Fire and Rain : California’s Changing Weather and Climate

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Acronyms
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 The Most Climatically Diverse State in the United States
	1.1 California Climates
	1.2 Rainfall
	Bibliography
2 The Golden State and Its Physical Environment
	2.1 Topography and Its Role in Weather and Climate: Physiographic Regions
		2.1.1 Klamath Mountains, Northwest
		2.1.2 Southern Cascade Range
		2.1.3 Northeast, Modoc Plateau
		2.1.4 Basin and Range Province
		2.1.5 Sierra Nevada
		2.1.6 Central Valley
		2.1.7 Southern California Deserts: Mohave and Colorado
		2.1.8 Southern California Coastline and Coastal Mountains
		2.1.9 Transverse Ranges
			2.1.9.1 Central Coast and Coast Ranges
	2.2 Vegetation and Agriculture
	2.3 California Water Resources
	2.4 Ocean Influences
	2.5 Air Quality
	Bibliography
3 California Sunshine
	3.1 Solar Radiation
	3.2 Sunshine
		3.2.1 Seasonal Sunshine Hours for Selected Airports
	3.3 Solar Radiation Measurements
	3.4 Solar Energy
	Bibliography
4 Temperature Variations: Heat and Cold
	4.1 Factors that Control Temperature
		4.1.1 Latitude
		4.1.2 Topography and Elevation
		4.1.3 Land Use
		4.1.4 Pacific Ocean Influence (See also El Niño, Chap. 5)
	4.2 Seasonal Patterns
		4.2.1 Annual Temperature Range
		4.2.2 Summer
		4.2.3 Fall
		4.2.4 Winter
		4.2.5 Spring
	4.3 Diurnal (Daily) Temperature Range
	4.4 Temperature Extremes
		4.4.1 Cold Waves
		4.4.2 Heat Waves
	4.5 Urban Heat Island
	4.6 Degree Days
		4.6.1 Heating Degree Days
		4.6.2 Cooling Degree Days
	Bibliography
5 The Atmosphere–Ocean Influence
	5.1 Atmosphere–Ocean Interactions: What Is Known and Not Known?
	5.2 What Is an El Niño?
		5.2.1 La Niña
		5.2.2 El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
	5.3 The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)
	5.4 The North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and Other Interactions
	5.5 Conclusion
	Bibliography
6 Precipitation: Too Much or Too Little
	6.1 Overview
	6.2 Seasonality of Precipitation
		6.2.1 North American Monsoon
		6.2.2 Atmospheric Rivers (ARs)
	6.3 Precipitation Variability
		6.3.1 Miracle March
		6.3.2 Rainfall Records
	6.4 Floods
		6.4.1 March 1907 and December 1909 Floods in Sacramento
		6.4.2 1938 Los Angeles Flood
		6.4.3 Flood Frequency
	6.5 Mudslides and Landslides
		6.5.1 El Niño Flooding, Mudslides
		6.5.2 1997 New Year’s Yosemite Flood and Landslides
		6.5.3 Fires, Rain, and Slides
	6.6 Snow
		6.6.1 Snow Records
		6.6.2 Tamarack, California
		6.6.3 Donner Summit, California (Donner Pass)
		6.6.4 2016–2017—The “Wettest” Year on Record-(Snowfall)
