This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1966.

Yes, even in Southern California, weather is something we experience every day. It is in our conscious or subconscious whenever we wake up, look out a window, venture outside, see or feel the sunshine, hear the swish of wind in the trees or the white noise of rain on the roof. We make decisions, sometimes several times a day, based on a brief thought of weather. We make plans based on the near-term forecast, or long-term climate. Occasionally, we take prompt action to stay safe from it. For something so integral to our lives, how much of it do we understand? Greater understanding of the real, practical meaning of the forecast can inform decisions and plans, affording greater confidence and less frustration. You will gain a greater awareness of how the weather you experience works. You’ll understand where forecasts come from, how they’re made, and what it means to you.

"Like citrus, oil, movies, radio, and television, aerospace helped create Southern California and embody its values. Blue Sky Metropolis launches an entirely fresh consideration of an iconic industry that answered the immemorial hunger of the human race for flight and the future."--Kevin Starr, University of Southern California "Blue Sky Metropolis presents an intriguing survey of a unique time in Southern California history, when cheap land and benign weather lured massive aerospace enterprises to the region—eventually serving as home to nearly half of the nation’s defense and space fabricators. Before there was a Silicon Valley, high-tech dreamers were on the loose in the Southland, creating inventions as diverse as the Voyager planetary spacecraft and the Stealth bomber. These highly readable essays help us understand how it happened—how Southern California shaped aerospace, and vice versa."—Charles Elachi, Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory "Peter Westwick has assembled a rich collection of essays that tell a wonderful story about the importance of the aerospace industry to Southern California and the importance of Southern California to the aerospace industry. There's technology, sociology, economics, geography, anthropology, and much more woven through the chapters. It's an ambitious project, but it succeeds in being interesting, informative, and entertaining."—Michael Rich, President and CEO, The RAND Corporation

Coastal Weather Guide for Southern California and Western Mexico explains in great detail all the necessary information the boater needs to successfully return to his/her homeport safely. The book is broken down into ten chapters and includes: Mariner's source for weather information, Weather and Climate and the divisions between the various coasts, the Atmosphere and Weather Systems, outside influences on Southern California Costal Weather and by Seasons. This book explains the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the local effects on Southern California weather: the last four chapters include Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, and the various weather patterns in the area.

The nation's network of more than 130 Next Generation Radars (NEXRADs) is used to detect wind and precipitation to help National Weather Service forecasters monitor and predict flash floods and other storms. This book assesses the performance of the Sulphur Mountain NEXRAD in Southern California, which has been scrutinized for its ability to detect precipitation in the atmosphere below 6000 feet. The book finds that the Sulphur Mountain NEXRAD provides crucial coverage of the lower atmosphere and is appropriately situated to assist the Los Angeles-Oxnard National Weather Service Forecast Office in successfully forecasting and warning of flash floods. The book concludes that, in general, NEXRAD technology is effective in mountainous terrain but can be improved.