Weather Alerts for California

Recent Locations: Pacific Grove, CA

1. Air Quality Alert for: Coachella Valley

2. Air Quality Alert for: Imperial County Southwest; Imperial County West; Imperial Valley

3. Fire Weather Watch for: Santa Ynez Mountains Eastern Range

4. Frost Advisory for: Northeastern Mendocino Interior

5. Frost Advisory for: Northern Lake County

6. Frost Advisory for: Southern Trinity

7. High Wind Warning for: Interstate 5 Corridor

8. High Wind Warning for: Mojave Desert Slopes

9. High Wind Warning for: Santa Barbara County Southwestern Coast; Santa Ynez Mountains Western Range

10. High Wind Warning for: Santa Ynez Mountains Eastern Range; Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains; Southern Ventura County Mountains; Northern Ventura County Mountains

11. High Wind Warning for: Western Antelope Valley Foothills

12. Red Flag Warning for: Indian Wells Valley; Kern County Desert

13. Red Flag Warning 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; Southeast Edge Shasta/Trinity NF and Western Portions of Tehama/Glenn RU; Eastern Mendocino NF

14. Red Flag Warning for: Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains; Southern Ventura County Mountains; Northern Ventura County Mountains; Interstate 5 Corridor; Western Antelope Valley Foothills; Antelope Valley

15. Red Flag Warning for: West Side Hills; San Joaquin Valley

16. Wind Advisory for: Eastern Antelope Valley Foothills; Antelope Valley

17. Wind Advisory for: Eastern Sierra Slopes of Inyo County; Owens Valley; White Mountains of Inyo County; Death Valley National Park

18. Wind Advisory for: Imperial County Southwest

19. Wind Advisory for: Imperial County West

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

21. Wind Advisory for: Interstate 5 Corridor

22. Wind Advisory for: Morongo Basin

23. Wind Advisory for: San Luis Obispo County Mountains

24. Wind Advisory for: Santa Barbara County Southeastern Coast; Lake Casitas

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

26. Wind Advisory for: Santa Ynez Mountains Eastern Range; Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains; Southern Ventura County Mountains; Northern Ventura County Mountains

27. Wind Advisory for: Western Antelope Valley Foothills

28. Wind Advisory for: Western Mojave Desert

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

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Current U.S. National Radar--Current

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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 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

Weather Topic: What are Shelf Clouds?

Home - Education - Cloud Types - Shelf Clouds

Shelf Clouds Next Topic: Sleet

A shelf cloud is similar to a wall cloud, but forms at the front of a storm cloud, instead of at the rear, where wall clouds form.

A shelf cloud is caused by a series of events set into motion by the advancing storm; first, cool air settles along the ground where precipitation has just fallen. As the cool air is brought in, the warmer air is displaced, and rises above it, because it is less dense. When the warmer air reaches the bottom of the storm cloud, it begins to cool again, and the resulting condensation is a visible shelf cloud.

Next Topic: Sleet