Weather here is unusual. This area has one of the least variations in temperature between the summer and winter in the United States. The average temperature (day and night) in winter is 50 degrees fahrenheit, only five degrees colder than the summer average of 55 degrees.We have a long and intense rainy season in winter but people are surprised that our summer is foggy and cold as well. Spring has clear weather with strong winds from the northwest. Our fall is an Indian Summer, with hot, sunny days that warm up Tomales Bay to swimmable temperatures. The climate is tempered by the ocean and the North Pacific High, a mass of cool air 1000 miles off the California coast that deflects rain storms away in the summer. The Pacific High decreases in magnitude towards the end of summer. The rains start in earnest in November. Winter rains and wind can hit West Marin with ferocity while the summer fog occasionally settles in for weeks. More often the fog burns off mid-morning and returns in the late afternoon. The cycle produces mysterious landscapes with fingers of fog drifting through canyons. Sometimes at sunset, fog will cover the coastal mountains, a band of sky will be crimson and above, high clouds will glow yellow and orange.

When fog blows by trees, particularly bishop pines, water will condense on the needles and drip to the ground, thus providing water for the forest. Putting a container under a “dripper” produced half an inch a day of fresh water!

One year the shores of Tomales Bay froze for a week. Occasionally snow falls on Inverness Ridge and local mountain tops, but it generally melts within a few hours. The lower portion of Tomales Bay regularly floods over the levee, blocking roads and access to emergency services. The community is renowned for pulling together in time of crisis. We prepare for winter with candles, a closet of Goretex rain jackets and stockpiles of food. The power often goes out for up to three days after a big storm when trees, blown over by winter winds, fall on the power lines. Winds at the lighthouse are clocked at hurricane force. Since the Mt. Vision fire there is no wind break from the trees, which died. We wonder if our windows will hold as they flex, assaulted by water driven at fire-nozzle intensity by the wind. We love the views but fear the winter storms.