Here's how understanding monsoon season can help plan for long-term wildfire risk in NorCal

The word "monsoon" is often used to casually describe a heavy rainstorm. But more accurately, a monsoon is defined by season-long wind patterns over a vast area. Those winds are driven by a temperature difference that's created when air over land is much warmer than air over water. Those winds create a pattern in the lower part of the atmosphere where rich moisture from over the ocean is transported inland. Then it rises, condenses and falls back to the ground as soaking rain.