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.”

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

And here is the matching Nexrad:

Here is the one for almost noon:

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.