Golden State WeatherRegionsShasta Cascade

Shasta Cascade

Two active volcanoes big enough to make their own weather.

Volcanic orographicsLenticular cloud capsDry-lightning outbreaks

The southern end of the Cascade arc. Mount Shasta stands 10,000 feet above everything around it, isolated enough that it generates its own lenticular cloud caps and its own orographic snowfall — the Mount Shasta Ski Bowl recorded 189 inches from a single storm in 1959, still the North American record. Lassen Peak anchors the southern end. Between and around them the terrain is high, forested and genuinely continental: real winters, real snow, and summer thunderstorms that start most of the region's fires.

Elevation range: 400 ft → 14,179 ftHigh point: Mount Shasta
Relief: 13,779 ftTop to bottom, inside this region
Span: 114 × 128 miEast–west by north–south
Annual rainfall: 20–70″Driest to wettest ground here
Köppen types: DsbCsbET5 counties

Open climate division

Map of Shasta Cascade within California.

Where it is. The highlighted frame is this region's viewport; the others are its neighbours.

The four seasons here

NOT A GENERIC SEASON WITH THE PLACE NAME SWAPPED IN

Winter

Heavy mountain snow and valley rain; the passes on I-5 and Highway 89 close regularly.

Spring

Slow melt, and the last snows on the peaks well into June.

Summer

Warm and dry below, with afternoon buildups over the volcanoes and the lightning that comes with them.

Autumn

Clear and cold at night. The first snow on Shasta typically falls in October.

Places in this region

1 PLACE, LOWEST FIRST

NOAA/NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals, from the nearest publishing station at a comparable elevation. Full twelve-month tables are on each place's own page.
Place	Elevation	Jan high	Jan low	Jul high	Jul low	Annual precip	Snow
Mount Shasta City	3,606	44°	27°	85°	51°	42.6″	89″

National Parks in this weather region

FIELD NOTES FROM THE PARK TRANSECT

Lassen VolcanicHigh Cascade plateau to 10,457-ft Lassen Peak

Terrain and gradients

WHAT THE ELEVATION ACTUALLY DOES

Too few reporting stations to regress a terrain gradient.

Ranges and passes

A PASS IS A WIND FEATURE FIRST

Southern CascadesVolcanic arc. Two stratovolcanoes tall enough to generate their own orographic snowfall.RANGE

Who forecasts it

OFFICIAL FORECASTS AND WARNINGS COME FROM HERE

NWS Medford (OR)Siskiyou and Modoc county north edgeNWS MFRWEATHER.GOV NWS SacramentoSacramento Valley, northern Sierra, DeltaNWS STOWEATHER.GOV NWS EurekaNorth Coast and the KlamathNWS EKAWEATHER.GOV

Golden State Weather is not a source of watches or warnings. For those, go to the offices above.

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