		6.6.5 Snow in the Big Cities
		6.6.6 California Skiing
	6.7 Drought
	6.8 Precipitation Trends
	Bibliography
7 Fog: A Menace or Friend
	7.1 How Does Fog Form?
	7.2 Advection Fog
	7.3 Radiation Fog
	7.4 Upslope Fog
	7.5 Precipitation Fog
	7.6 Steam Fog
	7.7 Fog and Transportation
	7.8 Trends in Fog
		7.8.1 Mitigation of Fog as a Transportation Hazard
	7.9 In Summary
	Bibliography
8 California Winds and Fire Weather
	8.1 Overview
	8.2 Cool Season Storms
	8.3 Downslope Winds
		8.3.1 Santa Ana Winds
		8.3.2 California Northers
		8.3.3 Diablo
		8.3.4 Santa Lucia and Newhall Winds
		8.3.5 Sundowner
		8.3.6 Washoe Zephyr
	8.4 Wind and Fire
	8.5 Onshore Summer Wind Flow
		8.5.1 Delta Breeze
	8.6 Land-Sea Breeze
	8.7 Los Angeles “Smoke Front”
	8.8 Mountain Valley Winds
	8.9 Catalina Eddy
	8.10 Haboobs
	8.11 Rotor Winds
	8.12 Sonora Wind
	8.13 Tropical Storms
	Bibliography
9 Cyclones: Mid-latitude and Tropical
	9.1 Surface Weather Patterns
	9.2 Mid-latitude or Frontal Cyclones
		9.2.1 Life Cycle of Mid-latitude Cyclones
		9.2.2 Warm Frontal Weather
		9.2.3 Cold Frontal Weather
		9.2.4 Occluded Front
	9.3 Cutoff Lows
	9.4 Jet Stream
	9.5 Memorable Mid-latitude Cyclones
		9.5.1 Thanksgiving Day Storm of 2019
		9.5.2 January 20, 2010
		9.5.3 The Columbus Day Storm of 1962
	9.6 Tropical Cyclones (Also Known as Chubascos)
		9.6.1 The San Diego Hurricane of 1858 and Long Beach Tropical Storm of 1939
		9.6.2 Tropical Storm Kathleen
		9.6.3 Hurricane Linda
		9.6.4 Hurricane Nora
		9.6.5 Tropical Storm Kay
	Bibliography
10 Thunderstorms and Thunderstorm-Associated Severe Weather
	10.1 Thunderstorms
		10.1.1 North American Monsoon
		10.1.2 Topography
		10.1.3 Convergence Zones
			10.1.3.1 Noteworthy Convergence Zones
			10.1.3.2 Island Effect Storms
	10.2 Lightning
	10.3 Tornadoes
		10.3.1 Significant California Tornadoes
	10.4 Waterspouts
	10.5 Funnel Clouds
	10.6 Hail
	10.7 Flash Floods
	Bibliography
11 Climate Change in California: Past, Present, and Future
	11.1 What Is Climate Change?
	11.2 Prehistorical Climate Change
	11.3 Prehistorical Climate Change in California
	11.4 More Recent Climate Change
		11.4.1 The Little Ice Age
		11.4.2 Volcanoes
	11.5 Missionary Records/Early Historical
	11.6 Current Climate Change
		11.6.1 Temperature
		11.6.2 Precipitation
	11.7 Future Climate Change
		11.7.1 Temperature
		11.7.2 Precipitation
		11.7.3 Fires, Agriculture
	Bibliography
12 California Weather and Air Pollution
	12.1 The American Lung Association 2022 “State of the Air”
	12.2 Ozone and Particulate Air Pollution
	12.3 Why Is Air Pollution a Problem in California?
	12.4 Weather and Topography
	12.5 Terrain: A Perfect Place for Smog
	12.6 Climate Factors (Sunshine, Inversions, Winds)
	12.7 History of California Air Quality
	12.8 Air Pollution Forecasting
	12.9 Seasonal Variations
	12.10 Diurnal Variations
	12.11 Future California Air Pollution
	Bibliography
13 California Agriculture
	13.1 California Agro-business
	13.2 Grapes and Climate
	13.3 Crops
		13.3.1 Rice
		13.3.2 Alfalfa
		13.3.3 Almonds
	13.4 California Water Transfer System
	13.5 Dairy
	13.6 Horticulture
	13.7 Hazards to Agriculture
		13.7.1 Frosts and Freezes
		13.7.2 Damaging Frosts/Freezes
		13.7.3 Floods, Droughts, and Heatwaves
	13.8 Climate Change
	Bibliography
Appendix A: 1991–2020 Normals
Appendix B: Historical Winter Storms
Appendix C: Notable California Fires
Appendix D: The American Lung Association 2022 “State of the Air”
Appendix E: Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana Jr., 1840
Index