Golden State Weather is live

A California reference organised by the terrain that causes the weather, rather than by city or by model.

Golden State Weather opens today with eighteen weather regions, 57 places carrying NOAA/NCEI 1991–2020 climate normals, twelve mountain ranges, the ten passes that steer California's named winds, and explainers covering climate, wind, water, fire, the coast, the mountains and agriculture.

How it is organised

Most weather sites start with a city and a seven-day strip. This one starts with terrain, because in California nearly every distinctive thing about the weather is a range lifting air, a gap accelerating it, a basin trapping it or an escarpment drying it.

The eighteen regions are cut on meteorological grounds rather than the usual north/south split — which is a cultural line that puts Death Valley and San Diego in the same bucket while cutting the Sierra crest, a single snowpack, down the middle.

Where the numbers come from

Geography is authored; climate is measured; they never mix. Every temperature and rainfall figure comes from NOAA's published normals, and every place page names the station its numbers came from, its ID, its elevation and its distance — because a normal is a property of a gauge, and a page that shows one without naming it is asking to be trusted rather than checked.

Free and Pro

Everything above is free. A Pro tier will add depth — full twelve-month normals as tables, comparison, the gradient tables, export — but pricing is not set and billing is not switched on, which is why the Pro page shows a dash rather than a number.