Apocalypse LA Style

[ZoWie]

I guess it's because people in LA don't take weather seriously, but the stuff on the weather forecasts that is blown at us like shotgun blasts by the Nooz gets wearing. We have been promised:

1. "Life-threatening" rain. That's what the NWS said and the Nooz ran with it like a wide receiver making a miracle catch. Got that? All our lives are in danger. They then continue to describe a "rain event" that sounds just like all the "rain events" we had last year.

2. Flash flood warnings. You know, it's pretty hard to have a flash flood when there are no rivers or even dry washes within miles, but we are to consider ourselves warned. We are supposed to maintain a war foooting 24/7 until Tuesday. The fire department will be giving out sandbags. This is apparently newsworthy even though they do that every year.

3. Tornadoes. In years of winter apocalypses in LA, I have yet to see a tornado that amounted to anything. They last 30 seconds. They take out trees and the occasional wall. But we are assured that this time it's going to look like one of those Great Plains nuke scenes.

4. People who sleep in flood channels are assured that they will die. That's why the cops and fire department go around and shoo them out of there when any rain storm impends. They do indeed become raging torrents, since they are cement and don't absorb any water. But the real problem here is that the people who need the warnings won't get them from some apocalyptic weather forecast on the Internet.

For those who don't think world wars are scary, there is always the Nooz in LA.

[gounion]

But hey the drought is over, right?

[ZoWie]

That gets mentioned in passing. Yes if it didn't rain we'd be assured that SoCal would look like the Sahara in 10 years.

[Motor City]

yea there is an overbearingness to the tone and orientation of most news reporting now whether the speed by which a critical subject is rushed past us to keep us from understanding what is being said or the lingering obstinance of a red herring or the inflection of extreme enunciation for self-serving purposes and aligning with some type of bias. Like an extra layer of gunk between the information and peoples sense of reality and ability to solve the problems facing them.

[ZoWie]

There might also be a signal-to-noise issue, where the perceived solution to the higher level of noise is to make a bigger noise. It won't work if everyone just puts on their ear protection, but that never stops anybody.

Then the Nooz runs with it, with their mistaken idea that the best way to keep people from turning them off and going back to Instagram is to scare the shit out of everybody.

[Motor City]

There might also be a signal-to-noise issue, where the perceived solution to the higher level of noise is to make a bigger noise. It won't work if everyone just puts on their ear protection, but that never stops anybody.

Then the Nooz runs with it, with their mistaken idea that the best way to keep people from turning them off and going back to Instagram is to scare the shit out of everybody.

nice observation

[Number6]

I guess it's because people in LA don't take weather seriously, but the stuff on the weather forecasts that is blown at us like shotgun blasts by the Nooz gets wearing. We have been promised:

1. "Life-threatening" rain. That's what the NWS said and the Nooz ran with it like a wide receiver making a miracle catch. Got that? All our lives are in danger. They then continue to describe a "rain event" that sounds just like all the "rain events" we had last year.

2. Flash flood warnings. You know, it's pretty hard to have a flash flood when there are no rivers or even dry washes within miles, but we are to consider ourselves warned. We are supposed to maintain a war foooting 24/7 until Tuesday. The fire department will be giving out sandbags. This is apparently newsworthy even though they do that every year.

3. Tornadoes. In years of winter apocalypses in LA, I have yet to see a tornado that amounted to anything. They last 30 seconds. They take out trees and the occasional wall. But we are assured that this time it's going to look like one of those Great Plains nuke scenes.

4. People who sleep in flood channels are assured that they will die. That's why the cops and fire department go around and shoo them out of there when any rain storm impends. They do indeed become raging torrents, since they are cement and don't absorb any water. But the real problem here is that the people who need the warnings won't get them from some apocalyptic weather forecast on the Internet.

For those who don't think world wars are scary, there is always the Nooz in LA.

You'll also see people speeding during the rain as if it's just another day in California and their headlights will be off. In California, if you're using your wipers then your headlights need to be on. The news will be showing pictures of idiots trying to cross a flooded street or intersection and then have to be rescued.

[Glennfs]

You'll also see people speeding during the rain as if it's just another day in California and their headlights will be off. In California, if you're using your wipers then your headlights need to be on. The news will be showing pictures of idiots trying to cross a flooded street or intersection and then have to be rescued.

My favorite is when people are driving in poor weather with their 4 ways on. As if that makes it ok.

[Number6]

My favorite is when people are driving in poor weather with their 4 ways on. As if that makes it ok.

Driving in the rain in Southern California is probably like when Northern people drive in the first heavy snow of the season. They've forgotten how they're supposed to drive until the see the news reminding them what to do. Down here about 20% of the drivers have no clue on how to drive in the rain. All their interested in is getting to where they're going as fast as they can.

