LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Over the past month, members of the Konocti Fire Safe Council, or KFSC, have launched community outreach efforts by going door to door to educate residents along Soda Bay Road and Point Lakeview Road on evacuation preparedness in the event of wildfire.
“Residents have been very receptive to learn more on how to be ready in the event of wildfire,” said KFSC Community Education and Outreach Committee Chair Cathy Sylar.
KFSC volunteers have visited an estimated 150 residents in the Westwind Mobile Home Park, Walnut Cove Mobile Home Park, and surrounding neighborhoods.
Additionally, KFSC board members were present at the Ely Stage Stop’s Fiddler Jam on Nov. 6 to engage community members and distribute educational materials.
Educational materials handed out to Konocti area residents included Zonehaven magnets, sign up information for wildfire notifications from both Lake County Alerts and Watch Duty, and how to prepare emergency go bags.
Konocti Fire Safe Council considers getting this information out especially critical to residents along the Soda Bay corridor, as they share a single road in and out should an evacuation occur.
The Konocti Fire Safe Council was recently formed to unite residents in the Konocti area and address the challenges of living in a location that is highly vulnerable to wildfire. This includes fire risk reduction and hazardous vegetation mitigation, defensible space, home hardening and evacuation preparedness.
The geographic coverage of the Konocti Fire Safe Council encompasses seven designated Zonehaven evacuation zones that include Gaddy Lane, along Soda Road to the intersection of Kit’s Corner & Hwy 29, Point Lakeview Road and State Highway 281.
The zones are KEL-E103, KEL-E109, KEL-E117, KEL-E120, KEL-E122, KEL-E134, KEL-E146 and KEL-E152.
The KFSC represents such communities as Soda Bay, Kelseyville Riviera, Riviera Estates, Lakeview Estates, Konocti Shores, Riviera West, Buckingham, Riviera Heights and numerous mobile home parks, private homes, and businesses along the Soda Bay Road corridor.
If you would like the KFSC Outreach Committee to visit your neighborhood or would like to request additional information about the Konocti Fire Safe Council, please contact Cindy Jassar at 707-279-2245 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — Downtown Kelseyville was filled with Christmas cheer and lights on Friday evening for the annual “Christmas in the Country” celebration.
The event, organized by the Kelseyville Business Association, had the feel of pre-pandemic days, with more families filling up the town’s business district, where there were activities at shops beginning in the early afternoon.
Starting with a merchants open house in the early evening, visitors were able to find a variety of foods, visit businesses and catch up with friends.
The theme was “Christmas in Toyland,” and that was especially visible in the Parade of Lights, which lasted about 40 minutes as it wound its way through town.
The floats included Santa Claus, several Grinches, community groups and businesses, singers and cartoon characters. Interspersed were classic cars and trucks, horses, a Kelseyville Unified School District bus outfitted with a train horn, marching bands and dancing Christmas trees.
Bringing up the rear of the parade once again was the bubble machine, followed by excited children.
After the parade, children were able to visit with Santa Claus at the recently opened Lady Luck Garage.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Rotary Club of Clearlake Community Christmas Dinner is returning this year.
The group will host the annual dinner and Christmas celebration on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Burns Valley School, 3620 Pine St.
This is the 30th year Rotary has hosted the event.
The club reported that this is its most satisfying and enjoyable community event, and has always been heartwarming and fun, with Santa on hand and a delicious meal served. Rotarians said they are excited to return to in-person dining this year.
Rotary offered its thanks to Foods, Etc. for its contributions in support of this event. They will also have a special treat this year, 600 portions, donated by La Chilanguita Mexican Restaurant in Clearlake.
Locally the Meals on Wheels program delivers meals to about 200 registered recipients. All food and packaging supplies for recipients will be provided to the Meals on Wheels program as part of this celebration event. This extra warm meal of ham and all the fixings, along with pumpkin pie, is a special holiday treat.
Santa Claus and his elves will visit with about 600 children, taking the time to ask each child what their special Christmas wish is. Children also will receive a souvenir photo with Santa and a toy to take home with them.
The Warm for The Winter event featuring All Things Warm will also be back this year and run simultaneously with the celebration event.
Worldwide Healing Hands volunteers will be on hand with giveaways and will provide free health screenings.
The Lake County Public Health Department also will be on hand to provide flu shots while supplies last.
