# data[].attributes.body
Research how fires have increased in recent years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This map shows the perimeters of more than 20,000 wildfires that have been recorded in California from 1878 to 2020 using data from Cal Fire, the National Parks Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This map and data is not intended to be used for legal purposes or statistical analysis.

History of wildfires

These wildfires are categorized by the decade or time period in which they started. 77 fires that did not include a year in the data have been left out. Fires that started between 1878 and 1969 are shown separately here due to more inconsistencies in data for earlier fires. 2020 is also shown separately because there has been only one recorded fire year so far in the 2020s decade in this dataset.

Seasons

These fires are also categorized by the meteorological season in which they started, which are as follows: Winter (December - February), Spring (March - May), Summer (June - August) and Fall (September - November).

Fire causes

Also displayed here are the reported cause and acres of each fire shown. Cal Fire enters the cause of each year's fires when this data is captured annually and does not update them if investigations are later completed or determinations are changed. This means that the causes shown for some fires may be out of date.

Missing fires

Some fires may be missing because historical records were lost or damaged, were too small for the minimum cutoffs, had inadequate documentation or have not yet been incorporated into the database. Cal Fire's data includes timber fires that burned more than 10 acres, brush fires that burned more than 50 acres and grass fires that burned more than 300 acres, so some smaller fires may not be shown here. Ten acres is the federal minimum for reporting.

Cal Fire says that this dataset - which runs from 1878 to 2020 as of April 2021 and is updated annually - is one of the most complete datasets of California's fires through history. However, the data is by nature incomplete and duplicates may exist. As of September 2020, Cal Fire had found that the dataset is missing 483 notable fires and is looking to find and add these. Fires may be missing altogether or have missing or incorrect attribute data.

Fire names

CapRadio changed the names of three fires on this map that included a racial slur in accordance with Associated Press guidelines and our own standards.

Credits

This map was created by Liz Anderson, Emily Zentner, Veronika Nagy, Chris Hagan, Renee Thompson, Katy Kidwell and Helga Salinas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This map shows the perimeters of more than 20,000 wildfires that have been recorded in California from 1878 to 2020 using data from Cal Fire, the National Parks Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

# data[].attributes.body
Research the history of California's drought in this area.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View current drought conditions for Vista, California, and explore up-to-date precipitation, temperature, and streamflow data within San diego County.

# data[].attributes.body
Research information on increased temperatures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In Vista, the summers are warm, arid, and clear and the winters are long, cool, and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 46°F to 79°F and is rarely below 39°F or above 85°F.

Based on the tourism score, the best time of year to visit Vista for warm-weather activities is from early June to early October.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the entire year of hourly average temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day of the year, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Average Hourly Temperature in Vista

Rabat, Morocco (5,970 miles away); Cape Town, South Africa (9,915 miles); and Kruisfontein, South Africa (10,272 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Vista ( view comparison).

In Vista, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year in Vista begins around April 26 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around November 3.

The clearest month of the year in Vista is September, during which on average the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 89% of the time.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 3 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around April 26.

The cloudiest month of the year in Vista is February, during which on average the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 41% of the time.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. The chance of wet days in Vista varies throughout the year.

Among wet days, we distinguish between those that experience rain alone, snow alone, or a mixture of the two. The month with the most days of rain alone in Vista is February, with an average of 5.5 days. Based on this categorization, the most common form of precipitation throughout the year is rain alone, with a peak probability of 21% on February 21.

To show variation within the months and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day of the year. Vista experiences significant seasonal variation in monthly rainfall.

The rainless period of the year lasts for 5.8 months, from April 25 to October 19. The month with the least rain in Vista is June, with an average rainfall of 0.1 inches.

The length of the day in Vista varies significantly over the course of the year. In 2023, the shortest day is December 21, with 9 hours, 57 minutes of daylight; the longest day is June 21, with 14 hours, 21 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise is at 5:39 AM on June 12, and the latest sunrise is 1 hour, 31 minutes later at 7:09 AM on November 4. The earliest sunset is at 4:41 PM on December 4, and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 21 minutes later at 8:02 PM on June 29.

