Sept. 1, 2020 – Well, the best news I have to report is that the “second wave” of widespread dry lightning I discussed in the last post was–to a large degree–“a bust.” Dry lightning did occur, but it was focused mainly across inland portions of California (vs. the coast), and the number of strikes was only in […]
Daniel Swain
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Daniel Swain: Very dry conditions to continue at least through late February
Feb. 14, 2020 – Autumn 2019 was record dry across parts of northern California. Despite an early December reprieve (especially in southern California), conditions have increasingly become increasingly dry across most of the state since that time. Parts of California have now gone 3-4 consecutive weeks without any meaningful precipitation during what is typically the […]
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Daniel Swain: A warm start to spring; low pressure system may bring thunderstorms to SoCal
April 26, 2019 – Following a banner snow season in the Sierra Nevada, snowmelt season is now well underway (though statewide snowpack remains fully 50% above the long-term average to date–the legacy of prodigious mid-winter accumulations). Temperatures across a majority of California have been well above average over the past month (especially near the coast), […]
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Daniel Swain: In wake of California’s worst wildfire catastrophe, significant rain finally on the horizon
Nov. 17, 2018 – Just about everyone will be happy to hear that rain is finally headed for California – with significant accumulations likely by Thanksgiving, especially in NorCal. The first system or two early this week might end up being “sacrificial” in the sense that they will largely fall apart as they move into […]
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Daniel Swain: Record summer heat across much of state retreats; some deeper thoughts on El Niño
Sept. 19, 2018 – After a truly searing start to summer across most of California, especially in the south, the last several weeks have felt rather mild by comparison. The record-breaking heatwaves of July, followed by record warm ocean temperatures later in the summer in SoCal, made for very uncomfortable conditions across some of California’s […]
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Daniel Swain: Another prolonged heatwave for southern & interior CA; hottest July on record statewide?
July 23, 2018 – One of the most impressive heatwaves in recorded history brought truly blistering heat to Southern California earlier this month. Nearly every kind of of temperature record was broken in at least a few locations, from all-time daily maximum to all-time overnight minimums, and a countless daily/monthly records. This heatwave was especially […]
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Daniel Swain: Series of atmospheric river storms to bring risk of significant CA flooding
January 4, 2017 – A series of extremely moist Pacific storm systems will take aim at California this week. The first of these is already bringing increasingly heavy rain (and mountain snow) along with gusty winds to much of northern California. This initial system probably won’t cause too many problems outside of some notable travel […]