Lake County Behavioral Health will have prevention teams (mental health and substance abuse services) on site to provide resources and freebies.
“The Rotary Club of Clearlake loves and appreciates the community we serve. We are extremely excited and happy we are able to bring this event to you, our community, in-person again,” the group said.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has a whole new lineup of adoptable dogs waiting for homes.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of border collie, Catahoula leopard puppy, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd, husky, Labrador retriever, pit bull, shepherd and wirehaired terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
‘Chico’
“Chico” is a 5-year-old male bull terrier with a short white coat and black markings.
He is in kennel No. 6, ID No. LCAC-A-4314.
Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-4310.
Male Labrador retriever
This 1.5 year old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4273.
Female husky
This 2-year-old female husky has a short brown coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-4269.
Male Catahoula leopard puppy
This 2-month-old male Catahoula leopard puppy has a red, tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 12a, ID No. LCAC-A-4263.
Female Catahoula leopard puppy
This 2-month-old female Catahoula leopard puppy has a red, tan and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 12c, ID No. LCAC-A-4261.
Female Labrador retriever
This 3-month-old female Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4162.
Male Labrador retriever
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-4112.
Male Doberman pinscher
This 1-year-old male Doberman pinscher has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-4313.
Female border collie mix
This 4-year-old female border collie mix has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-4285.
Female pit bull puppy
This 2-month-old female pit bull puppy has a short white and red coat.
She is in kennel No. 23c, ID No. LCAC-A-4120.
‘Faith’
“Faith” is a 10-year-old female wirehaired terrier with a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-4280.
Female husky
This 2-year-old female husky has a short tricolor coat and one blue and one brown eye.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-4257.
Female German shepherd
This 10-month-old female German Shepherd has a short light-colored coat.
She is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-4297.
Female Doberman pinscher
This 1-year-old female Doberman pinscher has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-4279.
Male shepherd
This 3-year-old male shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-4312.
Female pit bull
This 1-year-old female pit bull has a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-4283.
Male shepherd mix
This 2-year-old male shepherd has a red and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-4337.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Clear Lake High School’s football team will be honored on Saturday as it prepares to head out of town for the state playoffs.
The Lakeport Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeport Fire Protection District will provide a code three escort — meaning they will use lights and sirens — to lead the team through the downtown at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.
The route will begin on Main Street traveling south (coming from the high school).
Community members are invited to line Main Street in downtown and show the team support as it heads to the playoffs.
Clear Lake High School’s Cardinals varsity football team is traveling to Orland for the playoff game in the 2022 CIF State Football Championship Bowl Games Division 5-A.
The game between the Clear Lake Cardinals and the Orland Trojans will take place beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The winner will advance to the state championships Dec. 10.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council on Thursday evening directed staff to continue to review and approve rebuilding projects within the Sulphur fire area that don’t adhere to current zoning requirements as long as they meet certain conditions.
City Manager Alan Flora asked the council for the discussion and direction to allow the Community Development director to review and approve “legal nonconforming status” projects and permits in the fire area if they don’t impact the community’s health and welfare.
The October 2017 Sulphur fire burned 2,207 acres in Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks, destroying 162 structures.
The fire was determined to have resulted from a broken power pole belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric in the area of Pomo and Sulphur Bank roads in Clearlake Oaks.
Flora said rebuilding has been slow for many reasons, including underinsured property owners, the high cost of construction and delays in settlement fund payments by PG&E to fire victims.
Initially, he said the city offered a 15-month window after the fire for property owners to have newer zoning requirements waived if what they were rebuilding was consistent with the structures that had been there before.
During that 15-month window, only about 15 to 20 homes were rebuilt. Flora said he did not have more recent numbers on the rebuild, but said there have been quite a few more done over the last few years.
Flora said many of the properties in the fire area don’t meet current zoning requirements, with very small lots that make it hard to build to modern standards.
He said the city’s policy has mostly been to allow the homes lost to the fire to be rebuilt close to how they originally were constructed.
His written report to the council explained, “The area was developed before modern zoning and the properties are considered legal nonconforming. The zoning ordinance allows a legal nonconforming use to be replaced within six months of a disasters such as the Sulphur Fire, but if a permit is granted after six months, it must meet current regulations. In response to this the City allowed up to nine months, and granted a one-time six month extension to legal nonconforming status, for a total of 15 months.”
His report also explained that some insurance companies have been slow to pay, with some property owners recently receiving significant funds from the PG&E settlement.
