Unlike the day-lubbers who watch the weather clowns on late night TV, we don't need no stinking ... temperatures! We need cloud cover, wind patterns, fog distributon, and the depth of the marine layer. Here's the good sites...
The NOAA SF/Monterey Bay detailed weather forecast , Local NOAA , Sky&Telescope Weather links Page
Accuweather satellite IR satellite loop
Selected ClearSkyClocks in Monterey Bay General Area
Astro Weather Panel (a more detailed product similar to ClearSkyClocks)
Balloon soundings. Once you're in, click on the map's "OAK" symbol to get a table of the latest balloon data from Oakland. To determine the depth of the marine layer, look at the temperature and the humidity beginning at sea-level. Look for a sharp drop in humidty and rise in temperature. The elevation of this transition is the top of the marine layer and will correspond to the tops of the fog. This elevation is fairly constant throughout the SF and Monterey Bay area. The highest accessible point in Bonny Doon is at 736m (2400 ft.), and other of our favorite nearby observing sites.
For excursions to the hinterlands, including cross-country skiing and desert foray's...
Yosemite CDEC stations map , Yosemite Weather
CA Dept Water Resources Stations (including live snow depth)
Current Snow Depth Station Data
China
Lake Naval Center's weather site.
My Planning Strategy
If there's an event or photo trip planned, I'll start with the satellite
weather , especially the Central
California page, to see if there's any storm-related
weather coming in soon. If that's OK, I'll see what the fog pattern is on the
satellite map. Does Bonny Doon, etc. poke above the fog tops, etc. If there's
no fog, but there's a marine layer of damp cool air which may saturate when
evening comes, I'll go to the balloon
sounding site and find the elevation of the top of the marine layer.
Then, I'll go to my list of
local observing sites and find one which is above
the marine layer and reasonably close.
