Winter Solstice. Cold & Wet to Warm & Dry.

Today's the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. I'll be glad to see the days gradually getting longer for the next several months. The gloom of the last several weeks— basically since the end of Daylight Saving Time— has been getting me down.

Thankfully in the last week or so the weather's been reasonable. Earlier this month we had a lot of rain. Of course we need the rain as we're in a record drought, but days on end of it, combined with cooler temperatures, makes it feel gloomier. The last week or so has been sunny and warmer. Today the high forecast is 58° (14.5° C) and on Christmas Day it's predicted to reach 65° F (17° C). It's been a nice break. It looks like rains will come back next week.

Tuesday Morning Earthquake near Ferndale, California

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck California's north coast region early morning. The epicenter was a few miles offshore from the town of Ferndale, population 3,500. Scattered damage was caused to roads and buildings. Thousands of residents in the remote area lost power or water. Two deaths occurred shortly after the earthquake. Authorities say that the deaths weren't caused by the shaking of the earthquake but by the inability of victims to summon help.

Google Maps: Ferndale, CA

One point of interest about this earthquake is that millions of people received early warning of it, 10 seconds before it struck. In a partnership between the state and Google, the warnings are sent automatically to all Android phones in the region. There's also an app available for other phones.

We didn't feel the earthquake here in Silicon Valley. Partly that's because it occurred at 2:34am Tuesday. It wasn't strong enough to wake us up. And partly that's because we're 250 miles away. A 6.4 earthquake isn't strong enough to shake things up 250 miles away.

Distance, though, doesn't stop some of our well-meaning relatives from reaching out to us breathlessly, "OMG I heard there's an earthquake in California are you okaaaaay?!?!" We always gently remind them that California is a huge state, almost 800 miles north to south. When you hear that something happens "in California", whether it's an earthquake or a fire or a crime spree, you need to check the geography to determine where it's actually relevant.