corridor

9. Wind Advisory for: Northern Humboldt Coast

10. Wind Advisory for: Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains

11. Wind Advisory for: Santa Barbara County Southwestern Coast; Santa Ynez Mountains Western Range; Santa Ynez Mountains Eastern Range

12. Wind Advisory for: Southern Ventura County Mountains; Northern Ventura County Mountains

13. Wind Advisory for: Surprise Valley California; Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area; Northern Washoe County

14. Wind Advisory for: Western Antelope Valley Foothills; Eastern Antelope Valley Foothills; Antelope Valley

15. Winter Weather Advisory for: Greater Lake Tahoe Area; Greater Lake Tahoe Area

16. Winter Weather Advisory for: Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties

17. Winter Weather Advisory for: Mono

18. Winter Weather Advisory for: Northern Trinity

19. Winter Weather Advisory for: Western Plumas County/Lassen Park; West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada

20. Winter Weather Advisory for: Yosemite NP outside of the valley; Upper San Joaquin River

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Current U.S. National Radar--Current

The Current National Weather Radar is shown below with a UTC Time (subtract 5 hours from UTC to get Eastern Time).

Current U.S. National Radar

National Weather Forecast--Current

The Current National Weather Forecast and National Weather Map are shown below.

Today's National Weather Map

National Weather Forecast for Tomorrow

Tomorrow National Weather Forecast and Tomorrow National Weather Map are show below.

Tomorrows National Weather Map

North America Water Vapor (Moisture)

This map shows recent moisture content over North America. Bright and colored areas show high moisture (ie, clouds); brown indicates very little moisture present; black indicates no moisture.

North American Water Vapor Map

Weather Topic: What is Precipitation?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Precipitation

Precipitation Next Topic: Rain

Precipitation can refer to many different forms of water that may fall from clouds. Precipitation occurs after a cloud has become saturated to the point where its water particles are more dense than the air below the cloud.

In most cases, precipitation will reach the ground, but it is not uncommon for precipitation to evaporate before it reaches the earth's surface. When precipitation evaporates before it contacts the ground it is called Virga. Graupel, hail, sleet, rain, drizzle, and snow are forms of precipitation, but fog and mist are not considered precipitation because the water vapor which constitutes them isn't dense enough to fall to the ground.

Next Topic: Rain

Weather Topic: What are Shelf Clouds?

Home - Education - Cloud Types - Shelf Clouds

Shelf Clouds Next Topic: Sleet

A shelf cloud is similar to a wall cloud, but forms at the front of a storm cloud, instead of at the rear, where wall clouds form.

A shelf cloud is caused by a series of events set into motion by the advancing storm; first, cool air settles along the ground where precipitation has just fallen. As the cool air is brought in, the warmer air is displaced, and rises above it, because it is less dense. When the warmer air reaches the bottom of the storm cloud, it begins to cool again, and the resulting condensation is a visible shelf cloud.

Next Topic: Sleet