As a result, the city is getting additional interest from property owners about rebuilding consistent with what initially was on the property, Flora reported.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton said she had spoken to someone earlier in the day who wanted to rebuild but was having trouble finding a contractor, which has been another issue.
Mayor Dirk Slooten said he’d spoken to some fire survivors who hadn’t yet received any funds from PG&E. He said he favored extending the consideration on a case-by-case basis.
During the discussion, Flora explained that some property owners have tried to live in RVs on properties for an extended period of time. If a property owner has an active building permit, they can get a temporary permit to live in an RV while constructing a house, but there is a time limit on it. City rules would not allow people to live in RVs on properties on a long-term basis.
Regarding the nonconforming uses, Flora said, “I would like to continue to see it interpreted pretty narrowly,” and on a case-by-case basis.
In response to questions from Lake County News during the meeting, Flora said he did not have detailed information on how many property owners were eligible for the PG&E funds.
He also did not have a number for how many rebuild projects are in the pipeline or how many of the properties are considered nonconforming.
Flora said there will be a lot of properties where the homes won’t be rebuilt, noting that 25 foot by 100 foot residential lots “never made sense.”
The legal nonconforming allowance going forward will probably benefit about a dozen people, he said. “I don’t expect it to be 50 or 100 people to be honest with you.”
He suggested the city could review the policy again after a year.
The council agreed to continue to allow staff to review and approve such rebuild projects on a case-by-case basis for another 12 months, and gave that direction to Flora.
In other action on Thursday, the council heard a presentation from the Public Works Department and its new director, Adeline Brown; honored city volunteers; held a public hearing to confirm assessments totaling $29,383.90 for city funded abatements for properties at 14095 Villa Way, 14101 Villa Way and 14775 Highlands Way; and approved a resolution to extend the term of the existing commercial cannabis development agreements for seven years while temporarily reducing the production fee.
A proclamation to honor the late Judge Richard Freeborn was rescheduled for January, and a discussion of a potential annexation of 302 acres at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road was put on hold while the property owners, who proposed the action, conduct more work on the proposal.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Veronica Frans, Michigan State University and Jianguo "Jack" Liu, Michigan State University
A biodiversity crisis is reducing the variety of life on Earth. Under pressure from land and water pollution, development, overhunting, poaching, climate change and species invasions, approximately 1 million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction.
Since 30x30 focuses on protecting space for wild nature, many people assume it means setting swaths of land or ocean aside and keeping people out of them. But that’s not always true.
Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources
Many countries’ 30x30 conservation pledges are likely to include areas such as forests and grasslands that are open for recreation, logging, livestock grazing and other uses.
Few intact ecosystems remain
Scientists agree that protected areas need to include a large variety of species, ecosystems and habitats that the 30x30 initiative aims to conserve. There are many ways to choose and prioritize new areas for protection. Criteria can include the species, habitats and ecosystems that an area contains; its connections to other protected areas; how large and intact an area is; and the benefits it provides to people who live in, near and far from it.
Over 58% of our planet’s land and 41% of its oceans are already under moderate to intense human pressure. This means that most newly protected areas will effectively be works in progress, with restoration projects to help species recover, improve habitat quality and make ecosystems healthier.
Another 40% of land and 10% of oceans have experienced relatively low impacts from human activities. Terrestrial ecosystems with the lowest human footprints include tundra, boreal forests and deserts. At the other extreme, tropical, subtropical and temperate forests are at the highest risk.
It isn’t always possible to protect large areas. Some scientists argue that small areas can still successfully protect species, but others disagree. In our view, what ultimately matters is how multiple protected areas are connected and how close they are to each other.
Connections can develop naturally, like the flyways that migrating birds use to travel between continents. Or they can be structures built by humans, such as wildlife bridges over highways. Connecting protected areas is important because it promotes genetic diversity and makes it possible for species to move in response to climate change and other threats.
The metacoupling approach
Given all these factors, selecting protected areas can get complicated. Based on our research, we think that a holistic approach can make 30x30 feasible and effective. It has three parts.
First, protected areas should meet both conservation needs and human needs. Second, in creating newly protected areas, researchers and managers should consider how they will interact with adjacent areas. Third, researchers and officials should assess how newly protected areas will interact with areas far away – including in other countries.