Daylight saving time (DST) is observed in Vista during 2023, starting in the spring on March 12, lasting 7.8 months, and ending in the fall on November 5.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for 2023. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

Vista experiences some seasonal variation in the perceived humidity.

The muggier period of the year lasts for 3.1 months, from July 1 to October 5, during which time the comfort level is muggy, oppressive, or miserable at least 3% of the time. The month with the most muggy days in Vista is August, with 3.6 days that are muggy or worse.

The least muggy day of the year is March 12, when muggy conditions are essentially unheard of.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Vista experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The predominant average hourly wind direction in Vista varies throughout the year.

The wind is most often from the west for 10 months, from January 28 to November 29, with a peak percentage of 80% on June 2. The wind is most often from the east for 2.0 months, from November 29 to January 28, with a peak percentage of 40% on January 1.

Vista is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average water temperature experiences some seasonal variation over the course of the year.

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Vista throughout the year, we compute two travel scores.

The tourism score favors clear, rainless days with perceived temperatures between 65°F and 80°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Vista for general outdoor tourist activities is from early June to early October, with a peak score in the first week of August.

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with perceived temperatures between 75°F and 90°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Vista for hot-weather activities is from mid July to early September, with a peak score in the third week of August.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Vista Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (California, United States) - Weather Spark

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In Vista, the summers are warm, arid, and clear and the winters are long, cool, and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 46°F to 79°F and is rarely below 39°F or above 85°F.

# data[].attributes.body
Write a small story of my experience with the increase in temperatures.

# data[].attributes.body
Write a small story about the fire that forced me to evacuate, and another story of how the sky was red with smoke from fire.

# data[].attributes.body
Research average rainfall between Vista and Santa Cruz, and show the more dense amount of trees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While towering redwood trees and their sequoia cousins may make up the most famous forests in California, the entire state has vast swaths of arboreal growth. There are the California sycamores, the evergreen live oaks, quaking aspens and more. In a new map from EarthDefine, a sensor data company, all those trees are included, at a 1-meter scale resolution.

Here is an overview image:

​

The map was built from aerial imagery from the National Agriculture Imagery Program , collected between May and October 2014 and run through EarthDefine's data analysis and processing software. They are able to distinguish between trees, bare land, water, shrubs and more grassy areas as well as identifying impervious surfaces where rainfall runs off, including urban development. According to the company's press release, the mapping effort is 30 times more detailed that current state-level datasets for California.

With that rich dataset, EarthDefine can show extremely detailed findings - such as this map of Sacramento's urban fores t, which covers 16.5 percent of the city's area.

Gathering such detailed images and data about land cover is important for understanding how ecosystems function, where resources might be located and how that distribution changes over time. Already, the ongoing drought is killing trees in California's national forests. In May, Veronica Rocha and Hailey Branson-Potts reported for The Los Angeles Times that at least 12 million acres in the state have already succumbed to drought. Maps and surveys are the only way that researchers can understand the scope of the problem.

This map in a snapshot in time of California's trees that can be compared to the past and to the future.

​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Here's A Map of All the Trees in California

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While towering redwood trees and their sequoia cousins may make up the most famous forests in California, the entire state has vast swaths of arboreal growth. There are the California sycamores, the evergreen live oaks, quaking aspens and more. In a new map from EarthDefine, a sensor data company, all those trees are included, at a 1-meter scale resolution.

# data[].attributes.body
The air quality is much better in Santa Cruz

# data[].attributes.body
Research nearby closed power plant and history of pollution in the area.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Southern California Edison has announced it will retire the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which has been offline since a small radiation leak in January 2012 led to the discovery of excessive wear on hundreds of steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water.

Here's your manual to how it all began and the latest developments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
KPBS Special Coverage: Trouble At San Onofre

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Southern California Edison has announced it will retire the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which has been offline since a small radiation leak in January 2012 led to the discovery of excessive wear on hundreds of steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water.Here's your manual to how it all began and the latest developments.

# data[].attributes.body
Small story about how the beaches close after rain due to pollution. Also talk about trash