Here is the last of our second, updated lists of nominees for the 48th annual Cal-Hi Sports all-state football teams. Thanks to those who sent in nominations after the first list was posted. We still accept them right up until the moment a team is released. These players are from the CIF Central, L.A. City and San Diego sections. The first all-state teams, for sophomores, will be selected in a few days.

FOR THE UPDATED, FINAL LIST OF ALL-STATE NOMINEES FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (NOT INCLUDING CENTRAL SECTION), CLICK HERE.

FOR THE UPDATED, FINAL LIST OF ALL-STATE NOMINEES FROM THE CIF SOUTHERN SECTION, CLICK HERE.

Note: This is a post for Gold Club members only on Cal-Hi Sports.com. Cal-Hi Sports All-State Football content that will be for Gold Club members only also will include second team, third team overall and All-State Juniors & Sophomores plus list of most outstanding freshmen. The free posts will be first team overall and first team small schools and medium schools. If you want to check out all of our rankings content, and all state record updates, you can check it out for just $4.99 to cover a one-month subscription. For info, CLICK HERE.

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Please send any nomination with each athlete’s height, weight, position, year in school, significant statistics. Comparing a player not on the board yet to one who already is also can be very important toward eventual selection. Limit each nomination to one page please. Send to: [email protected] or text/call (209) 608-1317. Don’t assume we know all there is to know about a player on the list, either. Send us info to make sure all pertinent information is turned in and placed into our files.

All-State teams will be selected separately for sophomores and juniors. There also is an all-state honor roll for freshmen, but it’s not a team. Before the all-state first team overall, second team overall and third team is selected, there also will be separate teams for medium schools and small schools. All of these teams over the years are available to scan at any time for our Gold Club members. These now go back for more than 70 years. CLICK HERE.

Each team is comprised of 30 players — 11 on offense with a kicker and 11 on defense with a punter plus six that we call multi-purpose (allows QBs with rushing yards & those with offense & defense stats to get on). These are not recruiting lists (high school stats are considered) but college commitments are checked and of course can make a difference. For the nomination lists, injuries for a player listed after last season or a transfer can easily be missed. Those will be caught later on in the process or can be fixed for our updated, final list of nominees.

La Niña has been active since mid-October. However, according to the January update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it’s likely to end over the next couple of months, and a transition to El Niño is likely to occur later this year.

Exactly what does that mean, again? The presence of La Niña or El Niño is solely determined by the water temperature of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, near the equator. La Niña occurs when the sea-surface temp is below average, while El Niño is active when water temps are above average. When temperatures are close to normal, conditions are considered neutral.

While sea-surface temperatures may seem arbitrary, this feature in the world’s largest ocean plays a big role in how global atmospheric circulations are formed. In the case of La Niña, high atmospheric pressure typically develops over the northern Pacific, between Hawaii and Alaska. This, in turn, forces the polar jet stream farther north, resulting in fewer cold fronts and warmer weather for the southern United States.

La Niña and Austin weather

Austin finally broke its 26-day dry streak on Tuesday, but the rainfall did little to ease the region’s worsening drought. Most of Central Texas, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, has now moved from severe drought (the second-lowest rating) to extreme drought (the second-highest rating).

It’s not surprising that the winter of 2025-26 so far is the driest in 20 years, with just 0.35 inches of rain recorded in Austin since meteorological winter began on Dec. 1. Normally, Austin would see about 7.25 inches of rain between December and February, but this year, the area is far behind the average cumulative rainfall total because of the ongoing influence of La Niña.

This event has been shaping our weather patterns not only this fall and winter but also for much of the past six years. Since 2020, we’ve had three consecutive La Niña winters: 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23. Even last winter experienced a partial La Niña event.

Looking at the broader climatology, the last time Central Texas recorded a rainfall surplus from normal was in 2021 — but even then, it was minor, just slightly more than an inch.

La Niña ending

La Niña is only expected to continue for about another month or so, but after that, waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are likely to begin warming. NOAA calls for a 75% chance of neutral conditions in place by February, increasing to an 87% chance by March and April.

A transition to El Niño occurs once sea-surface temperatures rise to at least 0.5 degree Celsius above average. That shift could occur as early as this summer, with NOAA’s forecasting a 50% chance of El Niño developing between June and August. By September and October, the likelihood of El Niño rises to more than 60%.

For Texas, this is welcome news. La Niña tends to bring the driest conditions, so neutral conditions are slightly better — closer to “near normal” — and El Niño is usually the most beneficial, steering the Pacific jet stream across the southern United States, including Texas, and boosting rainfall.

What would El Niño mean for Texas?

If El Niño does develop by this fall, the likely effects are opposite to that of La Niña. During El Niño, the Pacific jet stream stretches out and moves closer to Texas, resulting in more frequent cold fronts and a more active storm track across the southern United States.

