Atmospheric River

[ZoWie]

Nothing spectacular here yet, though one pretty decent little squall came through an hour ago. I'd say only about one inch so far in this part of LA, pretty weenie even by LA standards, but that's one inch more than this place had seen for at least a year.

I'm sure all the usual roads have the usual amounts of mud on them. The Caltrans people will be on it.

Good that they rescheduled our generator installation.

Not so good that some parts of socal have 60 MPH gusts forecast. Hopefully this isn't one of them, and our first wind storm will hold off another week until we get the backup in place. Big if.

[Number6]

Nothing, yet, here in San Diego. I looked at The Weather Channel radar projection online and the rain will briefly hit here an downtown SaN Diego around 5:45 pm. It also says we’ve gone from a 60% plus chance of rain to about a 33% chance. The county will get get some heavy rain in some parts, hopefully where the reservoirs are. Like most parts of the state, our reservoirs are down but it looks like we have enough water to carry us through all of next year.

[sam lefthand]

Nothing, yet, here in San Diego. I looked at The Weather Channel radar projection online and the rain will briefly hit here an downtown SaN Diego around 5:45 pm. It also says we’ve gone from a 60% plus chance of rain to about a 33% chance. The county will get get some heavy rain in some parts, hopefully where the reservoirs are. Like most parts of the state, our reservoirs are down but it looks like we have enough water to carry us through all of next year.

I've been watching this: https://zoom.earth/#view=34.442,-117.98 ... crosshairs

It runs about twenty minutes behind real time. Based on what I see there I would think you are still about two or three hours away from the rain front getting to you. Every ten minutes it moved forward in time another increment. At 11:00 this morning the rain front was about as far away from LA as it is now far away from you. From 11 until now it has moved forward more than half way toward you.

It is mostly over here. We got about 4 inches. The gophers did a great job working for this rain all summer long, they had opened up the underworld through boring holes to surface everywhere. They made the earth like a pin cushion with their little holes and mounds of dirt.

When it rained those mounds of dirt were like funnels channeling the water into the tunnel network where it is absorbed by the rocks and earth to recharge the surface aquifer.

Four inches of fairly fast rain and not a drop was wasted to excess runoff.

I think they are a foundation species here because they are a driving factor in their ecosystem. If they became extinct here the soil here would soon erode away and here would become a barren rocky wasteland where little would grow.

They make the soil we have here from the soft rocks. Billions of them digging and crushing rocks for millions of years. They preserve water, and pull growths down so that they decay in matrix of the soil instead of decaying above the surface.

Basically they are little living farm plows.



Yesterday I posted about the Northern White Rhino, they too are driving factors in their ecosystem. The world needs both it's largest and smallest:

"Scientists believe the white rhino is a driving factor in its ecosystem. The destruction of the megaherbivore could have serious cascading effects on the ecosystem and harm other animals."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rhinoceros

[Number6]

We got our first band of rain around 5:45. Light to moderate rain fall. The next band of rain looks to be around 8 pm. Hopefully, it too will be light to moderate.

[Number6]

Way more than expected. Monthly averages were blown through within 12-Hours. Local news reports say that 64-Fell on Mount Tamalpais, which means the watershed is being filled.

Parts of Petaluma and Santa Rosa underwater as well. The burn scares received heavy rain and there has be debris flow from the area.

The ground here is soaked. Some idiot tried driving cars through standing water and had to rescued. Tam High is closed because of power outages in the Mill Valley.

No reports as of yet the cost in damages or any possible casualities.

CBS Evening News says it's the wettest day in Sacramento's history. It's the fourth wettest day in San Fransisco's history and they've been keeping records since the Gold Rush Days (1848).

[Tao Jones Sr.]

Never watched it really. As far as Canadian shows go, I do like Kim’s Convenience and Letterkenny for comedies. Trailer Park Boys was funny too. Schitt’s Creek was good. Canadian productions aren’t the best, although they’ve come along way from The Beach Combers or Irish Rovers days.

Ever listen to The Atmospheric River Band? They were hot in the ‘70s.

[sam lefthand]

I just heard on the evening NBC News that it was a "bomb cyclone" that hit us.



I thought it was a rain storm.

[marindem01]

I just heard on the evening NBC News that it was a "bomb cyclone" that hit us.



