A CCAG weather post

If you look up at the sky, sometimes you can predict the weather! For instance, it looks sunny in this picture right? But the clouds in the background are cirrus clouds, which are made of ice. Later, they will turn into a rain storm.

Rainclouds move in from the southeast. SF cooks in 75ºF weather, while most of the Southeastern Pacific is drenched with rain.

The CCAG concluded some patterns that occur at the here. We have been observing for one year through time lapse footage.

1. If it's cloudy in the morning where each cloud has a yellow outline, it may be sunny in the afternoon. The yellow part is the sun pouring in, which means the cloud is very thin

2. If you live in a mountain above 800 ft, and the fog levels are ten feet above your elevation, there is a chance that the fog will stay there all day, but dissipates for people living below 800ft. Think of it like fog covers a mountain, but dissipates below it.

3. There are wind gusts up to 10 mph before a storm, normally not during it, and after it.

4. Before a rainstorm, lower cumulus clouds at the CCAG move in from the west

5. During a rainstorm, lower clouds at the CCAG move in from the southwest, and higher clouds move in from the west.

6. Wind above 15 mph on a clear day might mean rain or storm, but usually results in fog.

7. Thin clouds on a clear day might mean rain or storm in a few days or so.

8. A random humid cloudy day at the CCAG means rain in a few days. The clouds that produce this humid weather are high altocumulus clouds. They are small cloudlets that form to make a mass of clouds.

9. Wind usually blows in the same direction cumulus clouds move. This is because the cumulus clouds are the lowest clouds during a rain storm, and therefore are closer to the ground.

10. Hail is always followed by lightning or vice versa. This is because lightning and hail both come from thunderclouds.

How to tell when a rainstorm will start

1. Clouds will start crowding over the San Bruno Mountains, and will come in at night. This may be a small rain shadow effect in action. Picture a mountain near the Sierra Nevada. On one side of a mountain the air is wet and cold, but on the other side is hot and dry. This occurs simply because the dry part of the mountain is forced to become barren because over the mountains, the cold air dries out. Although the peaks of the San bruno Mountains are about 1000' (too short for this to happen) we sometimes observe rain on their end but sunny skies on our end.

2. Mostly when it's humid, fog will set the stage for a storm and creep in from the Pacific ocean. Then after a few weeks the fog will gradually rise and become cumulus clouds. Soon, higher clouds form above the fog and it starts to rain.

3. Wind will come in from the South West, which is where the ocean is.

How to tell when a rainstorm will stop

1. Clouds will break away but not dissipate

2. The clouds become lower.

3. The clouds might mass in one area, usually around the east bay, then travel the opposite direction the next day.

4. The clouds will become higher and dissipate.

These facts may not always be true, because weather is so inconsistent.