Rainbow Season, Fremont Cottonwoods, Venus & Jupiter, the Moon's Chesire Cat Smile
"Rainbow season" arrives with the first rains of late fall. Scattered showers are best for rainbow watching: sunlight refracting and reflecting through the raindrops causes two bows to appear: an intense circular arc at 42˚, and a bigger, but weaker …
Atmosphereic Ice Crystals, Liquidambar Trees, and Sycamores
Atmospheric ice-crystal effects are often observed, starting about this time of year, because of the frequent appearance of high clouds made of tiny bits of ice. The most familiar of these optical effects is the 22˚-radius halo, or ring, around …
Temperature Inversions, Tides, Sunrise/Sunset, and the Leonid Meteor Shower
Low-lying temperature inversions commonly occur in San Diego as winter approaches. During the night and morning hours, a meterological condition often occurs in which the normal higher-you-go-the colder-it-gets trend is reversed. At such times cold marine air lies below a …
Santa Anas, Monarchs, and Acorns
Santa Ana winds in San Diego County often reach their greatest intensity during November, particularly at the mountain passes, where dry air from a high-pressure area over the interior deserts swoops coastward toward a low-pressure area offshore. The subsiding air …