Weather Alerts for California

Recent Locations: Palmdale, CA

1. Extreme Heat Warning for: Western Mojave Desert

2. Fire Weather Watch for: Northern Sacramento Valley to Southern Tehama County Line Below 1000 Ft; Central Sacramento Valley including Glenn/Colusa/Yuba/Northern Sutter/Butte County Below 1000 Ft; Southern Sacramento Valley In Yolo/Sacramento/Far Western Placer/Southern Sutter and Solano County Below 1000 Ft - Excludes the Delta; Eastern Delta; Northern San Joaquin Valley in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties Below 1000 ft - Excludes the Delta; Southern Motherlode From 1000 to 3000 Ft/Calaveras and Toulumne Counties; Southeast Edge Shasta/Trinity NF and Western Portions of Tehama/Glenn RU; Northern Sierra Foothills from 1000 to 3000 Ft. Includes Nevada-Yuba-Placer RU and Anador-Eldorado RU; Eastern Mendocino NF

3. High Wind Warning for: Mojave Desert Slopes

4. Lake Wind Advisory for: Mono; Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties; Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area; Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake

5. Red Flag Warning for: Indian Wells Valley

6. Red Flag Warning for: Kern County Desert

7. Red Flag Warning for: Southern Mono County; Eastern Lassen County; Northern Sierra Front - Carson City/Douglas/Storey/Southern Washoe/Eastern Lyon/Far Southern Lassen Counties; Southern Sierra Front - Alpine/Northern Mono/Southern Lyon/Western Mineral Counties; West Humboldt Basin - Pershing County; Lahontan Basin - Churchill and Eastern Mineral Counties; Northern Washoe County

8. Wind Advisory for: Greater Lake Tahoe Area; Greater Lake Tahoe Area

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

10. Wind Advisory for: Interstate 5 Corridor

11. Wind Advisory for: Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties; Northern Washoe County

12. Wind Advisory for: Mono; Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties; Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area; Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake

13. Wind Advisory for: San Gorgonio Pass Near Banning

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

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

16. Wind Advisory for: Santa Lucia Mountains; Southern Salinas Valley

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

18. Wind Advisory for: Western Mojave Desert

19. Wind Advisory for: Western San Gabriel Mountains and Highway 14 Corridor

Want more detail? Get the Complete 7 Day and Night Detailed Forecast!

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

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

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 are Mammatus Clouds?

Home - Education - Cloud Types - Mammatus Clouds

Mammatus Clouds Next Topic: Nimbostratus Clouds

A mammatus cloud is a cloud with a unique feature which resembles a web of pouches hanging along the base of the cloud.

In the United States, mammatus clouds tend to form in the warmer months, commonly in the Midwest and eastern regions.

While they usually form at the bottom of a cumulonimbis cloud, they can also form under altostratus, altocumulus, stratocumulus, and cirrus clouds. Mammatus clouds warn that severe weather is close.

Next Topic: Nimbostratus Clouds

Weather Topic: What is Precipitation?

Home - Education - 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