Monday, October 5, 2015

Not a terribly interesting month until a few days ago

It just hasn't been a very interesting month in my neck of the woods.
There were a few scattered showers on 9/16 - 9/17, about enough to wet the pavement.
Elsewhere it was not so peaceful. Of course you've heard of the various wildfires toasting the state. A combination of drought, fire suppression and in many cases human stupidity. I read an article that listed the causes of Ca. wildfires in the last decade or so - many were created by homo sapiens.
Add a new cloud to your list: pyrocumulus. Created by fire, an oxygen sucking monster.

 

When & where it did rain?...people died.

http://graphics.latimes.com/zion-flash-flood/

Slot canyons are beautiful, but inherently dangerous, there's no escaping whatever happens. I have one rule of thumb when i am wandering on the coast or in the desert - 'if the worst that can happen, happens, are the consequences tolerable/surviveable?'.
The answer to that is the answer as to whether to continue on... or not.

As for El Nino?:

http://www.weatherwest.com/archives/3405

An excellent blog, bookmark it.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/opinion/a-wet-winter-wont-save-california.html

Oh, shut the fuck up!
California is good at reinventing itself.
It will continue to do so. I'll bet on it. :-)

On 9/23, it got a good bit better. Beautiful cirrus in the AM. First shots, at the bus/transit center at the bottom, no aesthetic apologies for the gritty reality of the place. In fact it emphasizes something very real. We are on a big ball of rock, held here by gravity, in a very gritty world. We are surrounded by a thin skin of air, protected from UV that could bake us in a heartbeat. Think 'Mars', OK? The 'cloud-sphere' changes constantly.




Love what's going on in the lower right:

 


Later on in the day, it continued to be interesting.



Once again, there's an interesting detail, far right:


So what are those wispy things at the bottom?


 


 

To quote a great songwriter:
'We contemplate eternity under the vast indifference of heaven'

Warren Zevon
Thanks, Warren RIP