Jack Lee

2 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Greg Porter |Jack Lee

A sailboat passes by an American flag waving in the wind on the waterfront of Port Costa in Contra Costa County during a June day in 2024. Adahlia Cole/Special to The ChronicleCalifornia is a state defined by wildly diverse topography; from the tall peaks of the Sierra Nevada, to the lush lowlands of the Central Valley and the rugged cliffs lining more than 800 miles of coastline.

2 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Jack Lee

Kelly Darter looked over damage from the chimney that came crashing into the kitchen of her home on the 1600 block of First Street in downtown Napa after a 6.0 earthquake struck the region in late-August 2014. Erik Castro/For the S.F. ChronicleUnlike other earthquake-prone places around the planet, California is overdue for a major quake, according to a recent study. But that doesn’t mean a catastrophic event like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is on the verge of striking.

3 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Gregory Thomas |Jack Lee |Peter Hartlaub

The great thing about the Bay Area’s diverse landscape and abundant open space is that you don’t have to go far for an awesome payoff. Whether you’re hunting solitude among the redwoods, wide views of city skylines, a retreat into fog-draped hills or a long look across the mighty Pacific, it’s all here — and there’s a local trailhead that’ll get you there quickly. That’s the point of our latest look at the Bay Area’s top trails: highlighting shorter, easily accessible hikes.

4 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Jack Lee

Douglas Williams leads his son, DJ, 2, through a pool of water at Crissy Field in San Francisco during an intense October heat wave in 2024. Scott Strazzante/S.F. ChronicleThis week, state officials launched a new tool that ranks heat wave severity and predicts impacts from sweltering temperatures at the neighborhood scale. The unveiling comes as intense heat is gripping Northern California, with parts of the Bay Area that could face triple-digit temperatures.

4 weeks ago | sfchronicle.com | Jack Lee

A man exercises as smog covers the San Francisco skyline seen from Alameda on Dec. 4, 2020. Yalonda M. James/The ChronicleThe Bay Area Air District issued its first Spare the Air alert of the year Thursday, as ozone levels are predicted to spike in the region on Friday. Air quality is forecast to be unhealthy Friday as high temperatures, along with vehicle exhaust, will create elevated concentrations of ozone, also known as smog.