KuyperLocalWeather.com
  • Home
  • Currents & Climate
  • Satellite & Radar
  • Fires
    • Current Fires
    • Fire Weather Forecasts
    • Historical Fires
  • Forecasts
    • Forecasts
    • Models
    • North State Microclimates
  • More
    • Home
    • Currents & Climate
    • Satellite & Radar
    • Fires
      • Current Fires
      • Fire Weather Forecasts
      • Historical Fires
    • Forecasts
      • Forecasts
      • Models
      • North State Microclimates
KuyperLocalWeather.com
  • Home
  • Currents & Climate
  • Satellite & Radar
  • Fires
    • Current Fires
    • Fire Weather Forecasts
    • Historical Fires
  • Forecasts
    • Forecasts
    • Models
    • North State Microclimates

Currents and Climate

Current Observations

The Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) at Jarbo Gap.

Interactive observations from NWS Sacramento

Click the 'Observations' overlay on the right. Zoom in closer, then increase Density for more Observations. Tweak the Layers overlay to add radar, rain, and/or fire data to your map.

MesoWest observations

More observations. Change the Region/Zone (I use Sacramento CWA) in the dropdown in the upper left, then Refresh Map. If you change to 'all networks', you'll see a ton of stations... so better to do it fully zoomed in. Below that, change your Overlay for even more data. Change Time Options for historical data.

RAWS (Remote Automated Weather Station) observations

This is a link to all RAWS stations (including Jarbo Gap) in northern California. They show temperature; wind speed, direction, and gusts; relative humidity; and rainfall.

You can get data for a station for its entire history (potentially years ago).

ALERTWildfire Cams

These cameras stay on even after fire season switches off. In the winter, take a look at the snow in the mountains, or maybe some fog in the Sacramento Valley. Hundreds of cameras in California alone to choose from, and even more in other western states.

Current Northern California weather Watches & Warnings

Are there strong winds, severe thunderstorms, big winter storms, or other kinds of severe weather coming our way soon? Click here to find out.

Chico Observation from Wunderground - Western Weather Group

A lot of apps & websites use the Chico Airport for their Chico data, but I believe the Airport's lows are warmer and their highs cooler than much of the rest of Chico.

Western Weather Group installs weather stations (among other things) for professional use in northern California, so they know how to set up a station correctly. This is their station near Manzanita & Hwy 99. Plus, you can use their WunderMap to find many other stations nearby to look at!

Current Air Quality

Have you ever driven down the Skyway from Paradise on a summer day, and noticed all of the haze in the air above the Valley? On average, our air quality isn't so good. Check our current air quality here. I chose AirNow, because these are the numbers air quality management districts use. They're a bit lower than some other sources, but the point is to get the most accurate information... not the most extreme numbers.

Current winds over Northern California animation

This is an animation of the current winds over California. A nice graphical depiction of our current winds.

Lake Levels

What's the current water level at Lake Oroville? How about at Shasta Lake? For the water level at any major lake in California, click here.

CalTrans Road Conditions

Are you heading to the mountains, and want to know if you need chains, snow tires, or 4 wheel drive? Or, do you need an update to see if a road is open again after a fire or a road construction project? Click here.

Pollen report

Are we going to be sneezing a lot today? Check the allergy report to find out.


Click here for Chico's report.                 Click here for Oroville's report.


Click here for Paradise's report.            Click here for Orland's report.


Click here for Chester's report.              Click here for Red Bluff's report.

Current weather at Jarbo Gap

Strong winds can sometimes develop in the Feather River Canyon of Butte & Plumas counties, even when skies are clear and winds are calm nearby. These winds were a major factor in the rapid spread of the Camp (2018), Bear (2020), Humboldt (2008), and Concow (2000) fires.

I named them the Jarbo Gap winds back around 2010 because Jarbo Gap was the only observing station available at that time to measure just how strong they were. After the Camp Fire, the ALERTWildfire camera network became widespread, and many weather observing stations were installed. But before the Camp Fire, data was much more limited.

The Jarbo Gap RAWS station is just off of Hwy 70 between Oroville and Quincy, not far from Pulga at Jarbo Gap.

Lake Tahoe high elevation observations

Here's a look at observations from a few mountain peaks around Lake Tahoe... mainly ski resort locations. During big winter storms, these can report extreme conditions, especially wind gusts and temperatures.

Scroll down past the graphs for a text readout. Alpine Meadows Summit and Palisades Tahoe Summit are the 2 most extreme, and both have had wind gusts near 200 mph during really big winter storms! Gusts over 100 mph are fairly common during a decent winter storm. If you've ever ridden the chairlift at Heavenly and noticed the short (but with fat trunks) trees at the summit... this is why. Those ferocious winds destroy most of the vertical tree growth!

*Note: Squaw Valley Ski Resort has been renamed Palisades Tahoe, as of September 2021.

Aurora Forecast

Are the Northern Lights out tonight? Probably not in Northern California (although I do remember seeing them once in Chico, back in April 2001). But if you want to see where the Northern Lights are dancing tonight, check the Space Weather Prediction Center or the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

At the Space Weather Prediction Center website, scroll down a little. 'The Aurora' should be on the right of the screen. Good information here, and there's lots of good info at the Geophysical Institute website as well.

Climate

The sun sets into a smoky sky.

A general description of the Climate of northern California

A nice meteorological breakdown of the typical seasonal weather patterns of the Sacramento Valley, northern Sierra Nevada/southern Cascades, northern Coast Range, and southern Siskiyous.

