Rob Mayeda

Jul 25, 2024 | nbcbayarea.com | Rob Mayeda

In less than 24 hours, the Park Fire in Northern California grew to more than 71,000 acres. How is this even possible? You can likely blame the current hot, dry and windy weather for that, amplified by nearly nonstop heat waves. The Park Fire began like other fires have this summer with an apparent near roadside start. An Alert California camera shows the time of ignition and growth.

Jul 23, 2024 | nbcbayarea.com | Rob Mayeda

Shortly after severe thunderstorms and brief heavy rain, lightning-sparked fires popped up and created what is now the Mill Fire and Smith Fire, part of the Gold Complex of fires burning in Plumas County. While the storms brought brief bursts of heavy rain, lightning strikes, including some outside of the rain column, became the starting point for the Mill Fire into Monday afternoon. This clip via Alert California shows two fires quickly spreading in windy and dry conditions.

Jun 27, 2024 | nbcbayarea.com | Rob Mayeda

Space X’s Falcon Heavy lifted off 10 minutes later than scheduled on Tuesday due to weather concerns around the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida related to thunderstorm activity nearby. At 5:26 pm EDT, GOES-U left Launch Pad 39-A atop Falcon Heavy, with the 27 Merlin engines providing more than 5 million pounds of thrust.

Jun 21, 2024 | nbcbayarea.com | Rob Mayeda

With wildfires raging across the Bay Area, PG&E hopes artificial intelligence will give officials a way of staying ahead of them and the risk they pose to the power grid. By adding AI to PG&E's more than 1,500 weather stations and investment in wildlife cameras the company said they can better understand fire and outage risks.

Jan 7, 2024 | nbcbayarea.com | Rob Mayeda

People across the Bay Area will have a cold start on Monday with the National Weather Service issuing frost advisories and freeze warnings for inland areas, the Central Coast, and the Santa Cruz Mountains. A frost advisory means the NWS expected minimum temperatures of 32 to 35 degrees, while a freeze warning means minimum temperatures below 32 degrees are expected.