Making More Waves, 2023-2024
Several of our previous website stories (such as Surfing CalifornIA and Natural History of a Grain of Sand) illustrated how ocean waves have impacted and shaped our Golden State’s...
Physical Geography
Cars: Driving and Dividing California
Whether Californians have learned to love or hate them, embrace, or reject them, cars have dominated California lives and livelihoods for more than a century. They’ve shaped our state’s...
Offshore Autumn: From Diablos to Santa Anas
Autumn usually blows into California bringing dramatic pressure, wind, and geographic role reversals. Prevailing sea (onshore) breezes that dominated through summer are interrupted by land (offshore) breezes that occasionally...
Navigating El Niño, 2023-2024
You’ve probably heard that strong and potentially historic El Niño conditions have developed in the Pacific as we enter our 2023-2024 winter storm season. But will nature perform as...
Zion vs Yosemite: the Science behind the Splendor
Spectacular Sierra Nevada canyons, such as Yosemite and Kings, and the magnificent high desert canyons sliced found found in Zion national Park motivate and challenge us to learn more about the natural history of our dynamic planet.
Hilary Makes Weather History in Southern California
Here is a different story about the tropical storm that made national news and will live long in California history. Hurricane Hilary was exceptional only for the path it...
Now There Is No Denying Our World Is Getting Hotter
California presently holds the world record surface temperature of 56.7°C (134°F) measured in Death Valley way back in 1913. But as you will come to learn in this article,...
Chasing the Desert Superbloom, 2023
Our last two stories illustrated how the storms of 2023 left lasting imprints across our Golden State. Here, we compare and contrast landscapes around Anza Borrego and the Antelope...
What does it take to produce a fantastic Superbloom?
The vibrant and colorful wildflowers that blanket California’s hills and valleys this time of year are a magnificent sight to behold. But not every year is a “superbloom” year....
Tracking Historic Weather Whiplash in the Winter of 2023
Welcome to California’s latest wild swings in peculiar and occasionally cataclysmic weather patterns, brought to you by the winter of 2023. This story is part of our continuing expansion...
