Geology of the Right Stepover region between the Rodgers Creek, Healdsburg, and Maacama faults, northern San Francisco Bay region: a contribution to Northern California Geological Society Field Trip Guide, June 6-8, 2003

ABSTRACT This paper does not have an abstract. The Northern California Geological Society held its first meeting in May 1944. Over the years, a monthly lecture series and occasional field trips evolved to serve as the main venues for the Society. At first, meetings of the Society were held in various locations across the San Francisco Bay area, but eventually settled in San Francisco because of its concentration of petroleum and mining companies. One of the first field trips organized by the Society was a two-day trip to Mount Diablo held on 12–13 May 1950. This event marked the beginning of a close connection between the Society and the mountain. The Society prospered over the next few decades, but as the petroleum and mining companies relocated away from San Francisco, the membership broadened and the meeting location was moved to the East Bay and near Mount Diablo. Seventy-five years after its founding, the Society proposed to celebrate this anniversary by assembling a volume of new research and field guides by the members...

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A Surface Observation Based Climatology of Diablo-LikeWinds in California’s Wine Country and Western Sierra Nevada

Fire ◽

10.3390/fire1020025 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 25 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Craig Smith ◽

Benjamin Hatchett ◽

Michael Kaplan

Keyword(s):

San Francisco ◽

Sierra Nevada ◽

San Francisco Bay ◽

San Francisco Bay Area ◽

Early Morning ◽

Northern California ◽

Gust Factor ◽

Wind Speeds ◽

Bay Area ◽

Area North

Diablo winds are dry and gusty north-northeasterly downslope windstorms that affect the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. On the evening of 8 October 2017, Diablo winds contributed to the ignitions and rapid spread of the “Northern California firestorm”, including the Tubbs Fire, which burned 2800 homes in Santa Rosa, resulting in 22 fatalities and $1.2 B USD in damages. We analyzed 18 years of data from a network of surface meteorological stations and showed that Diablo winds tend to occur overnight through early morning in fall, winter and spring. In addition to the area north of the San Francisco Bay Area, conditions similar to Diablo winds commonly occur in the western Sierra Nevada. Both of these areas are characterized by high wind speeds and low relative humidity, but they neither tend to be warmer than climatology nor have a higher gust factor, or ratio of wind gusts to mean wind speeds, than climatology.

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