Late September signals the beginning of Santa Ana winds, which may continue intermittently through the winter. Early Santa Anas are often responsible for coastal San Diego's hottest and driest days of the year. Records show that 62 percent of the …

Fall Officially Begins at 8:09pm local time on Wednesday, September 22 -- a good excuse to throw an impromptu evening party to celebrate the occasion. At equinox, the sun shines directly down somewhere on Earth's equator. At 8:09pm San Diego …

Jupiter, the brilliant, star-like object glowing like a beacon in the eastern sky after nightfall, comes to "opposition" (180° away from the sun) on Monday, September 20. Rising at sunset and setting at sunrise, the giant planet is as close …

The Time of Sunset changes most rapidly this time of the year. This is mainly because the sun is swinging rapidly south along the ecliptic (its apparent path through the background stars). From the latitude of San Diego, the sun …

The Waxing Crescent Moon returns to the evening sky Thursday, September 9, its fingernail-shaped thin crescent barely visible above the western horizon some ½ hour after sunset. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the fatter and brighter crescent moon lies close …

The month's lowest tide (a not-very-low minus 0.8 foot) will occur on the morning of September 7th at 2:54am. During September the tidal range is typically minimized. Starting in mid-October, extreme negative tides will begin to occur during the afternoon …

The Chaparral, the tangled assortment of low-growing, drought-resistant, native shrubs covering most of San Diego County's lower mountain slopes, has managed to remain fairly attractive this summer. Unlike many of the scrubby natives near the coast, chaparral plants tend to …