Climate data for selected North State cities

Observed, average, and record highs & lows; rain & snow totals; and more for:

  1. Redding, Paradise, Red Bluff, near Willows, Chester, Quincy, Burney, Mineral, Shasta Dam, Manzanita Lake (Lassen Park), and Sacramento.
  2. Mt. Shasta, Dunsmuir, Yreka, Alturas, Canby, Adin, Ft. Jones, Happy Camp, and Lava Beds Nat'l Monument.
  3. Find data for Weaverville, Eureka, Ft. Bragg, & Crescent City here.
  4. And finally, find data for Susanville, Portola, Reno, and Lake Tahoe (Tahoe City, South Lake Tahoe, & Glenbrook) here.

Western Region Climate Center (WRCC) - NorCal data

Northern California Climate data from the WRCC. If the city you're looking for isn't above, try here! Select your city on the left. LOTS of options. My favorite is to scroll down on left to 'Period of Record Data Tables', then select 'Daily Summary Stats'. All the record highs, lows, rain, etc. for that location you could want!

Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) - All western states data

Same as above, but for all western states.

Our Current Rainfall Season

This is an interactive map from the California/Nevada River Forecast Center of how our current water year is doing. You'll probably want to zoom in... that's in the upper left. You'll also want to make sure that you've got the right month selected on the right hand side, below where it says, "Monthly Water Year Archive". But there is LOTS of other data here as well, from River Flow to Snow Depth, Observed & Forecasted Temperatures, Forecasted Rain, Freezing Levels, and more.

National Center for Environmental Information

Formerly the National Climatic Data Center, you'll find temperature and precipitation data for MANY places here.

Rainfall: Average California rainfall map

This is a good interactive average annual rainfall map of California. Zoom in to see more, using the magnifying glass with the + or - in it in the top left. Change the Basemap to Terrain (Labels) on the left.

Notice the average rain in the Sacramento Valley. Redding averages quite a bit of rain (30"-40"!), Chico averages near 26"", but see how dry parts of Glenn, Colusa, Sutter & Yolo counties are? Less than 15" of rain falls there per year, on average. Rain amounts can vary greatly in the Valley!

Why does it snow in Redding, but not the rest of the Valley?

A meteorological breakdown (we're talking Evaporational Cooling & more) of why it often snows in Redding in the winter, but rarely in the rest of the Sacramento Valley.

A detailed breakdown of the climate of Redding

Former Meteorologist-in-Charge (1976 to 1996) of the old Redding office of the National Weather Service (it closed in 1996), Chris Fontana wrote an excellent description of the general climate in and around Redding.

The Shasta County Convergence Zone

A meteorological breakdown of the Shasta County Convergence Zone. This is a scientific, technical paper.

What about the Jarbo Gap Winds, North Winds, and the Delta Breeze?

I broke those down in my Microclimates section. Click here for that.

NASA Worldview

Historical satellite pictures (back to about 2002). Enter the date you want to look at on the bottom left. Click the camera button also in bottom left, or the 'Start Comparison' button (also... bottom left), then enter your two dates on the upper left, and either do a satellite loop between the dates, or a slider comparison between 2 still images. Another good site.

Storm Summaries of recent big winter storms of Northern California

The California Nevada River Forecast Center summarized some of the biggest storms to hit Northern California in the past 30 years here.

PRISM Climate Group at Oregon St. University

Some nice graphical climate data here.

ARkStorm 2.0

California Megaflood, anyone? In the winter of 1861-62, incredible rains turned the Sacramento Valley into a 300 mile long lake. A major flood like this is estimated to happen every 150-200 years, on average. The last one happened 160 years ago, so it's not as far-fetched as you might think.

Local Records

Chico Snowfall

The top 3 OFFICIAL snowiest days ever in Chico are:

1. 1/27/72:    2.0"  (See #2 for Paradise)

2. 12/12/72:  1.3"

3. 12/6/72:    1.0"    (See #3 for Paradise)

- 1972 was a snowy year for Chico, apparently!

Paradise Snowfall

The top 3 OFFICIAL snowiest days ever in Paradise are:

1. 1/29/75:  17.5"

2. 1/27/72:  11.0"  (Chico's largest snowfall happened on this day)

3. 12/6/72 & 12/7/72: Both days saw 8.0". Throw in the 0.8" on 12/8/72, that's a 16.8" 3 day total!

4. Honorable mention: 2/16/90: 5.5" PLUS 2/17/90: 6" PLUS 2/18/90: 3.0" for a 14.5" 3 day total.

Oroville Snowfall

The top 3 OFFICIAL snowiest days ever for Oroville are:

1. 1/6/1913:    6.0"

1. 12/30/83:    6.0"

3. 12/6/1909:  4.0"

Orland Snowfall

The top 3 OFFICIAL snowiest days ever for Orland are:

1. 1/10/37:    9.0"  (See #3 for Red Bluff below)

2. 1/7/1907:  7.0"

2. 1/15/32:    7.0"

Red Bluff Snowfall

The top 3 OFFICIAL snowiest days ever for Red Bluff are:

1. 12/5/72:  9.0"

2. 1/16/50:  8.4"  Add in the 1.5" that fell on 1/15/50 for an almost 10" 2 day storm total!

3. 3/2/76:    8.0" (That much in March? Wow)

3. 1/11/37:  8.0"  Add in the 7.0" that fell on 1/10/37 for a 15" 2 day storm total!

Social Media


Copyright © 2023 KuyperLocalWeather.com - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by GoDaddy

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to see how many people are visiting, so we can see what you like and what you don't. All data remains anonymous. By accepting, your data will be combined with all other users' data

Accept