This approach is guided by the metacoupling framework, which is an integrated way to study and manage human-nature interactions within and between different places. It recognizes that human and natural systems in a given place can be affected for better or worse by people, policies and markets both nearby and far away.
At Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China, one of us, Jack Liu, has worked with Chinese collaborators to understand and manage human-nature interactions in ways that support the recovery of a global wildlife icon – giant pandas. Wolong, which is now part of China’s Giant Panda National Park, was one of the first and largest panda reserves in China, and also houses numerous other rare animals and plants. It is also home to almost 6,000 people.
Forest is an important part of panda habitat, but over time the human population in Wolong grew and needed more resources, such as wood for cooking and heating or to make goods for visiting tourists. In a 2001 study, our team showed that panda habitat in Wolong declined faster after the reserve was established in 1975 than it had before that time. Increasing demand for wood was degrading and fragmenting the forest and negatively affected panda population numbers.
To reverse this trend, our team worked with the Chinese government to provide more financial support to the local community in the early 2000s. This increased household incomes and reduced the need to harvest wood.
Taking a broad geographic view of the pandas’ situation helped to produce a positive outcome. Recognizing that panda habitat was being affected not just by human-nature interactions inside Wolong but also by interactions between Wolong and adjacent and distant places showed that conservation subsidies from the faraway central government in Beijing could improve protection for Wolong forests.
In 2016 the International Union for Conservation of Nature downlisted and reclassified giant pandas from endangered to vulnerable. Today there are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas in the wild, thanks partly to government subsidies that helped strike a balance between humans’ needs and those of pandas.
All protected areas are influenced by human actions both nearby and far away. We believe that creating and managing protected areas using a holistic metacoupling approach will make it easier to achieve the 30x30 goal and make sound decisions that sustain nature and human well-being around the world.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as colorful lights adorn homes, and decorations and seasonal favorites are on display in stores around the country, but many may be wondering whether Mother Nature will also create a wintry scene in time for the holiday.
AccuWeather's team of long-range forecasters, led by Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, has been closely examining key weather patterns that could favor snow in time for the holidays across the United States.
One of the most influential weather patterns includes La Niña, which will be in play for the third winter in a row, according to Pastelok.
This pattern, which originates with cooler-than-normal waters in the central and eastern Pacific around the equator, often drives an active storm track across the northern tier of the U.S. and leaves southern sections of the country drier than normal.
Despite it being the third year in a row with La Niña, Pastelok says that his holiday season will not shape up exactly like the past two years.
The pattern could hinder chances for a "white Christmas," which is defined by having at least an inch of snow on the ground on Dec. 25.
Read on to find out what you may wake up to see this year!
Only a lucky few to see snow on Christmas in the Northeast
In the Northeast, winter got a head start after a historic lake-effect snow event dumped more than 6 feet of snow across portions of western and northern New York in mid-November.
A vigorous band of lake-effect snow unloaded more than 80 inches across a narrow area just south of Buffalo. In Hamburg, New York, located 14 miles south of downtown Buffalo, a colossal 81.2 inches of accumulation was recorded. Orchard Park, located 11 miles southeast of Buffalo, measured 80 inches of snow.
It will take an extended amount of time for the mountains of snow left behind by that storm to melt. The mild temperatures and weather conditions expected during the second half of December across the Northeast will likely not escalate the process.
Even though favorable conditions will develop to allow snow and intense cold weather to spread across the Northeast during the first half of December, the later part of the month will feature moderating temperatures and lower chances for a snowstorm. According to Pastelok, as the holiday nears, the forecast weather pattern will support more rain and perhaps ice compared to snow.
New England, which is forecast to be the only area east of the Rocky Mountains where snowfall could end up being above average for the winter, will get off to a slow start. The chances for a white Christmas will remain lower than normal for most of New England. Once the calendar flips to 2023, snowfall totals will likely be boosted by a few nor'easters, according to AccuWeather's winter forecast.
Although the chances remain relatively lower than average from coastal Maine to Virginia, snow lovers in the Northeast can find joy in that it won't be a total bust in terms of snow chances across the region this year. Near-normal chances are still expected across far northern New England and upstate, central and western New York. Cities such as Burlington, Vermont, Albany and Syracuse, New York, and Cleveland, could be in luck this holiday season.
While the spine of the Appalachian Mountains looks to have an above-normal chance of having snow on the ground in time for Christmas, Pastelok warns that some brief periods of warmer weather before the holiday could reduce the amount of snow across the central Appalachians.