I thought it was a rain storm.

You and me both.

[ZoWie]

LA was several hours of dripping punctuated by a 15-minute cloudburst. A bit unusual for LA in October, but pretty weenie by real world standards.

I did see satpics of the bomb cyclone or atmospheric river or whatever they're calling it today. That hit up around Sacramento, and it was an impressive weather event in any language. Gives further evidence for the chaos math theory of climate change.

[Number6]

The local TV weatherman was saying, over the weekend, we’d get .25 inches along the coast and up to 1 inch in the mountains. Looking at http://sandiegoweathercenter.blogspot.com/p/rain.html the San Diego airport had /21 inches, Coronado (my fair city) had .28 inches, and Pine Hills Fire Station had .71 inches. Overall, that’s probably about normal for October where we usually get .50 inches of rain.

[marindem01]

The Marin Watershed increased capacity by 10%. Some parts of the Bay Area at at 1,000% of their monthly average. Lots of downed trees and debris runoff in the burn areas.

[Number6]

The rain from the Cyclone Bomb raised Lake Tahoe's water level almost 6 inches to where it is now back above the natural rim.

Heavy rain and snow fell in Northern California over the weekend — so much that Lake Tahoe's water levels are back above the natural rim.

Water levels at the Tahoe City dam rose almost 6 inches in 24 hours, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and more than 24 inches of snow fell in the mountains around the Tahoe Basin. This was welcome news, as last week, Lake Tahoe's water levels dipped about an inch below the natural rim of the basin. When the levels plummet below the rim, the lake is no longer connected to the Truckee River, its only outlet. Drought, fueled by climate change, is causing the levels to drop more often and earlier than normal.

While the rainfall was definitely needed, it's not enough to solve Lake Tahoe's water troubles, experts say. Because the lake was only an inch below the rim, the massive storm was able to raise the water levels quickly, but they are nowhere near where they should be, SFGate reports — Lake Tahoe is considered full when water levels are roughly 6 feet above the natural rim.

For Lake Tahoe to get into a good position, scientists say this winter needs to have above-average rain and snow fall, with the snowpack not melting until after spring. Without this, the lake may drop below its natural rim earlier next year.
Yahoo

[sam lefthand]

[Number6]

Lake Oroville rose 20 feet as a result of the storm.

The weekend storms helped raise Lake Oroville by almost 20 feet in three days. As of Monday, October 25 at 7 a.m., Lake Oroville was at 649.01 feet. That's up from 629.56 feet elevation at 5 a.m. on Friday, October 22. Lake Oroville dipped to a historic low this summer amid the drought.
KCRT

[marindem01]

Lake Oroville rose 20 feet as a result of the storm.

Final total rain fall for Marin Water shed is:

33.4 % of capacity before the rain Storm.

46.5% after the storm.

More rain is expect next week, but hopefully the storm(s) will not be as fierce.

[Number6]

Final total rain fall for Marin Water shed is:

33.4 % of capacity before the rain Storm.

46.5% after the storm.

More rain is expect next week, but hopefully the storm(s) will not be as fierce.

This is supposed to be a La Nina year meaning less rainfall. In reading up on La Nina, Northern California receives above average rainfall while Southern California receives below-average rainfall. I'd rather we get a series of storms dropping about .5 inches of rain twice weekly wishing for that is just wishing.

[Motor City]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JtTP2zcIx4

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall · The Ink Spots · Ella Fitzgerald

[ZoWie]

Sea surface temperatures support the idea of the first recorded two-year La Nina, but we'll see. Sometimes these things change around February.

"Atmospheric River" and "Bomb Cyclone"are actually meteorological names for real phenomena with real parameters that can be measured. They refer to certain things happening at certain times with certain changes that are specified in well defined ranges.

These changes are striking, hence the names, but the events they describe are not as ominous as the names would suggest. They are remarkable, but most of the real issue is that climate change has made them a bit more routine in a manner that serves an underlying narrative. This narrative is that the weather is indeed a bomb that is going to kill us all due to our folly a la Noah's Flood. The human myth making capability gets activated, the media and the Internet scare machines get humming, and once again it's the end of the world, folks.

The world will go on, though of course there is still room for discussion regarding whether or not it will include silly humans and their over-reliance on consumption.

