A new study recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters suggests that summer clouds over Southern California have dwindled as both increasing temperatures and heat-radiated from urban sprawl have driven clouds away.
“Cloud cover is plummeting in southern coastal California,” Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University and lead author of the research, said in a statement.
"Clouds that used to burn off by noon or 1 o’clock are now gone by 10 [a.m.] or 11 [a.m.], if they form at all," Williams said.
The clouds in question are called stratus clouds, which hover around 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground, and are often referred to as the marine layer by coastal dwellers. During summer, the researchers found that this type of cloud cover has decreased by between 25 to 50 percent over the last five decades.
There aren't many places that keep records of old cloud cover, but researchers were able to gather a rich collection of clouds documented in both big and small Southern California airports dating back to the 1970s.
But at the end of the day, what do these disappearing clouds mean for the region?
By comparing their trove of cloud cover data to a decades-long history of moisture in Southern California's vegetation, the study's authors found a link between less cloud cover and drier ground, which creates an environment ripe for fire danger. Without cloud cover, the ground can dry out more fully under the baking sun.
That said, however, the disappearing clouds don't seem to be driving meaningful changes in the region's fire activity today.
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