GOLDEN STATE WEATHER
California's weather and climate, organised by the geography that causes it.
The headline
ANALYSIS, NOT AN EVENT REPORTLoading the desk…
Latest analysis
Why geography first
TERRAIN IS THE FORECASTCalifornia is not one climate with local variation. It is the most climatically diverse state in the country, and almost all of that diversity is caused by terrain doing something to moving air — a range lifting it, a gap accelerating it, a basin trapping it, an escarpment drying it. Read the terrain and the weather stops being a list of numbers and starts being a consequence.
So this site is built the other way round from a normal weather site. It does not start with a city and a seven-day strip. It starts with the eighteen regions the state actually divides into on meteorological grounds, the ranges that separate them, and the ten passes where air crosses between — and then hangs the places, the normals and the seasons off that.
The eighteen regions
CUT ON WEATHER, NOT ON CULTURECalifornia is usually cut into "NorCal" and "SoCal", which is a cultural line rather than a meteorological one: it puts Death Valley and San Diego in the same bucket while splitting the Sierra crest — a single snowpack — down the middle. These cuts are made on the things that actually set the weather: which side of a range you are on, how far the marine layer reaches, and what the terrain does to a storm.
Loading the region table…
What's on this site
EVERYTHING THE NETWORK DOES, IN ONE PLACEThe region atlas
Eighteen regions, each with its terrain, its signature phenomena, its forecast offices, the ranges and passes inside it, and how all four seasons actually behave there — not a generic season description with the place name swapped in.
Places and normals
Fifty-seven places chosen to span the gradients rather than the population ranking: Eureka against Redding, Bishop against Blue Canyon, Furnace Creek against Telescope Peak. NOAA 1991–2020 normals throughout.
The wind regimes
Santa Ana, Diablo, Sundowner, the Delta breeze, the San Gorgonio Pass jet and the Sierra Wave — each explained by the specific gap or slope that makes it, with the pressure pattern that switches it on.
Water and the snowpack
Atmospheric rivers, the April 1 snowpack, the rain shadow arithmetic, and why a handful of storms decide the entire water year.
Fire weather
The fuel-and-wind combination behind California's worst fires, region by region — and it is free, permanently, along with every link to official warnings. Safety information is never behind the paywall.
Part of the Forecast Network
Same instrument, same rendering rules and the same self-hosted typography as Forecast Eagle, Euro, Canada and Waves — pointed at one state, in as much depth as one state can carry.
Free and Pro
STATED UP FRONT, NOT DISCOVERED LATEREverything above is free and stays free: all eighteen regions, all 59 places, January and July normals for each, every range, every pass, every wind explainer, and all of the fire and storm hazard context.
Pro adds depth, not access. Full twelve-month normals rather than two, the side-by-side place comparison, the gradient tables, saved places, and CSV export. Three commitments, and they are load-bearing:
- A locked feature is always visible — blurred, labelled and described — so you can see what you would be paying for before you pay.
- Nothing free ever becomes locked. The free tier only grows.
- Safety information is never gated. Fire weather, storm hazards and every link to official warnings are free, permanently, and the code enforces it rather than merely promising it.
Try it without an account
Unlock every Pro panel on the site for 30 minutes. No email, no card, nothing to cancel.
Runs in your browser only.
Part of the Forecast Network
Forecast Eagle covers North America from NOAA sources, Forecast Canada covers Canada from MSC, Forecast California carries the state's model guidance, and Forecast Waves draws the sea state by basin. Golden State Weather is the same shared design and the same honest-rendering rules, aimed at one state in the depth a single state allows — and it is the one site on the network with a paid tier.