Month: October 2010

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween by Just Us 3

(Used under the Creative Commons license)

It is a holiday I have always enjoyed, not the trick or treating as much as the story behind this event. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day.

Samhain is a Gaelic festival held on October 31–November 1. The Irish name Samhain is derived from Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”. A harvest festival with ancient roots in Celtic polytheism, it was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and continued to be celebrated in late medieval times. Due to its date it became associated with the Christian festival All Saints’ Day, and greatly influenced modern celebration of Halloween.

Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living.
(Information from Wikipedia)

For us, here in Big Sur, it means the traditional Bal Masque at Nepenthe to benefit our local Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade. It is a wonderful time with incredible costumes, so enjoy, if you have a ticket, and if not – be quicker next year!

1000th post

Lordy. Do I really have that much to say?? I would never have thought I would post this many times when I started. So, to celebrate, here’s a glass of Savignon Blanc from NZ to all my readers, contributors, and lurkers. You are the best! Okay, that’s enough. I’ll go on to storm reports now.

Toasting 1000

1/2 inch last night.

Rocky Fire near Atascadero?

First, if you are in Santa Cruz, there is a controlled burn between you and Pacheco Pass, it may look like its coming from Coe SP, depending on your location. It is a controlled burn.

Second, I was watching and photographing the clouds, as saw smoke drift to the south. I have been investigating and determined (so far) that there was a fire yesterday on Vandenburg AFB that may still be sending up drift. I also determined there is a fire in SLO Co, out toward Atascadero. This was what was reported about 1/2 an hour ago.

Start Aprox 12:30 Location is Rocky Canyon Truck Trail near Atascadero.
50+ acres.
Moderate rate of spread in brush. No structure threat.
40% contained

This is a photo I took about 10 mins ago, but there has since been an increase, which I will show you as soon as I post this. I will update the photo below with a new one just above it.

Rocky Fire 4 pm, 10/29

While the drift is increasing, this one can’t last the night with the storm coming in.

Watching a Storm come in

9:03 pm – there it is. The rain finally came on shore. I can’t hear the thunder, but I have a dog that can. I can always tell, as she is afraid of thunder and guns, and hides and shakes. It is apparently far off, as she is not shaking hard, but she hears it.

This is what NOAA said 15 mins. ago –

“AS OF 8:45 PM PDT FRIDAY…THE UPPER LOW OFF THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST IS FINALLY BEING KICKED EAST BY A TROUGH DROPPING TO THE SE OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA. NOW THAT THE UPPER LOW HAS BEGUN TO MOVE EAST…THE FRONTAL RAIN BAND THAT HAS REMAINED NEARLY STATIONARY…AND MOSTLY OFFSHORE…FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS IS FINALLY BEGINNING TO COME ASHORE. RAINFALL THIS EVENING HAS BEEN LIGHT SO FAR…BUT EXPECT INTENSITY TO PICK UP OVERNIGHT AS THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY APPROACHES THE COAST…ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF OUR AREA WHERE MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS WILL BE BEST. LESS THAN A HALF INCH OF RAIN IS EXPECTED IN MOST AREAS OVERNIGHT. AND…SOME OF THE RAIN-SHADOWED VALLEYS OF THE SF BAY AREA MAY NOT PICK UP ANY MEASURABLE RAIN. AS MUCH AS AN INCH OF RAIN MAY FALL ACROSS THE SANTA LUCIA RANGE OF MONTEREY COUNTY OVERNIGHT…PARTICULARLY IF SOME CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OCCURS AS THE COLD POOL ALOFT APPROACHES THE COAST. THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES CLOSE TO THE UPPER LOW OUT NEAR 35N/135W SINCE LATE AFTERNOON. THE 00Z NAM INDICATES THE MOST UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL REMAIN OVER THE COASTAL WATERS OVERNIGHT. EVEN SO…A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER SANTA CRUZ AND MONTEREY COUNTY LATER TONIGHT AS THE UPPER LOW APPROACHES THE COAST.”

One of the joys about living on top of a mountain, is watching a storm come in. I cannot always do it. Sometimes I am in the middle of a cloud and can see little. But on sunny days like this, I can track its progress. I will post other photos as the storm approaches, if the weather and time allows.

5:00 pm and all the blue in the sky is gone. The dogs and I are are settling in for a nice fall storm, so until the morning storm report, I bid you a pleasant evening. But before I go, let me leave you with the current Nexrad. Red is developing in the radar, directly off the Big Sur Coast. I call this one, “uh, oh.”

uh oh ...

Here is a photo from 4 pm (here it comes!)

And here is the matching Nexrad:

Here is the one for almost noon:

Watching a storm come in 10/29/10

And here is the nexrad, from about 1:30. The animation looks like it is tracking more to the north than east towards Big Sur, and watching the clouds through my glass door, I can see them moving north, out over the ocean.