Northern Plains and Upper Midwest a ‘big area to watch’
Across the central Plains and Tennessee Valley, chances for a white Christmas are typically less than 25%, based on historical data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These areas might see snow leading up to this holiday season, but Patselok says the million-dollar question is 'how long will it stick around?'
"The cold will [stick around] until about the 15th, 20th of the month," Patselok said. "So there is an opportunity that parts of the Tennessee Valley could have a higher chance of seeing a white Christmas [compared to normal]."
Chicago, a city known for its extreme cold and winter weather, has a near-normal chance this year. The Windy City measured its first snow on Oct. 17, which is nearly a month earlier than average and more than two months earlier compared to last year. On average, Chicago records its first snowfall around Nov. 18, but last year, the first snowfall didn't occur until Dec. 28, which is the city's latest first snowfall ever.
“The big area to watch is the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest,” Pastelok said, noting that as Christmas week approaches, the weather may go through another transition that will allow the storm track to set up across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest, right around Christmas Day.
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota typically have more than a 75% chance of a white Christmas, according to historical data compiled by the National Weather Service (NWS). And, according to Pastelok, snow chances on Christmas will likely be higher than normal.
Nebraska, which typically doesn't measure a lot of snow around Christmastime, is another state across the Plains that Patselok is keeping an eye on this year.
"That area does have a chance this year with a late-month storm system coming in," Pastelok said.
Any snow that falls during December across the northern Plains will likely stick for the holidays as cold weather is expected. For instance, Billings, Montana, is expected to have a higher-than-average chance of a white Christmas this year.
Across Iowa and southern Nebraska, the cold weather and precipitation likely won't link up at the same time, according to Pastelok. This means residents will have to keep wishing for a white Christmas as both locations are expected to have a lower-than-normal chance this year.
Replenishing snow to fall across the Northwest and Rockies just in time for the holidays
Across the Northwest and Rockies, a replenishing period of snow is expected during the middle of the month. Snow will stick around the typical spots in the higher elevations, with over a 90% chance of a white Christmas expected. But, in cities such as Salt Lake City and Denver, the chances are near to slightly above normal.
A cold weather pattern is expected in December and January across western Canada and the Northwest, which will send temperatures plummeting, especially across lower-elevation areas. This will allow a little more snow to fall in major Northwest cities, such as Seattle and Portland, Oregon. If the cold lingers, there is a chance this year that some snow may still be on the ground close to Christmas in the lower elevations as well.
Seattle measured its first snow more than a month early when snow 0.9 of an inch fell on Nov. 29. Typically the city doesn't measure its first snow until Dec. 31. The rounds of cold weather could potentially paint the Emerald City white just in time for the holiday.
The Seattle area is one part of the country that forecasters are monitoring for a higher percentage of this year, Pastelok said.
While Seattle and Portland will have a near-normal to higher-than-normal chance for a white Christmas, the ocean water will produce milder conditions that will support rain instead of snow along the immediate West Coast.
As of Nov. 30, just over 25% of the U.S. was covered by snow, with an average depth of 1.3 inches, according to data from NOAA.
Most of the snowfall was located in the Rockies and the interior Northwest, but the snow also stretched out to the Upper Midwest and even some isolated parts of the Northeast, reflective of what the states might have come Christmas.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The city of Clearlake has a fun lineup of events to celebrate Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 3, from breakfast with Santa to the annual holiday parade.
The day will start out with “Breakfast with Santa,” from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Clearlake Community Senior Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.
Come and have breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus. This event will have a free crafting table available and a photo station set up for those who want their pictures taken with Santa. Children also can write a letter to Santa before they leave.
The cost is $10 for children under age 12 and $13 for adults. Children under age 2 may attend for free.
Then, on Saturday evening, the city’s Christmas parade takes place.
Line up starts at 5 p.m., with the parade beginning at 6 p.m. at 14655 Ballpark Avenue. The parade will then make its way down Lakeshore Drive.
For more information, visit the city of Clearlake’s web page and its calendar.
BERKELEY, Calif. — The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its infrared cameras on Saturn’s moon Titan, giving astronomers another eye on the largest and one of the most unusual moons in the solar system.
The only satellite with a dense atmosphere, it’s also the only world besides Earth that has standing bodies of liquid on its surface, including rivers, lakes and seas — though the liquid is thought to be methane, ethane and other hydrocarbons that are toxic to humans.