If El Niño were to persist into the 2026-27 winter, Texas would be more likely to experience colder and wetter weather than normal. Since 1950, as many as 27 winters have had active El Niño patterns, most recently during the 2023-24 season. During those years, Austin’s average winter temperatures have been 1.3 degrees colder than in non-El Niño winters.

While that may seem like a subtle difference in temps, the effect on precipitation is much more drastic. During El Niño winters, Austin has averaged 7.82 inches of rain from December through February, an increase of 38% compared to non-El Niño winters.

Anthony Franze is a native Texan and very passionate about covering any weather that is thrown at him. He can be reached at [email protected].

Anthony earned a degree in Meteorology from Valparaiso University in 2017. He has worked as a broadcast meteorologist for six years, one at NBC Montana and the next five at NewsWest 9 in Midland before joining the Express-News in July 2023.

In his free time, Anthony enjoys watching sports, checking out local restaurants and breweries, and getting outside whenever the heat allows for it. If you have any story ideas, questions about the weather or restaurant suggestions, drop him a line.

Mary Wasson is a newsroom meteorologist for the San Antonio Express-News. She can be reached at [email protected]

Mary has been a meteorologist for more than 16 years. Since she and her family were forced to shelter from a tornado, she has been fascinated with how storms develop. Originally from Winchester, Ky., she earned a communications degree from Morehead State University and a Master of Science in Geoscience from Mississippi State University. She has worked in Rapid City, S.D., Lexington, Ky., Austin and Temple.

The words on the front of the shooting shirts that Greeley Central’s boys basketball team wears before games don’t just represent your run-of-the-mill team slogan.

“La Familia” speaks to a team identity that is deeply ingrained in the Wildcats’ culture.

Greeley Central’s family-like approach to the sport of basketball was on full display Tuesday, as the Wildcats grinded for a 57-47 road win against crosstown rival Northridge.

“That’s our culture. That’s our identity,” Greeley Central coach Tyler McNeece said after the win. “It’s not the easiest thing to be a part of. We practice early in the mornings. We ask a lot of our kids. But once you’re willing to sacrifice and once you’re willing to be a part of that, it is a family. That’s what we stand by, and that’s what I believe the kids feel every day they show up at 6 in the morning for practices.”

Senior guard Espoir Sylvere has experienced that culture firsthand this season.

A year ago, he was playing for the program the Wildcats faced off against Tuesday: Northridge.

After transferring to Greeley Central this school year, he was immediately embraced by his new classmates and teammates.

Now, he is one of the main cogs in the engine that allows the Wildcats to overcome a severe size and height disadvantage most nights.

Greeley Central improved to 5-4 after its win against Northridge — heading into a game Thursday night against an even more established rival, Greeley West.

Sylvere led the Wildcats with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting along with six steals, also a game high, five rebounds and three assists.

Upon setting foot on Greeley Central's campus — affectionately referred to as "The Castle" because of the building's fortified Middle Ages-like look — Sylvere felt a certain comfort that instantly allowed him to play loose and relaxed on the court.

"From Day 1, they really did accept me," Sylvere said. "They already had the energy. From there, I was the newcomer, coming in. They needed that trust (from me). And they're going to get everything out of me. For them to trust me to come in, not bring them down — and lead them up from there — that means a lot to me."

While it didn't take Sylvere long to fit in, he's now showing out with his new teammates.

Tuesday against Northridge, he was flying to loose balls, relentlessly attacking the hoop, leading the fastbreak and setting up his teammates with prime scoring opportunities.

He even capped the Wildcats' win with a one-handed, open-court dunk — just clearing the rim, as the ball made a couple quick trips around the cylinder before trickling through — in the game's final seconds.

At Greeley Central, being "familia" means doing your part, filling your specific role and often sacrificing individual glory to give the team its best chance at success.

With that mindset at the forefront, junior Dominic Salazar, a 6-foot-1 forward, is happy to play a role normally reserved for players at least 3 or 4 inches taller than him.

On Tuesday, he was tenaciously battling in the paint, collecting contested rebounds and giving the Wildcats' a legitimate post presence to complement their athletic guards.

In short, he does much of the dirty work, and with a smile on his face.

On Tuesday, he was second on the team in scoring, with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting along with a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of nifty assists.

Salazar is Central's leading rebounder this season, averaging 5 per game, and is second on the team in scoring (9.7) and assists (1.9).

"I honestly just want to help my team how ever I can," he said. "If that means taking a charge or trying to get a rebound, I want them to be able to count on me and know that I give my best. I feel like when I give my best, everyone starts putting in the work, and we all work together as a team. ...

"We really are a family. These are all my brothers."

More rivalry action

Greeley Central's boys and girls played crosstown rival Greeley West on Thursday night. That game took place after the Tribune's print deadline.

To read about what happened in that game, go to greeleytribune.com and read Saturday's print edition.

