Just a lonely gull at sunset. Jonathan Livingston?

Last evening's front held together enough to end San Francisco's rainless streak at 20 days (Jan 7-26).

Last evening's front held together enough to end San Francisco's rainless streak at 20 days (Jan 7-26).

San Francisco's total seasonal rain to date has fallen to below normal for the first time since Dec 23rd. The 11.80" is 97% of the Jan 26 normal of 12.15". Santa Rosa and Livermore have also slipped to less than 100%. Statewide data: ggweather.com/seasonal_rai...

A sublime sunrise across Pillar Point Harbor. 1/27/2026

The 18% waxing crescent moon, with just a hint of post-sunset color. Half Moon Bay, 1/22/2026

It has been been 14 days since it last rained in San Francisco and the earliest change is probably not until at least Jan. 28th. But, that's not unusual, with the average mid-winter dry spell in SF being 21 days. Here's a breakdown since 1950: ggweather.com/enso/winter_...

I had almost given up on any sunrise color today when there was a a thin hint on the eastern horizon. By the time I raced to a nearby pond, the sky and its reflection nearly took my breath away. 1/20/2026

I was tryiing to be "artsy" by shooting tonight's sunset through a thicket of brambles, and didn't notice until I got home that I had captured a fairly distinct #GreenFlash. Sometimes you just get lucky. 1/18/2026

A predawm sojourn down the coast this morning paid off with lots of color at Whaler''s Cove and Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park. Not a bad way to start the weekend. 1/17/2026

When the incoming tide meets the outflow from Cañada Verde Creek and is lit up by another spectacular January sunset. 1/11/2026

My first Peregrine Falcon sighting of the year at Devil's Slide. 1/10/2026

I was rewarded for a last minute decision to drive south and miss the local low clouds and got to Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park just in time for a Friday sunset!

The National Wather Service has consolidated some of their Cold Weather warnings, watches and advisories. The first EXTREME COLD WARNING has been issued for some southern parts of the SF Bayb Area. weather.gov/safety/cold-ww

Feeling blessed to live along this beautiful coastline. (sound on) 1/6/2026

So how did the models do w/ their 7-day total precip forecasts? My general impression is that they were mostly too wet; even the average of the modeled 168-hr qpf.

Skies have cleared for a late night glimpse of the 82% waning gibbous moon. 1/6/2026

Some post-storm color over Half Moon Bay. 1/6/2026

The mid-point of the rainfall season (Jul 1 to Jun 3) is when a location normally gets 50% of their seasonal total, not January 1st. For California, that's skewed into the latter half of the month, with the earliest dates in the northwest.

Robust precipitation totals across the state. The very important Sierra Precipitation Indices (8SI, 5SI & 6SI) all topping 150% of normal to date.

12:35 pm. Embedded convection with lightning popping up offshore and progged to roll onshore this afternoon and evening.

9:40 am. Moderate to heavy rain moving into the Bay Area, with more offshore ahead of a developing area of low pressure (i.e., cyclogenesis). It's a rainy day and Monday. 1/5/2026

The trifecta of King Tides, long period swells and storm surge are pushing crashing waves onto the road at Miramar Beach, Half Moon Bay. (sound on) 1/4/2026

About 5 am I noticed it had gotten somewhat bright outside as the Full (Wolf) Moon was trying to break through a thin spot in the clouds. Rather than rolling over and going back to sleep like normal people, I grabbed my camera. 1/3/2026

With the exception of Crescent City, all of these California reporting stations had above normal rainfall through the end of 2025. See ggweather.com/seasonal_rai...

Happy New Year. This is the January page from both my Coastside and my Pigeon Point calendars. They are available for free download as PDFs from ggweather.com/calendars/. Enjoy.

Another look at how much precipitation the models are forecasting over the next 7 days. I have added several more stations and an averege of all of these models. Caveat emptor.

December 19-26, 2025, saw periods of widespread rain across California, raising seasonal totals to well above normal statewide.

This week's rain has caused a significant surge in California's water supply. All three of Sierra watersheds, which supply 50% of the state's managed water, have junped above normal.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Lightning already popping up as incipient low forms to the south in the bottom of an upper level trough. It will race northward over the next 24-hours with significant convective potential, along with strong winds, especially in the Calif coastal counties north of Monterey.

IMHO, the Nrn Sierra 8-Station Index is single most important Calif water metric. In the past six days, it has jumped 9+ inches, from 79% to 122% of normal to date, right on track with last year. Unfortunately, the Cntrl and Srn Sierra have been left out, being stuck at 94%.

9:15 am. An example of how narrow and focused an Atmospheric River can be. Over the past 6 hours SF and Oakland have both had on the order of 1.50', while (normally very wet) Kentfield has had less than 1/2" and San Jose has had zero!

56 YEARS AGO TODAY. On Dec. 22, 1969, I saw the Bob Hope show in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Accompanying him were Neil Armstrong (just back from the moon), Connie Stevens, Teresa Graves and the Gold-Diggers, and Miss World Eva Reuber-Staier.

7-day total QPF from last night's 00Z model runs. IMHO the biggest takeaway should be the huge range of solutions and not to cherry-pick the biggest to characterize and hype this series of storms.

An orange sherbet sunset at Pigeon Point Light Station. 12/18/2025

San Francisco ends its consecutive (beginning in November) rainless day streak at 26 days; the 12th longest in San Francisco records, which go back to 1849.

Tonight's Green Flash from the Poplar Beach bluffs. 12/17/2025

It's more than atmospheric moisture! Using the model w/ the lowest AR ratings, here are the comparisons to the rainfall thru 10am. With weak dynamics the water vapor transport did not translate into significant rainfall. Last evening's minimalist QPF fcsts were a better tool.

Some surprise post-sunset color across Pillar Point Harbor. I had originally thought the evening would be a bust, but then things started brightening and glowing. Today's lesson: "Never give up!" 12/15/2025

Friday night #GreenFlash over Half Moon Bay. 12/12/2025

For, at least us older, meteorologists, December 12, 1995, serves as a benchmark for strong Bay Area storms. It ranks #1 going back 75 years to 1950, on the Bay Area Storm Index (BASI) ggweather.com/basi.htm.

The great footprint of fog continues in the Central Valley and into its adjacent valleys. Some of the extended range models are beginning to lock onto some changes about a week out, but that outlook is still as murky as the visibilities. 12/12/2025

A couple of shots of our local Great Blue Heron, "Brian", doing some midday foraging amongst the oxalis.

This morning's predawn "half moon" over Half Moon Bay. (Technically, it's the third, or last, quarter waning moon). 12/11/2025

An elevated blip of "Blue Flash" above the offshore stratus layer. Half Moon Bay.

A sublime Saturday sunset at Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park, 12/6/2025

It's been 15 days without rain in San Francisco, when 0.26" was recorded on Nov 20th. With good agreement in the forecast models that there will be no rain for at least another 10 days, here are other extended periods of dry weather in San Francisco of ≥25 days beginning in Nov.

Full moon rising!

The latest Oceanic Niño Index, for Sep-Oct-Nov, shows values dipping into weak La Niña territory. However, forecasts show this to be fairly short-lived, and like last year probably not long enough to go into the books as a "historic" La Niña. More ENSO related data at ggweather.com/enso.htm