[bird]

I learned to drive in the snow when I took Driver’s Ed in high school. First day behind the wheel we were in a big parking lot and the teacher said step on the gas. I did and then he hit the breaks. Had to learn how to steer out of a skid.

The problem does lie when people “forget” or when they get weather that doesn’t occur much.

Of course, stupidity plays a role.

[bird]

My favorite is when people are driving in poor weather with their 4 ways on. As if that makes it ok.

Yeah, that is stupid. What is also annoying is the SUVs that go blasting by when there is a heavy snow going on. It seems as though you always see them a half mile later stuck in the median.

[ZoWie]

Yes, the crowning moments come when people drive into water that is obviously as deep as the roof of their car. This happens frequently on freeways with clogged drains. They can see that the guard rails are starting to disappear into the water but they continue on as if they are driving an amphibious vehicle. They are not.

By tomorrow morning you'll be seeing photos of cars in up to their roofs. Usually they pick the most expensive cars to run in the Nooz. It's not just that someone had to be rescued from their car in a flood. It's that someone had to be rescued from their Ferrari in a flood, as if that makes it more shocking. Conveniently, these are considerably lower to the ground than the typical family SUV, making it so much more dramatic. It's like in the fires when they show the mansions burning but don't bother with ordinary homes.

Sometime beginning tonight, you will be told that the entire city of Los Angeles, from the 10000-foot mountains to the Long Beach harbor, is just like that one poor car that had the bad fortune to sell to a feeble-minded dolt. After that come the Nooz stories that begin, "Is California doomed?" If it is, it's not the weather but the stupid. It's winning.

[Number6]

Yes, the crowning moments come when people drive into water that is obviously as deep as the roof of their car. This happens frequently on freeways with clogged drains. They can see that the guard rails are starting to disappear into the water but they continue on as if they are driving an amphibious vehicle. They are not.

By tomorrow morning you'll be seeing photos of cars in up to their roofs. Usually they pick the most expensive cars to run in the Nooz. It's not just that someone had to be rescued from their car in a flood. It's that someone had to be rescued from their Ferrari in a flood, as if that makes it more shocking. Conveniently, these are considerably lower to the ground than the typical family SUV, making it so much more dramatic. It's like in the fires when they show the mansions burning but don't bother with ordinary homes.

Sometime beginning tonight, you will be told that the entire city of Los Angeles, from the 10000-foot mountains to the Long Beach harbor, is just like that one poor car that had the bad fortune to sell to a feeble-minded dolt. After that come the Nooz stories that begin, "Is California doomed?" If it is, it's not the weather but the stupid. It's winning.

The fact is the last storm was last week and we've had time to dry out. The news will report how the state was battered by back-back storms. That storm dumped a lot of water, nearly a quarter of our annual average, on us over a couple of hours and this incoming storm isn't expected to be that intense. We'll get two plus inches of rain over the next two days which is more manageable. However, we will see some flooding in the low lying areas that always flood. You'd think people would have learned by now to protect their property better.

As for the state being "battered" that's done for dramatic effect to get eyes and ears to the news. A hurricane or a tornado doing extensive damage is getting battered. Large scale flooding affecting tens of thousands, like what happens in the Midwest every year, is getting battered. Streets, freeways, roads getting flooded, homes and businesses experiencing flooding which are damaged by not destroyed is not getting battered.

[ZoWie]

What really got me going was the use of the phrase "life threatening" in several official NOAA weather forecasts written by people at the office in Oxnard.

Nuclear war is life threatening. A typical SoCal winter blast is only life threatening if you do something REALLY stupid. So say so. "This coming rain event will be dangerous to those not taking common sense precautions" would sound much better and be more informative than "Life-threatening rain will hit Southern California in the coming days." Save that for hurricanes.

[ZoWie]

OK, we are close to a daily record in my rain gauge, and our back yard looks like a lake, but the streets are passable and everyone went to work. The body count currently stands at zero. I scoured the hyperbole in the Nooz and can't find anything about anyone being dead. Contrast that to last year when whole neighborhoods up north were being taken out and bodies were being counted up. Not to say it won't happen again this year, but so far it hasn't. You can go back to worrying about a nuclear confrontation in the Middle East now.

The roads look navigable enough to make it downtown and see the truly incredible spectacle of the LA River completely full and flowing at 30-40 MPH, but naww, I'd just get mud all over my speedy little car and have to wash it. One thing we do have is a bumper crop of mud. It's our periodic taste of The War Experience. It alternates with apocalyptic fires in what other places call a climate cycle.

[gounion]

OK, we are close to a daily record in my rain gauge, and our back yard looks like a lake, but the streets are passable and everyone went to work. The body count currently stands at zero. I scoured the hyperbole in the Nooz and can't find anything about anyone being dead. Contrast that to last year when whole neighborhoods up north were being taken out and bodies were being counted up. Not to say it won't happen again this year, but so far it hasn't. You can go back to worrying about a nuclear confrontation in the Middle East now.

