Winter storms, Part 2

Here's the rest of my March- April- May images, 

everything from feathery cirrus to snarling anger

Summer is here if i can look westward from my fifth floor breezeway, and see a blanket of fog thick enough to slide over the peak of Mt Tamalpais (2400 ft/elev. +/-) only a few miles from the ocean.

And windy? OMG, as fog burns off the warmer air rushes inland.

No mo' rain 'til October - next post? Probably foggy - the images, i mean - 

not the text, that will be coherent.

Winter rains are over!

March and April have been interesting months, storms have been getting progressively weaker, moving thru faster, and now it is over. The Sierra snowpack is awesome, reservoirs are even letting some water go for fear there won't be enough space to take in the melting snow. I read something about how some Tahoe ski resorts are thinking they can stay open all summer. I've taken almost 300 shots of the aerial festivities I've been treated to, edited them down to 15 - which is enough for two posts.

So in no particular order, here's the take:

 What are these odd horizontal strips about? I have no idea except to wonder.

Title for the above? "Orphan cloud"

Judy Garland would like this one.

I think Jeff Beck has done a marvelous rendition,

I'm sure you can find it on youtube.

Stop in again in a couple of weeks for part two of March/April images.

A really wild week!

1/23

Unless you've been hiding in a cave, you've how wild and wacky California's weather has been recently. Not just rain but record breaking waves and surf. As usual, the most interesting skies come after the front has moved thru and there are still many isolated cells that come ashore and turn blue skies to dark grey, it rains for 10 minutes or so, and then the sun comes out. Monday the 23rd was just such a day, the rest of the week was similar.

Here's a very curious rainbow-like event, it lasted but a minute or two.

I have no idea what it is called, but it is something 'rainbow-like', since water droplets

are obviously splitting sunlight into a spectrum of color.

1/29

The last few days, very peaceful, a lull in mother nature's assault. But don't put that rain gear away! Mid-week it starts all over again.

Still waitin' on El Nino.......

11/15 - 5 am
I wake up, hear that *sizzle* of wheels on the street outside - Rain!
I roll over, try to go back to sleep, happy to hear rain.
When I wake up? the streets are barely wet. A 'no show' of a storm.

Some nice cirrrus though...

11/19
An unremarkable day, as the last few have been.
I get home at 4PM, fire up the mac mini, check email, and... i notice out my north window a certain warmth to the light.

I photographed architecture on a 4x5 view camera for 10 years ('82-'92) - i can see color temperature (the light of the sun filtered by passing thru much atmosphere) in a heart beat. Even if it is reflected off the landscape/buildings.
I can see something unique is building, there are waves in the air up there, way up. Ripples and eddies.

Sure enough, minutes later, the sunset to the west was a great show.
Like the last glowing embers in a fire.

It all happens in a new york minute. Or two.

In fact... life happens in a new york minute. There's more than clouds in the sky - there's philosophy too.

So where is El Nino?

Not 'sposed to really show up until January:

http://www.weatherwest.com/archives/3607

Excellent blog, bookmark it.

You'll hear from in a month or so, when the shit hits the fan.

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.
--------------------------------

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

July was a another really, really dull month skies-wise.

And so was the first part of August.
Except for some seriously nice cirrus that were a spinoff of some rather unusual conditions, hurricanes off the coast of Mexico. San Diego got rain, and perhaps you read of the flash flood that washed out a bridge in.. i forget... So.Cal.?.. or AZ?
Here's the lowdown at this excellent blog, much more scientific than I will ever be:

http://www.weatherwest.com/

Worth a bookmark for me.
Here's my skies - dancing, twirling, twisting, spinning:











 

 

RE:Cirrus
http://www.livescience.com/51576-cirrus-clouds-from-space.html

A lively month for wild fires, wasn't it? At last count, over 20 in California, 4 of them 'major'.
Today is a 'spare the air' day in the Bay area, there's a haze that's makes hills not far away look distant.

http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/08/06/california-burning-photographers-notebook/

El Nino? Still 'sposed to be heading our way.


