Kerry Challoner Anderson Last Saturday I spent the evening in Southern California but I was glued to the broadcast from KOCO TV in Oklahoma City. As a wind forecaster, this is akin to watching the Super Bowl. Also, I am invested as I now have grandchildren who live in the area. It was a marathon…
Kerry Challoner Anderson I was one of many Americans who spent time and money to position myself, and a bunch of my family, in the path of totality for today’s eclipse. Was it worth it?….ABSOLUTELY. I could wax poetic about how bizarre it was to stare at the sun being gobbled as the moon passed…
A rogue wave caught onlookers off guard on Thursday afternoon in Ventura, California sending 8 to the hospital with moderate to minor wounds. People had gathered at the beachfront to view the large surf when the wave overtopped the beachwall sending seawater into the nearby streets. A rogue wave is a wave that is more…
As the sun sinks lower in the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere and winter approaches, the opposite is taking place in the Southern Hemisphere. Summer is fast approaching and that means a change in the wind patterns. This year the polar jet has been slow to retreat southward and frontal boundaries are still crossing the…
The death toll from the Maui fires continues to climb but already it is one of the top ten most deadly fires in US history. The video below from Glenn Donovan shows his view of those fires as he vacationed on the island. These deadly fires developed as multiple conditions combined to bring the “Perfect…
A relentless ridge of High pressure is dominating the weather for the Western US. This is not an atypical pattern for mid-July but the strength of the ridge and its persistence has broken some temperature records. This pattern doesn’t just signal the start of the summer heat but also the beginning of the monsoon season…
Recently I saw a Facebook post from a new resident of California that said, “I never want to hear again about Sunny California. I’ve lived here now for 6 weeks and the sun never shines.” Well, they won’t be saying that for too long. A major pattern change is starting to take hold. This spring…
Southern California has been locked in a pattern of lingering upper-level Lows for almost a month. And that has meant a very slow start to summer as temperatures along the coast have been below average. One consequence is that wind speeds have been running below average since we lack the inland heat needed to fuel…
So far this season we have had an atypical weather pattern. May and June are always the peak time for marine cloud formation. Hence the terms May Grey and June Gloom but this year we have added a prevailing upper-level Low and that caused some changes in the daily marine cloud pattern. Typically we start…
For Southern California, a clear signal that fall has arrived is that strong offshore wind events develop, also known as Santa Ana winds. These strong Northeast /East winds frequently fuel fire activity and signals the end to sea breeze activity at the beaches…..or does it. Sometimes the offshore winds are pulled back onshore and pockets…