The roads look navigable enough to make it downtown and see the truly incredible spectacle of the LA River completely full and flowing at 30-40 MPH, but naww, I'd just get mud all over my speedy little car and have to wash it. One thing we do have is a bumper crop of mud. It's our periodic taste of The War Experience. It alternates with apocalyptic fires in what other places call a climate cycle.

So how many inches is in the rain gage?

[ZoWie]

I can't read it without taking it apart. It's not one of the fancy computer tipping bucket expensive things, it's the standard plastic rain gauge that the weather service civilian observers use. Costs a few bucks over Amazon etc. Actually tested and found more accurate than the expensive digital toys. Keep in mind, though, that in the city you don't get the open space that's necessary for your data to pass government muster. You are supposed to mount it on a pole of a certain height with a large empty radius. With LA land prices, you don't get large empty radii.

Anyway, the inner cylinder overflows into a larger tank, then you have to measure it out one inch at a time by pouring the water into the center tube by hand without spilling any, and that means you have to sit down and spend some serious time getting it right.

Off the top of my head, I'd say we beat last year's one-day record, which was something like five or six inches. That was a year's worth during The Drought.

[ZoWie]

I was all set to grab the rain gauge and do the pouring thing, but before I could the rain did the pouring thing again, and now they say it's going to rain for another 24 hours. The thing may fill up altogether and lose data.

[Glennfs]

I was all set to grab the rain gauge and do the pouring thing, but before I could the rain did the pouring thing again, and now they say it's going to rain for another 24 hours. The thing may fill up altogether and lose data.

It is God telling California liberals to clean up their act.
For a $1000 love offering I will for absolutely free intervene.
Just don't tell Joel Osteen

[ZoWie]

Tried to read the rain gauge, spilled a lot of it, still 7.9 inches in two days. That's half a season's worth here. This is completely unscientific of course. Probably better to believe whatever Santa Monica Airport comes up with, though it's always lower.

[Number6]

It is God telling California liberals to clean up their act.
For a $1000 love offering I will for absolutely free intervene.
Just don't tell Joel Osteen

You'd just donate that money to TFG anyway.

[Number6]

Tried to read the rain gauge, spilled a lot of it, still 7.9 inches in two days. That's half a season's worth here. This is completely unscientific of course. Probably better to believe whatever Santa Monica Airport comes up with, though it's always lower.

We';re expecting just over two inches in the next couple of days. We're were supposed to get rain around 6 am but that just kept getting pushed back. Now it's around around 3 pm. So far, we've just had sprinkles and nothing significant.

[ZoWie]

The reason it's late down there is because it stalled over LA. Plus the drops were HUGE. Yesterday morning sounded like a dumpster full of pennies was being emptied on our roof. I'll never know how much rain we got due to the utter inability to get a good rain gauge reading in the middle of a downpour. I was not in the best mental state with the world going bonkers all around me, and I spilled a whole lot. The error is on the order of +/- one inch. The best guess is somewhere around 8 inches in 24 hours. That has happened in LA before, but not in a very, very long time, as in multi tens of years.

At one point yesterday the flood warning went all the way downhill to the 10 freeway. That NEVER happens. This is 6 months after a tropical storm center went literally right up the 405 freeway, which also had never happened before. But keep telling me the climate is a liberal hype.

Still no bodies though. Next time call it a "potentially disruptive rain event" and be done with it.

[Number6]

The reason it's late down there is because it stalled over LA. Plus the drops were HUGE. Yesterday morning sounded like a dumpster full of pennies was being emptied on our roof. I'll never know how much rain we got due to the utter inability to get a good rain gauge reading in the middle of a downpour. I was not in the best mental state with the world going bonkers all around me, and I spilled a whole lot. The error is on the order of +/- one inch. The best guess is somewhere around 8 inches in 24 hours. That has happened in LA before, but not in a very, very long time, as in multi tens of years.

At one point yesterday the flood warning went all the way downhill to the 10 freeway. That NEVER happens. This is 6 months after a tropical storm center went literally right up the 405 freeway, which also had never happened before. But keep telling me the climate is a liberal hype.

Still no bodies though. Next time call it a "potentially disruptive rain event" and be done with it.

I checked the CalTrans app to see what road conditions (flooding and accidents) and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm wondering if a lot of employers told their employees to stay home rather than risk driving in the storm.

[Glennfs]

I checked the CalTrans app to see what road conditions (flooding and accidents) and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm wondering if a lot of employers told their employees to stay home rather than risk driving in the storm.

Here where I live the storms are always sensationalized by the press.