Weather Alerts for California

Recent Locations: Roby, TX Swan, IA Mather, CA

1. Air Quality Alert for: Imperial County Southwest; Chuckwalla Mountains; Imperial County Southeast; Imperial County West; Imperial Valley; Palo Verde Valley

2. Freeze Warning for: Del Norte Interior; Northern Humboldt Interior; Southern Humboldt Interior; Northern Trinity; Southern Trinity; Northwestern Mendocino Interior; Northeastern Mendocino Interior; Northern Lake County; Southern Lake County

3. Freeze Warning for: Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties

4. Freeze Warning for: Surprise Valley California; Northern Washoe County

5. Freeze Warning for: Western Siskiyou County; Eastern Curry County and Josephine County; Jackson County

6. Frost Advisory for: Coastal Del Norte; Northern Humboldt Coast; Southwestern Humboldt; Mendocino Coast; Southwestern Mendocino Interior

7. Wind Advisory for: Apple and Lucerne Valleys

8. Wind Advisory for: Indian Wells Valley; Mojave Desert

9. Wind Advisory for: Mojave Desert Slopes

10. Wind Advisory for: San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys-The Inland Empire; San Bernardino County Mountains; Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills; Orange County Inland

11. Wind Advisory for: San Luis Obispo County Beaches; Santa Barbara County Central Coast Beaches

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

13. Wind Advisory for: Santa Lucia Mountains

14. Wind Advisory for: South-Central Shasta County Including Redding Metro; Northern Sacramento Valley in Tehama County; Central Glenn County Including Interstate 5; Eastern Glenn County; Butte County Below 1000 ft; Central Colusa County Including Interstate 5; Eastern Colusa County; Sutter and Yuba Counties Below 1000 ft; Capay Hills of Yolo County and Vaca Hills of Solano County; Western Yolo County Including Capay Valley and Interstate 505; Central Yolo and Northeast Solano Counties Including Woodland and Davis; Sacramento Metro and Western El Dorado and Amador Counties; Central Solano County Including Fairfield and Vacaville; Southwestern Solano County Including Vallejo; Sacramento County Delta; San Joaquin County Delta

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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).

National Weather Forecast--Current

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National Weather Forecast for Tomorrow

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

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.

Weather Topic: What is Rain?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Rain

Rain Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Precipitation in the form of water droplets is called rain. Rain generally has a tendency to fall with less intensity over a greater period of time, and when rainfall is more severe it is usually less sustained.

Rain is the most common form of precipitation and happens with greater frequency depending on the season and regional influences. Cities have been shown to have an observable effect on rainfall, due to an effect called the urban heat island. Compared to upwind, monthly rainfall between twenty and forty miles downwind of cities is 30% greater.

Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Weather Topic: What is Sleet?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Sleet

Sleet Next Topic: Snow

Sleet is a form of precipitation in which small ice pellets are the primary components. These ice pellets are smaller and more translucent than hailstones, and harder than graupel. Sleet is caused by specific atmospheric conditions and therefore typically doesn't last for extended periods of time.

The condition which leads to sleet formation requires a warmer body of air to be wedged in between two sub-freezing bodies of air. When snow falls through a warmer layer of air it melts, and as it falls through the next sub-freezing body of air it freezes again, forming ice pellets known as sleet. In some cases, water droplets don't have time to freeze before reaching the surface and the result is freezing rain.

Next Topic: Snow