[Libertas]

That makes sense, I had never heard of that phrase "atmospheric river." But that doesnt mean anything either.

[ZoWie]

It's a specific set of conditions by which a great amount of evaporated sea water gets transported through the air, falling on land at a distance. It shows up on weather satellite pictures as a huge stream of moisture, hence the name. When a really good one gets pointed right at the US west coast, the consequences are typically quite noteworthy in specific locations. California is good for a real nice one every so often, and up north of San Francisco that's just what happened.

My understanding is that several of those huge fire complexes in the Sierras are now as out as these things ever get. (Buried stuff can smolder for months or years.) That would be a silver lining to all the mud flows, buried roads, and flooded streets.

A "bomb cyclone" aka "atmospheric bomb" is when a low pressure center undergoes a barometric drop greater than or equal to some number of millibars. It generally indicates very rapid intensification of a storm center, and a good reason to issue a warning for some area predicted to be in the track of the event. I was in New York for a couple of these, and they get your attention for sure.

[Number6]

That makes sense, I had never heard of that phrase "atmospheric river." But that doesnt mean anything either.

We've heard of it here before down here. Another term associated with atmosphere river we're familiar with is the "Pineapple Express" which is water vapor and rain that comes from the tropical Pacific and Hawaii.

[ZoWie]

We've heard of it here before down here. Another term associated with atmosphere river we're familiar with is the "Pineapple Express" which is water vapor and rain that comes from the tropical Pacific and Hawaii.

Oh right, I remember that. It shows up on satellite pictures. You get one narrow air current all the way to the land of Aloha which brings warm rain to SoCal.

Another one that I hear about a lot in LA post climate change is the inside slider. It's a storm front that passes east of California and brings wind instead of rain. They came pretty much weekly last year, and they're typical in a La Nina. Then there's the Alberta Clipper, which brings down cold air and can cause nasty weather in the NE US.

[sam lefthand]

Oh right, I remember that. It shows up on satellite pictures. You get one narrow air current all the way to the land of Aloha which brings warm rain to SoCal.

Another one that I hear about a lot in LA post climate change is the inside slider. It's a storm front that passes east of California and brings wind instead of rain. They came pretty much weekly last year, and they're typical in a La Nina. Then there's the Alberta Clipper, which brings down cold air and can cause nasty weather in the NE US.

I get the impression TV weather forecasters are who result when song writers fall in love with TV sports casters.



I'm waiting for one of them to figure out a way to name a storm in memory of a moss covered three handled family gradunza.

Here's the grainy video of the song half:>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unORA8bxDSg

[ZoWie]

Here, the old school still dominates the evening prime nooz time. They're TV stars first and meteorologists second. They're performers who found a niche, but they also took some time to actually learn a little about the underlying sources of the data. Not a lot, but a little, and that's a little more than most of the audience knows, so it works.

The new school started on the Weather Channel, which (like Internet) was fun and nerdy a million years ago when it started. It's people who actually majored in meteorology. They had to take calculus. They had to actually learn and use the formulas for things like convective available potential energy. At the same time, though, they saw the main job potential as being in TV news, so they also took an acting class or two and learned on-camera presence and how not to make a total fool out of themselves talking to a camera with a Teleprompter, while also pointing to the right spots on charts that don't exist.

It's harder than it looks. They're in front of chroma key screens, usually eye-melting green ones, and they're sneaking peeks at the monitors and teleprompters, and hitting the right spots on the chroma key screens. They're nearly always live. No retakes.

I would consider them to be on a level of fairly intelligent weather geeks who were seduced by the dark side. Oh, and when the typical talent, oops I mean the on-camera meteorologists, start out on local channels, the females are much better off if they have developed good upper story architecture and a bubbly screen personality. Guys need a bod indicating gym time, and that nice-guy Thing. Lots of acting goes on.

[ZoWie]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59314791

The provincial minister of transportation, Rob Fleming, told a news conference it was the "worst weather storm in a century".

Thousands of homes in British Columbia were evacuated after an "atmospheric river" dumped the region's monthly rainfall average in just 24 hours.

All 7,000 residents of Merritt, about 120 miles north-east of Vancouver, were ordered to flee their homes on Monday.

Snow fell on there on Tuesday, and cars could be seen floating in icy flood waters in town.