Weather Alerts for California

Recent Locations: Tovey, IL East Springfield, NY Anaheim, CA

1. Extreme Heat Warning for: Coalinga - Avenal; Fresno-Clovis; West Side Mountains South of 198; Buena Vista; Bakersfield; South End San Joaquin Valley; Fresno-Tulare Foothills; South End Sierra Foothills

2. Extreme Heat Warning for: Cuyama Valley; Santa Clarita Valley; Santa Lucia Mountains; Southern Salinas Valley; San Luis Obispo County Interior Valleys; San Luis Obispo County Mountains; Santa Ynez Valley; Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains; Western Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area; Calabasas and Agoura Hills; Western San Fernando Valley; Eastern San Fernando Valley; Southeastern Ventura County Valleys; Santa Susana Mountains; Southern Ventura County Mountains; Northern Ventura County Mountains; Interstate 5 Corridor; Western San Gabriel Mountains and Highway 14 Corridor; Eastern San Gabriel Mountains; Western Antelope Valley Foothills; Eastern Antelope Valley Foothills; Antelope Valley; Los Angeles County San Gabriel Valley

3. Extreme Heat Warning for: Indian Wells Valley; Mojave Desert Slopes; Mojave Desert

4. Extreme Heat Warning for: Santa Ynez Mountains Western Range; Santa Ynez Mountains Eastern Range; Los Angeles County Inland Coast including Downtown Los Angeles; Eastern Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area

5. Extreme Heat Warning for: West Side Mountains north of 198; Mariposa Madera Foothills

6. Extreme Heat Warning for: Western Siskiyou County; Central Siskiyou County

7. Fire Weather Watch for: Trinity

8. Heat Advisory for: Lake Casitas; Ojai Valley; Central Ventura County Valleys

9. Heat Advisory for: Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties

10. Heat Advisory for: Los Banos - Dos Palos; Merced - Madera - Mendota; Planada - Le Grand - Snelling

11. Heat Advisory for: West Side of Fresno and Kings Counties; Caruthers - San Joaquin - Selma; Buttonwillow - Lost Hills - I5; Delano-Wasco-Shafter; Hanford - Corcoran - Lemoore; Visalia - Porterville - Reedley; Southeast San Joaquin Valley; Kern River Valley

12. Red Flag Warning for: Western Klamath National Forest; Central Siskiyou County Including Shasta Valley; Siskiyou County from the Cascade Mountains East and South to Mt Shasta; Modoc County Except for the Surprise Valley; Siskiyou Mountains; Southern Oregon Cascades; Klamath Basin and the Fremont-Winema National Forest; South Central Oregon Desert including the BLM Land in Eastern Lake and Western Harney Counties

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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

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North America Water Vapor (Moisture)

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Weather Topic: What is Rain?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Rain

Rain Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Precipitation in the form of water droplets is called rain. Rain generally has a tendency to fall with less intensity over a greater period of time, and when rainfall is more severe it is usually less sustained.

Rain is the most common form of precipitation and happens with greater frequency depending on the season and regional influences. Cities have been shown to have an observable effect on rainfall, due to an effect called the urban heat island. Compared to upwind, monthly rainfall between twenty and forty miles downwind of cities is 30% greater.

Next Topic: Shelf Clouds

Weather Topic: What is Sleet?

Home - Education - Precipitation - Sleet

Sleet Next Topic: Snow

Sleet is a form of precipitation in which small ice pellets are the primary components. These ice pellets are smaller and more translucent than hailstones, and harder than graupel. Sleet is caused by specific atmospheric conditions and therefore typically doesn't last for extended periods of time.

The condition which leads to sleet formation requires a warmer body of air to be wedged in between two sub-freezing bodies of air. When snow falls through a warmer layer of air it melts, and as it falls through the next sub-freezing body of air it freezes again, forming ice pellets known as sleet. In some cases, water droplets don't have time to freeze before reaching the surface and the result is freezing rain.

Next Topic: Snow