Weekend Forecast

The rain will slowly move south but very little to the east
tonight, reaching San Francisco by about midnight. There
is a slight chance for a light shower during tonight’s World
Series game but it is expected the game will be dry for the
most part.

The cold front will accelerate southward on Friday, with rain
spreading southeastward through the day and reaching San Luis
Obispo by Friday evening (between 5 and 9 p.m.) Rain will
continue through Saturday morning.

Rainfall amounts should range between 0.50 and 1.00 inches
along the beaches and coastal valleys and 1.5 and 2.5 inches
in the mountains between Cambria and Atascadero.

Clearing will occur Saturday afternoon, with partly cloudy skies
continuing through Sunday with temperatures ranging between
the 60’s to low 70’s.

Strong high pressure will rapidly build across California on
Monday and Tuesday, bringing fair skies and temperatures in
the 70’s with a chance for a few 80’s on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fire Watch to Weather Watch

In anticipation of the storm coming in Friday, I have changed from fire watch mode to storm watch mode, which I do about this time each year. Fire season is effectively over, and we came through unscathed – in fact, most of the state did, also, except for some stubborn fires in Kern Co.

My links on the right have been changed so that those who wish to check weather reports, road reports, rivers, and other items of value during this season can do so easily.

Nextrad for tomorrow:

I like the yellow tulips, but will change them in November to be season appropriate to the northern hemisphere. Start thinking about a winter Big Sur photo you might want to submit for the December 21st header contest.

Kiwiland in Photos, part I

This was our first day in NZ in Auckland. We stayed at the Hyatt, very close to downtown. Our first room offering had a great view, but only one bed. Rose and I are close, but not that close, so we moved to a room with no view, but two beds. Our last night there (after seeing some of the island) combined both the great view AND two beds.

This was the view from the 9th floor. The building behind the trees is the Government House, built in the 1800’s when Auckland became the capital of NZ.

That night, our first, we went to the Orbit restaurant atop the Sky Tower. It is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. For a woman who is challenged by heights, I did well – as long as I looked out, but not directly down. The latter was hard NOT to do, as there was a glass floor in the elevator (oh, mercy!) and in parts of the observation deck. Not only was the view outstanding, the food was incredible!

And this is the sky tower from below.

(to be continued as time allows)

Antelope Fire, Highway 46 SLO Co.

Just as I was going to transition from fire watch to weather watch mode, a new fire broke out along Highway 46 in SLO Co. It is near the Kern County line. As of 4:15 pm, it was reported as 300 acres and 15% contained. The forward rate has been slowed. Containment is expected by about 1 am tomorrow. NOAA has issued a frost warning for tonight in parts of the inland valleys, so that should help.

Lesson learned. It’s not over quite yet.

Controlled burn

By now, most of you in Big Sur already know about the controlled burn at Andrew Molera, but just in case you missed it, here is the announcement:

Andrew Molera State Park Prescribed Burn 10/2010

What: California State Parks is planning to conduct a prescribed burn in Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur.

When: Burning will occur when enough rain has fallen that the majority of the vegetation within drainages surrounding the burn plots will not carry fire, but grasslands and coyote brush will burn at a low to moderate intensity. Assuming weather conditions are favorable, this will occur sometime during the last week of October or the first week of November.

Why: We are burning for the second year in this project area in order to manage for native grasslands (Coastal Prairie) that exist within Andrew Molera State Park. This very diverse plant community is rare in California and has been largely replaced by European annual grassland, coastal scrub and chaparral. Our intent is to slow the growth of coyote brush and non-native grasses in parts of northeastern and southwestern Andrew Molera State Park (see map), where healthy stands of Coastal Prairie exist.

Who: This prescribed burn will be conducted by the California State Parks Central Coast Prescribed Burn Team. This crew has extensive prescribed burning experience in parks throughout the central and northern California Coast. Support will also be provided by at least one of the following agencies: Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service, Big Sur Fire Brigade and North Tree Fire.

Where: The 350 acre project site is divided into 12 burn plots, which will be burned separately (see map). This year we hope to burn Plot 1 and the northern part of Plot 2 on the west side of Hwy 1. These flat plots are 23 and 8 acres respectively. Portions of Plot 1 will be re-planted/seeded with purple needle grass and California oat grass one or two winters after the burn. We tried to burn these plots last year, but were not able to get the correct meteorological, environmental and logistical conditions.

More information: A Cal Fire Burning Permit, a Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District Smoke Management Permit, and a Coastal Development Permit have been issued for this project. In addition, a Mitigated Negative Declaration, a Biological Survey Report and several plant and animal surveys have been completed. A copy of the plan, permits and maps can be found at the Big Sur Station Visitor Center. If you have questions or comments, please call Jeff Frey at 667-0148.
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Weather reports are indicating more rain on Thursday night and Sunday. I’ll be keeping an eye on that. Hopefully, I’ll be posting a couple NZ photos tomorrow for your viewing pleasure.