If this one is anything like the winter of '97-98, we will be in deep doo-doo.
Or should i say 'water'.
I was living in SF at the time, on a nice quiet street, the rain was soooo heavy, it set off car alarms on a regular basis.
The predictions at this point are pretty certain for So.Cal., less certain for Nor.Cal.
Researchers have written that while the data is strong, nothing is certain, nothing.
Mother nature is a fickle bitch.
I hope I'll be able to make and post some images like this frothy angry view:

Plenty of good links this month, lots of interesting reading if you're in the mood.

Lake Mead hits a new low, but the drought has a silver lining -- tourism!

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83932619/
-------------------------------

Drought hastens decline of Joshua tree

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Drought-hastens-decline-of-Joshua-tree-6319456.php

On Parched Navajo Reservation, ‘Water Lady’ Brings Liquid Gold
By FERNANDA SANTOS JULY 13, 2015
NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/14/us/on-parched-navajo-reservation-water-lady-brings-liquid-gold.html?_r=0

-------------------
Summer snowstorm hits California's Eastern Sierra - 7/11
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-83967066/

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/06/30/water-arizona-warning/29532993/

And while we're on the topic of drought and climate change... dig these two:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/opinion/mark-bittman-what-oysters-reveal-about-sea-change.html

A long read, very interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/how-california-is-winning-the-drought.html?_r=0


(If you bookmark any news site, the NYT should be at the top of the list.)

I'm doin' my part, showering once a week or so... and people still sit beside me on the bus, no problem.

Another dull month of drought...

Posted 6/28

6/10
It actually rained! Just for a while, but that's pretty unusual for the SF area in June.
Only got a 10th or a few 100th of an inch in many places, but that broke records!
That's how rare rain in June is here.

6/16 - some 'cirruss-ly'-interesting hi clouds.
Definitely some cirrus fibratus in here...
I am not sure what else... but it's definitely interesting!

So for lack of interesting new images, here's a few oldies but goodies:


Above, somewhere in Nevada, this is called 'virga' - rain starts to fall but a dry layer of air beneath it evaporates the rain before it ever reaches the ground.

Above, early morning low clouds/fog part, enough to let a blast of sun shine on the bay water. Princeton harbor, south of SF, close to the famous Mavericks surf spot.


Let's hope summer brings some fog!

This drought has inspired a whole lot of discussion about water in the west:

http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2015/05/29/10-california-drought-myths-debunked/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/federal-dollars-are-financing-the-water-crisis-in-the-west/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/25/the-disappearing-river

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rich-californians-youll-have-to-pry-the-hoses-from-our-cold-dead-hands/2015/06/13/fac6f998-0e39-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html

People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently on social media. “We pay significant property taxes based on where we live,” he added in an interview. “And, no, we’re not all equal when it comes to water.”


An editorial comment? We are all equal, we all live on the same planet...don't we?


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/19/us-usa-drought-wine-insight-idUSKBN0OZ0CI20150619

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/science/troubled-delta-system-is-californias-water-battleground.html?_r=0

http://news.yahoo.com/decades-old-water-rights-california-halted-amid-drought-073114017.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/federal-dollars-are-financing-the-water-crisis-in-the-west/

Nor Cal residents worry water bottling plant will hurt environment:

"The glacier-studded stratovolcano is the source of much of California's water. Snowmelt percolates through fractured rock to burst forth in clear cold springs below before making its way to Shasta Lake, which holds about 40% of the federal Central Valley Project's stored supply"
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-83499853/

-------------------------------
http://www.boomcalifornia.com/2015/04/the-great-thirst/

http://www.boomcalifornia.com/2015/04/reading-the-drought/

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/02/403719502/all-tapped-out-in-a-tiny-california-town

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-california.html?_r=0

The end of California? I don't think so, not by a long shot.