Read an Excerpt
INTRODUCTION: CONNECTING TO OUR ATMOSPHERE
What is your relationship with weather? I am and have always been a weather nut. I am also a native Californian born in Long Beach. My brother and I grew up on the western edge of Santa Ana in a tiny 1 ½ bedroom house that made a little footprint on two open lots. In what must have been one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country at the time, almost everyone spent most of their days outside after completing the few indoor tasks. Our house was small with a claustrophobic feel to it. There was no reason to be inside when the outdoor sports, garden chores, and other activities constantly called us out. Our iconic California weather almost always cooperated.
I remember the extreme openness of those early years when we could walk to the end of our street and enjoy views of what seemed to be endless rows of field crops across the floodplain. Everyone on our entire block drank and irrigated from a community well that pumped water to all of our houses and was operated and maintained by all of our neighbors. We didn’t even have water meters; seemingly limitless water was there for the taking. Years later, as the region’s open spaces filled with developments, the City of Santa Ana annexed our neighborhood. City amenities and services followed. We considered them luxuries: a freshly paved and maintained street with sidewalks and street lights and even a sewer line to replace our septic tanks. Though our street name changed during this period of accelerated development, there remained a sense of openness, where natural light spread out to the horizon. It was impossible to ignore the vast sky and changing weather patterns that played such important roles in everyday life.
Perhaps this explains why–before I was ten years old–I realized how my fascination with the weather was more powerful than with the other kids…and quite unique. Why wasn’t everyone so interested in the weather? Even in such an environment where people were constantly obliged to look up at the sky and evaluate changes in the atmosphere, I was far more obsessed and consumed with learning about those changes. Like most other excessively conscientious kids trying to fit in, I often tried to keep this infatuation to myself. Nobody wants a reputation as the weird kid on the block. So my sacred love affair with the sky became a deeply personal way to find peace and solitude separate from life’s problems. I was fortunate to remain curious and determined to pursue my curiosity as I accumulated and analyzed every day’s and night’s weather observations, gathering as much information from as many sources as possible to learn what was going on up there. I even made my own forecasts to try to outwit professional weather forecasters. Not so much luck there.
This obsession emboldened my search to unravel the many mysteries of our atmosphere and our world. It helped lead me through school and eventually pushed me into northern California to complete my graduate degree and to work in a more changeable climate. My expanding love of science and nature led me into a rewarding career as a science teacher and then professor of geography and earth science. My fondness for the Golden State fueled explorations from north to south and from the coast to the mountains and the deserts, researching, living in, and appreciating every corner of California.
And so I must thank our tiny house, which pushed me out into our big lot in our working-class neighborhood. There, I discovered the magic of science and weather that has colored my life and brought so much entertainment and satisfaction. Even today, when so many of us nearly 40 million Californians are surrounded by crowded urban chaos, we each have the sky, a common and shared liberation. Its changeable energies can nurture us and destroy us. Its patterns and seasons shape our bodies and minds. The sky, a source of wonder and awe for our entire existence as thinking creatures, can soothe any nature deficit disorders when we lift our eyes upward.
I’ve been watching the sky and studying its science for more than five decades. My stories might help remind you that no matter where you find your magic in this world and in this life, you should follow it. You can start here by following me on this perpetual journey to explore the incredible diversity of questions and the unlimited learning and life experiences found in our California skies, in the weather and climate of California.
There can be beauty and magic or tragedy and heartbreak in every day and experience. But the real miracle is that we are here to appreciate the clouds or blue sky and to feel the breeze and to wonder how it all fits together. A never-ending series of connected and ever-changing weather events and seasonal cycles surrounds and follows us from birth until death, ushering us through this life. Attending to these cycles and their impacts can also help us better appreciate how our weather connects all of us and plays such a vital role in everything we do, everything we are, and everything we wish to be.
This book offers the most convenient, least expensive, and lowest impact ecotourism and natural science learning opportunities you will ever experience. It doesn’t require you to sign up or to endure the formalities and hassles of a traditional class. It doesn’t require any entrance or parking fees or reservations at a park, campground, hotel, or B&B. You don’t have to jam yourself into a plane, train, or shuttle or put gas in your car. You don’t even have to pack your bags or plan to anticipate unexpected or unfortunate events that could ruin your vacation or interrupt your field excursion. Our accessible sky dome is waiting for your attention: Gaze outside or walk out your door. Our extreme science laboratory is running experiments that you can observe and experience by simply sensing your air and sky.
And everyone, no matter who you are or how much money you earn, can admire the same sky and sense the same weather. Many miles away, people are looking straight up to see that same cloud you are viewing near the horizon. They could be idealistic humanitarians or callous crooks; like it or not, we share the same sky and weather. Our egalitarian weather is constantly calling out to all of us, connecting us and reconnecting us to our source. So I challenge you to reopen your heart and your mind to a view and dimension that offers a fresh perspective and new opportunities to appreciate and celebrate this life on this planet.
Anyone enthusiastic about atmospheric science would be excited to spend time in California, so I count myself lucky to have observed the enormous diversity of California’s weather and climates for my whole life. California contains examples of most major climates on Earth, except for the tropics—there are no humid equatorial rainforests here. Each year, somewhere and someone in the state is at least temporarily impacted by nearly every weather event and air mass that can be experienced on Earth. Just as you can get a cultural and culinary tour of the world by traversing California, the same goes for our state’s astounding assortment of landscapes, weather patterns, and climates. These weather stories are learning opportunities that can be applied wherever you live or travel, even if you are not chasing or fleeing that evanescent California Dream.
Look out your window. What kind of weather are you experiencing right now where you are? How can you better understand these observations and predict what might happen next? These are questions all of us ask. Our curiosity erupts during thunderstorms, heat waves, cold snaps, shifting winds, and other unusual weather events. Nature’s shows invite us into the mysterious and fascinating stories that make life on Earth more rewarding and exciting, stories that teach us about where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Countless philosophers, naturalists, and scientists have attempted to put these stories into words. The best encourage us to look through a window rather than into a mirror. The window allows us to see and experience reality outside ourselves.
Are idyllic care-free California atmospheric stereotypes true or are they mere meteorological myths championed by chambers of commerce, tourist industries, and real estate interests? The correct answer depends on the day and your location, since you will encounter strikingly different weather conditions in each region of the Golden State and surprisingly dramatic changes over time. Temperatures soaring over 110°F are suddenly interrupted by violent flash floods generated by severe thunderstorms. Several feet of snow accumulate in wind gusts over 100 mph as temperatures plummet below 0° F. Relentless Pacific storms drive cool, drenching rains to saturate soils, soak forests, and engorge streams and rivers day after day. Name the place and time and you can find just about any weather forecast and extreme in the Golden State. Such atmospheric restlessness implores us to explore California’s astonishingly diverse and constantly changing weather patterns and climates.
So keep asking yourself why that beautiful billowing cumulus cloud is growing and be curious about the processes that are shaping it. Ask how those cirrus clouds streaming above 25,000 feet produced such brilliantly red sunsets, colorful halos, and sundogs. What caused the latest drought or flood? The answers may range far beyond a simple understanding of our weather as they lead you to natural wonders that will help you understand our world and your place in it.
