Surfing CalifornIA
Though it didn’t originate here, surfing has inspired countless publications, movies, videos, songs, and works of art that have propagated across the globe from the Golden State. Surfing has...
Physical Geography
Remnants of Kay Drift Away
This is an abbreviated final obituary to follow up on Rob O’Keefe’s earlier essay (see adjacent story) about tropical system Kay’s historic impact on California. As forecast by the...
Are Yet More Weather Records About to Fall?
Just this past week, a monstrous heat wave broke temperature records in many parts of the state — especially in the Bay Area and several Central Valley cities. And...
The “Morel” of the Story …
Perhaps the greatest aspect of the discipline of geography is that it is limited only by your imagination. You can explore any subject or phenomenon on the face of...
Storm Chasing in the California Desert
When temperatures rise during early summer, residents of the desert and mountain Southwest U.S. begin anticipating the arrival of their annual monsoon season. (1) Welcome to our first in...
Feeling Winter in July, California Style
While inland California baked and burned, why was the weather relatively cold and foggy along the immediate coast during early-to-mid summer, 2021? San Francisco and most other locations on...
Unprecedented Drought, Heat, and Fire Repeat in the West, 2021
It has become an unfortunate and disturbing annual Golden State dance during the last several years. Severe drought plagues the majority of the state, followed by extended record heat...
Natural History of a Grain of Sand
While strolling along a California beach, stream, or riverbed, or plodding over a sand dune, you may not realize that there is a captivating world of natural history at...
Badlands In a New York Minute?
When it comes to erosional landforms, badlands are the speed demons of geomorphology.
Adventures of a Water Drop, California Style
Forward: An Autobiographical Synopsis Let me introduce myself. I am a California water drop. I condensed from billions of water vapor molecules in the air above the North Pacific...
