Chapter Meeting
Monday, November 11, 2024 7:30 pm
How the California Current Dominates Marin County Weather
Speaker: Darren Peck, Meteorologist, KPIX-TV (CBS in San Francisco, CA)
For seven months of the year, weather in Marin County is dominated by the marine layer, but how well do we really understand it? For one thing, the term itself may not mean what many people think it does. I will take a
deeper dive into what we mean when we say marine layer, why Marin County is one of few places on the globe fortunate enough to experience it, and how it is responsible for creating such extreme differences in weather from one location to another.
If time permits, we will also discuss the remaining five months of the year, when the influence of the marine layer fades and coastal California enters fire season followed by winters which often swing wildly through
boom or bust cycles. Before joining KPIX 5, Darren forecast weather at KING 5 in Seattle. He spent seven years prior to that as weekday meteorologist in Sacramento forecasting for FOX40 News. His more than 20 years in the business also includes stops at KVVU FOX 5 in Las Vegas, Orange County NewsChannel and his very first job at KNAZ-TV
in Flagstaff, Arizona.
In addition to being honored with two Emmy awards for on-air performance, Darren is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) by the American Meteorologist Society (AMS). Among television meteorologists, the CBM designation is sought as a mark of professional distinction and recognition.
"Having grown up in LA, Northern California stole my heart early. After my first visit to Yosemite when I was 19, I was determined to never leave and spent the next two summers living and working in the park," he says.
"Those early summers changed the course of my life. I was so inspired to better understand the beauty of the natural world that I returned home to California State University, Northridge to earn my degree in Physical Geography with a focus in Climatology and Geomorphology."
Simply put, geomorphology is the study of why Earth's landscapes look the way they do. It was studying the atmosphere's role in shaping our world that would end up inspiring him the most, becoming a life pursuit.
"Even if I didn't have this job," he says, "I'd still study the weather in the morning and talk to anybody who'd listen to me about it for the rest of the day."
Zoom Registration Link: https://cnps-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtfu-