The new observations, combined with those from Earth-bound telescopes, will help astronomers understand the weather patterns on Titan in advance of a NASA mission to the moon, called Dragonfly, that is scheduled for launch in 2027.
A multirotor lander, Dragonfly will assess the habitability of Titan's unique environment, investigate the moon’s unusual chemical stew, and search for signatures of water-based or hydrocarbon-based life.
Astronomers have observed Titan for decades, since before the Voyager encounter in 1980. Over approximately the past 25 years, they focused powerful ground-based and orbital telescopes on the satellite, complementing observations by NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn, which observed Titan between 2004 and 2017.
University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Imke de Pater led many Titan observations using high-resolution adaptive optics on the Keck Telescopes in Hawai’i.
After the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, imaged Titan on Nov. 4, the telescope’s Titan team saw what looked like two clouds in the atmosphere.
Titan team lead Conor Nixon quickly emailed de Pater and Katherine de Kleer — a UC Berkeley Ph.D. who is now an assistant professor of planetary science and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology — to help confirm the clouds and track their movement with the Keck Telescope.
A series of Keck images taken about 30 and 54 hours later showed similar clouds — likely the same ones — but slightly displaced because of the moon’s rotation relative to Earth.
“We were concerned that the clouds would be gone when we looked at Titan one and two days later with Keck, but to our delight there were clouds at the same positions, looking like they might have changed in shape,” said de Pater, a UC Berkeley Professor of the Graduate School.
The power of JWST
Though the quality of the JWST and Keck images may look about the same to the untrained eye, de Pater noted that JWST has instruments that can measure aspects of Titan’s atmosphere that Keck cannot, complementing one another. In particular, JWST’s infrared spectroscopic capability allows it to pinpoint the altitudes of clouds and hazes with much better accuracy.
“By using spectrometers on JWST together with the optical image quality with Keck, we get a really complete picture of Titan,” she said, such as the heights of clouds, the atmosphere’s optical thickness, and the elevation of haze in the atmosphere.
In particular, at wavelengths where Earth’s atmosphere is opaque — that is, Titan cannot be seen from any Earth-based telescope — JWST can observe and provide information on the lower atmosphere and surface.
In early September, and again earlier this week, de Pater and de Kleer participated in an international observing campaign to catch the occultation by Titan of a distant star.
Organized by Eliot Young, a senior program manager at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the occultation offered an opportunity to probe Titan’s atmospheric structure in more detail using the Keck Telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile.
These observations are coordinated with occultations observed from other large telescopes and Doppler wind retrievals on Titan from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, a radio telescope in Chile.
In conjunction with recent wind modeling results, these observations contribute to a broader understanding of atmospheres on Earth, on planets around other stars, and on our neighboring planets and moons in the solar system.
“This is some of the most exciting data we have seen of Titan since the end of the Cassini-Huygens mission in 2017, and some of the best we will get before NASA’s Dragonfly arrives in 2032,” said Zibi Turtle of Johns Hopkins University, who is Dragonfly’s principal investigator. “The analysis should really help us to learn a lot about Titan’s atmosphere and meteorology.”
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
What's up for December? Your evening planet highlights, including the disappearance of Mars, and the constellation Pegasus.
The month begins and ends with the Moon visiting the giant planets. From Dec. 25 to Dec. 31, look to the southwest following sunset to see an increasingly full Moon slip past Saturn and then again past Jupiter.
Viewers with a clear view to the horizon will be able to search for Venus and Mercury in the fading glow of sunset, just a few degrees above the skyline.
Dec. 7 brings one of those magical moments when the sky changes dramatically before your very eyes. It's called a lunar occultation, as the Moon passes in front of, or occults, the Red Planet, Mars.
The spectacle will be visible in parts of North America, Europe, and Northern Africa. (Viewers in the Southeast and on the East Coast will see the Moon just graze past Mars.)
For viewers in the U.S., Mars disappears behind the Moon sometime between about 6:30 and 9 p.m., depending on your location, so check your favorite skywatching app to find the time for your area.
Now, the Moon passes in front of planets in the night sky several times per year. In fact, it generally occults Mars itself at least a couple of times per year. But each occultation is visible from only a small portion of Earth's surface, so it's not super common for any particular spot on Earth to see them frequently.
