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Photos from Wikimedia Commons (author & license shown)Bay Area map
Numbers show the current cloud-sea index; click to switchMap © OpenStreetMap contributors · rendered with Leaflet
Cloud-top height vs summit elevation (next 48h)
When the cloud-top line drops below the summit line, the sea is beneath your feetLive view
LIVEHourly cloud-sea index, next 7 days
Warmer colors = more likely · orange/purple lines mark sunrise/sunset0100
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≥2 consecutive hours with index ≥62All viewpoints · best in the next 7 days
Sorted by peak index; click to switchFactor breakdown
—How the model judges “clouds below your feet”
What matters is not whether the valley has clouds, but whether the cloud top sits below where you stand. Using Open-Meteo’s 9-level profile (1000–700 hPa), the model estimates the moist-layer top (where relative humidity drops to 80%) and subtracts it from the summit elevation to get the “clearance”. A sea of clouds beneath you counts only when the clearance is clearly positive and the valley genuinely has low cloud.
- Clearance must exceed ~80 m; < 0 means the cloud top is above the summit and you’d be inside the cloud.
- Ideal clearance 400–1000 m: a well-defined sea at a comfortable distance.
- Very large clearance (>1200 m) puts the sea far away and less impressive.
- Inversion, ridge wind, low-cloud amount and overhead high cloud are weighted modifiers.
Data & sources
Weather: Open-Meteo hourly forecast. Cameras: ALERTCalifornia (a UC San Diego public camera network, updated every 1–2 min). Photos below. The index is a heuristic; mornings around sunrise are usually best.