{{Short description|Mountain in California, United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Mount Vaca | image = Mount Vaca and Blue Ridge, Solano County.jpg | image_caption = Mt. Vaca and the Blue Ridge, high points of Solano County, as seen from upper Suisun Valley. | elevation_ft = 2822 | elevation_ref = {{navd88}}<ref name="peakbagger" /> | prominence_ft = 1959 | prominence_ref = <ref name="peakbagger" /> | listing = California county high points 53rd | location = Napa and Solano counties, California, U.S. | range = Vaca Mountains | map = USA California | map_size = 210 | map_caption = none | coordinates = {{coord|38.4004017|N|122.1060683|W|region:US-CA_source:GNIS|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = <ref name="gnis" /> | topo = USGS Mount Vaca | type = | age = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = }}
'''Mount Vaca''' is a mountain in Napa and Solano counties of Northern California. It is both the highest point in the Vaca Mountains and in Solano County.<ref name="peakbagger-highpoint" /> It is also one of several peaks in the San Francisco Bay Area that receive winter snow.
==Origin of name== ''Vaca'' is the Spanish word for cow. Although cattle ranching historically played an important role in the area, Mount Vaca and the nearby city of Vacaville are actually named for Juan Manuel Cabeza Vaca (1782–1856), who with Juan Felipe Pena received in 1843 the Rancho Los Putos Mexican land grant, which included the peak that now bears Vaca's name.<ref name="gudde1949" />
==Public access== The summit of Mount Vaca is reached via either Mix Canyon Road or Gates Canyon Road, both of which originate in Vacaville California.<ref name="access" /> These roads intersect Blue Ridge Road, which follows the ridge top to the summit.
thumb|272px|Doppler Radar weather tower on top of Mt. Vaca.
== High-definition Doppler weather radar ==
The San Francisco Bay Area is surrounded by mountain ranges that obstruct weather radar, even government broadcasts, thereby leaving blind spots in the weather prediction system. As a consequence, television station KPIX-TV, a San Francisco CBS affiliate, partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to build a Doppler weather radar on top of Mt. Vaca. Before this, the mountain blocked radar information about storms coming in from the Northwest, which compromised weather prediction and allowed for flooding, heavy rains, and high winds without prior warnings. This new radar system gives meteorologists a more complete view of precipitation and temperature patterns in the Bay Area, and allows for more accurate weather predictions.<ref name="noaa2007" />
== See also == * List of highest points in California by county * List of summits of the San Francisco Bay Area
== References == <references>
<ref name="access">Information on road access is from the Solano County Surveyors Office in Fairfield, California, personal communication, July 17, 2009.</ref>
<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis |id=255187 |name=Mount Vaca |access-date=July 17, 2009}}</ref>
<ref name="gudde1949">{{cite book |author=Gudde, Erwin G. |title=California Place Names |year=1949 |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=Univ. of California Press |page=375}}</ref>
<ref name="noaa2007">{{cite web |author=National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency |year=2007| title=NOAA Agencies partner with the private sector to provide high resolution Doppler Radar data to San Francisco Bay Area Forecast Office (press release) |url=https://hmt.noaa.gov/news/2007/pdf/KPIX_partnership.pdf |website=Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) website |access-date=June 15, 2013}}</ref>
<ref name="peakbagger-highpoint">{{cite web |url = http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=13204 |title = California County High Points |publisher = Peakbagger.com |access-date=December 9, 2009 }}</ref>
<ref name="peakbagger">{{cite peakbagger |pid=1184 |name=Mount Vaca, California |access-date=July 15, 2009}}</ref>
</references>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaca, Mount}} Category:Vaca Mountains Category:Mountains of Napa County, California Category:Mountains of Solano County, California Category:Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Mountains of Northern California