Of course, the Moon passes in front of stars all the time. If you're watching through binoculars, they just blink right out. But planets are not just points of light like stars — they appear as circular little disks, so planets actually take several seconds to disappear and later reemerge.
So if you're in the viewing zone, enjoy this relatively rare opportunity to watch a bright planet being occulted by the Moon.
Looking high in the southwest sky on December evenings, you can find a constellation named for one of the more fantastical beasts of ancient mythology. That's Pegasus, the winged horse. In Greek myth, Pegasus rode into adventures with the hero Belaraphon, and later carried the thunderbolts of Zeus himself, who rewarded him by placing him among the stars.
Pegasus is one of the largest of the 88 constellations. Its most prominent feature, and the key to finding it in the sky, is this asterism, or pattern of stars, called the Great Square. These four stars of roughly equal brightness form the central part of the horse's body.
This December, it's easy to locate Pegasus, thanks to brilliant Jupiter. Face southward to find the giant planet about halfway up the sky, with the Great Square beginning about 15 degrees to the north of it.
Pegasus is a useful constellation for stargazers, as it's a good starting place for finding your way to other features in the night sky. The constellation itself contains a number of dazzling deep-sky objects, including globular cluster M15, and the tangled galaxies of Stephan's Quintet. With this year drawing to a close, here's hoping you seek out the winged stallion Pegasus, as you ponder what new adventures await in the next year.
Stay up to date with all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has more new dogs waiting for adoption.
The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
The following dogs are available for adoption. New additions are at the top.
‘Maverick’
“Maverick” is a male pit bull-border collie mix with a short black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51027806.
‘Noah’
“Noah” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51286102.
‘Aoki’
“Aoki” is a male Siberian husky mix with a white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50905477.
‘Athena’
“Athena” is a female American pit bull mix terrier with a short brindle coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49934476.
‘Babs’
“Babs” is a female Labrador retriever mix with a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49505856.
‘Bruce’
“Bruce” is a 2-year-old American pit bull mix with a short gray coat with white markings.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50684304.
‘Buster’
“Buster” is a male pit bull mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50762164.
‘Domino’
“Domino” is a male terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50815541.
‘Eros’
“Eros” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50754504.
‘Foxie’
“Foxie” is a female German shepherd with a red, black and white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49702845.
‘Goliath’
“Goliath” is a male Rottweiler mix with a short black and tan coat.
He is dog No. 50754509.
‘Hakuna’
“Hakuna” is a male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Herman’
“Herman” is a 7-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51236411.
‘Hondo’
“Hondo” is a male Alaskan husky mix with a buff coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s dog No. 50227693.
‘Jack’
“Jack” is a 9-month-old male terrier mix with a short black and brindle coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50992658.
‘Kubota’
“Kubota” is a 4-year-old male German shepherd with a short brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50184421.
‘Little Boy’
“Little Boy” is a male American pit bull terrier mix with a short tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50075256.
‘Luciano’
“Luciano” is a male Siberian husky mix with a short black and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596272.
‘Mamba’
“Mamba” is a male Siberian husky mix with a gray and cream-colored coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49520569.
‘Matata’
“Matata” is male shepherd mix with a tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50176912.
‘Maya’
“Maya” is a female German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50428151.
‘Mikey’
“Mikey” is a male German shepherd mix with a short brown and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51012855.
‘Molly’
“Molly” is a female Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50933031.
‘Paige’
“Paige” is a female American pit bull mix with a short brown coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 51194668.
‘Poppa’
“Poppa” is a 3-year-old male American pit bull terrier mix with a short red and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50773597.
‘Rascal’
“Rascal” is a male shepherd mix with a black and brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50806384.
‘Reese’
“Reese” is a female German shepherd with a black and an coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 50884542.
‘Sadie’
“Sadie” is a female German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 49802563.
‘Snowball’
“Snowball is a 1 and a half year old male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 49159168.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a handsome male shepherd mix with a short brindle coat.
He gets along with other dogs, including small ones, and enjoys toys. He also likes water, playing fetch and keep away.
Staff said he is now getting some training to help him build confidence.
He is dog No. 48443693.
‘Trike’
“Trike” is a male border collie-Australian shepherd mix with a black and white coat and blue eyes.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 51029972.
‘Willie’
“Willie” is a male German shepherd mix with a black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50596003.
‘Zeus’
“Zeus” is a male Samoyed mix with a long white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 50933068.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.