Back in Berkeley

Thinking about the weather...and upcoming book events

The SF Chronicle dubbed it a “Christmas Miracle” for ski resorts. For my daughter Talia and me, a bit of a nail biter as we drove from Reno to Berkeley on I-80 on the 26th.

Truckee’s Where’s My Plow map was experiencing technical difficulties. And as to the State of Ca, I’m still in the dark as to the size of the snowplow fleet. We passed only one in over an hour of driving through mountain passes in a significant snow storm.

I start out 2026 mentioning the weather, because this year, I’ll finish work on my final environmental planning project. Since 2014, I’ve been working with a group of weather scientists, “radar nerds,” and Bay Area environmental program managers since to better track and forecast the intensity of storms in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Never having taken a course in meteorology, atmospheric physics, or the like, I had no idea how fun this project, known as the Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information Project, AQPI for short, would be. Here are a few links where you can learn more:

NOAA website

CW3E website

Sonoma County Water Agency website

I’ll admit that more than anything else, I’ll miss most the people I’ve worked with over the years. The media, fueled by some politicians and taxpayers who don’t believe in a common good, write stories of government waste, bloat, and abuse (think Elon and his chainsaw).

Over my decades in government work, I was often impressed by my colleagues’ intelligence, creativity, and initiative to do innovative and needed work on behalf of all of us. Calling climate change a hoax, holding science and planning as hostage, does no one any good, except for a few wealthy climate deniers’ bank accounts. Weather forecasting, and planning for storms, are imperative for our common good.

And good on the State of California and the Bay Area in specific that we’ll have better weather data moving forward. Now if we could only buy a few more snowplows….

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More book events!

If you live in the Bay Area, or will be visiting in January, or if you have friends who might be interested, please join me at:

• SAN FRANCISCO January 9, 2026, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Temple Am Tikvah, 625 Brotherhood Way

• PENINSULA January 13, 2026, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm, Peninsula Jewish Community Center, 800 Foster City Blvd, Foster City

• EAST BAY January 17, 2026, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm, Congregation Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Ave, Berkeley

• NORTH BAY folks, you’ll have to wait till March. I’ll be at Book Passage in Corte Madera on 3/8 at 1:00pm

Happy New Year!

Jennifer