A 400-mile blanket of fog has socked in California’s Central Valley for weeks. Scientists and meteorologists say the conditions for such persistent cloud cover are ripe: an early wet season, cold temperatures and a stable, unmoving high pressure system.

But take a stroll through X, Instagram or TikTok, and you’ll see not everyone is so sanguine.

People are reporting that the fog has a strange consistency and that it’s nefariously littered with black and white particles that don’t seem normal. They’re calling it “mysterious” and underscoring the name “radiation” fog, which is the scientific descriptor for such natural fog events — not an indication that they carry radioactive material.

An X user with the handle Wall Street Apes posted a video of a man who said he is from Northern California drawing his finger along fog condensate on the grill of his truck. His finger comes up covered in white.

“What is this s— right here?” the man says as the camera zooms in on his finger. “There’s something in the fog that I can’t explain ... Check y’all ... y’all crazy ... What’s going on? They got asbestos in there.”

Another user, @wesleybrennan87, posted a photo of two airplane contrails crisscrossing the sky through a break in the fog.

“For anyone following the dense Tule (Radiation) fog in the California Valley, it lifted for a moment today, just to see they’ve been pretty active over our heads ...” the user posted.

Scientists confirm there is stuff in the fog. But what it is and where it comes from, they say, is disappointingly mundane.

The Central Valley is known to have some of the worst air pollution in the country.

And “fog is highly susceptible to pollutants,” said Peter Weiss-Penzias, a fog researcher at UC Santa Cruz.

Fog “droplets have a lot of surface area and are suspended in the air for quite a long time — days or weeks even — so during that time the water droplets can absorb a disproportionate quantity of gasses and particles, which are otherwise known as pollutants,” he said.

He said while he hasn’t done any analyses of the Central Valley fog during this latest event, it’s not hard to imagine what could be lurking in the droplets.

“It could be a whole alphabet soup of different things. With all the agriculture in this area, industry, automobiles, wood smoke, there’s a whole bunch” of contenders, Weiss-Penzias said.

Reports of the fog becoming a gelatinous goo when left to sit are also not entirely surprising, he said, considering all the airborne biological material — fungal spores, nutrients and algae — floating around that can also adhere to the Velcro-like drops of water.

He said the good news is that while the primary route of exposure for people of this material is inhalation, the fog droplets are relatively big. That means when they are breathed in, they won’t go too deep into the lungs — not like the particulate matter we inhale during sunny, dry days. That stuff can get way down into lung tissue.

The bigger concern is ingestion, as the fog covers plants or open water cisterns, he said.

So make sure you’re washing your vegetables, and anything you leave outside that you might nosh on later.

Dennis Baldocchi, a UC Berkeley fog researcher, agreed with Weiss-Penzias’ assessment, and said the storm system predicted to move in this weekend will likely push the fog out and free the valley of its chilly, dirty shawl.

But, if a high pressure system returns in the coming weeks, he wouldn’t be surprised to see the region encased in fog once again.

SoCal communities left with mud, damage after days of wet weather

After days of storms throughout Christmas week, several Southern California communities are dealing with storm damage from the rain, high winds, flooding and mudslides.

The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that an EF-0 tornado touched down in Boyle Heights on Christmas Day, leaving behind damaged roofs, broken windows and debris.

After a historic holiday storm, sunshine and dry conditions are finally returning to Southern California this weekend. But the break from wet weather could be short-lived as more rain is set to arrive New Year's Day.

Key Headlines

A Tornado Warning was issued for a small portion of east-central Los Angeles County, which included the communities of Alhambra, Pasadena, Monterey Park, San Gabriel, El Monte, and Temple City.

The warning was canceled around 10:40 a.m., but the National Weather Service said that damaging winds are likely to stick around and that the Severe Thunderstorm Warning remains in effect for the area.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reports numerous power outages in various parts of its service area.

In all, thousands of customers are affected, but crews are either at work or being dispatched to restore service.

The largest outages are in the San Fernando Valley and the West L.A. area, according to the department's outage map.

Southern California Edison is also reporting outages in Los Angeles and Orange County but fewer numbers of customers appear to be affected.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.

California is working to capture as much storm as possible.

The winter season is a critical time of year for collecting and storing water to get us through the drier months.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's office says last month's storms generated enough water to supply tens of thousands of households in Los Angeles alone.

And reservoirs across the state still have room for the rain we're getting now. Lake Oroville's storage is at 54% capacity.

In Southern California, we're often spoiled with our nice weather.

It's usually dry on Christmas, which allows us to have our holiday gatherings outdoors. But this storm system could deliver one of the wettest holidays in recent memory.

ABC7 Meteorologist Dallas Raines looked into it and found that it has only rained 46 times on Christmas Day since 1892.

So we're talking about a span of more than 125 years. That means we've only received rain 34% of the time.

The most recent storm was back in 2017 when it rained almost one inch on Christmas Day in Los Angeles.

And if you were wondering if L.A. has ever had a white Christmas, the answer is no. But we can always dream, right?