Day: December 9, 2009

Just How Cold Is It?

I knew you were asking yourself that question. I haven’t looked at the thermometer, BUT, I can show you!

This was Monday night:

This was late this afternoon:

The water in the dog’s dish outside had been frozen for three DAYS! The lowest temperature I’ve ever recorded up here, and I don’t remember the year (would have to check all those calendars which are packed away) is 19 degrees, F. The highest has been 117 degrees. A land of extremes. That’s Big Sur.

And here is a great set of photos from the Mt. Wilson Observatory, one taken during the Station Fire, and the other taken yesterday. Firefighterblog put these together for us. Can you say Fire and Ice??

Snow Blankets 2009 California Fire Grounds

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Road Closure at County Line Update

Charlie Hench, Cal-Trans engineer, called this morning and informed me that the drilling one mile north of Ragged Point is going slower than anticipated. Closure will continue from 8 pm – 5 am tonight and Thursday. No drilling will occur Friday and Saturday night, then closures will be reinstated for Sunday, December 13 at 8:00 pm through 5;00 am, and continue on that schedule until Friday, December 18th at 5:00 am.

The Big Sur Chamber of Commerce has asked me to make sure that readers understand ALL businesses in Big Sur continue to remain open, if traveling from the north during closure hours, with the exception of Ragged Point, which will only be accessible from the south. And remember, closures do not happen on Friday or Saturday night.

I send out important information like this via a Big Sur email list I created just for that purpose. If you would like to be included on that list, please send an email to me at kwnovoa@mac.com Another way to receive it directly is to simply sign up for an email subscription to my blog posts. The link to do that is at the bottom of the side panel to the right.

Reminders & Weather Report, 12/9/09

First, a reminder that tonight is the fund raiser for the Gries family at TreeBones Resort. The silent auction and entertainment begin at 6:30 pm, with dinner at 7:00. Dinner alone is $50. An overnight stay for two, with dinner and breakfast is $200. Full information is available at my original post.

Also, don’t forget the reception/dinner at Big Sur State Park Lodge for author Dr. Mark Stromberg tomorrow, Thursday. The details are in my original post.

Lastly, don’t forget that the closure of Highway One, one mile north of Ragged Point continues from 8 pm until 5 pm. This is a HARD closure, and no one will be allowed through. This closure continues through Friday.

And as to weather, well, there was ice on the INSIDE of my bedroom window yesterday morning, the water in the dog dish stayed frozen all day, the water in the hose was completely frozen and could not be turned on. Let’s see what today brings. My total rainfall for this past storm was .6 inches, bringing the season total to 16.6 inches. This equates to 1/2 inch in September, 15.5 inches on October 13th, and this past 6/10 of an inch. The storm coming on Thursday does not appear to be significant, and only a few tenths of an inch are expected. The bigger storm seems poised to hit us on Saturday through Sunday, so stay tuned.