5:45 pm – ROCK/DIRT/MUD SLIDE AT MM 33 BLOCKING THE NB LANE NEAR ESALEN’S BACK GATE. WATCH OUT – IT IS MOVING!!

3:30 pm – unbelievably, there is a wildland fire on the other end of the Los Padres National Forest with structures threatened. Hard to believe as I sit here and listen to the wind and the rain pelt this mountain top!

3:00 pm – my neighbor just got back from work at Lucia, where there was not a single customer, to report his wind gauge recorded 82 mph winds. I am usually a bit higher, so 90 mph is not a bad guess. Still windy, but not that high! And the rain seems to have abated for now. He also reported there were lots of rocks coming down on the highway down here, so NOT a good day to be out and about.

12:45 pm – CHP reports rocks in the NB lane from Coast Gallery to Palo Colorado this am, but it appears to all be cleared. With this tremendous amount of rain in such a short period of time, rock and mud slides are highly likely, so drive carefully, and keep a “heads-up” if you need to be traveling Highway One this weekend.

I have brought back most of my weather links for the duration of this whopper of a storm there on the right under 2010-2011 La Niña links (the bitch). Thanks for bringing that to my attention, Barbara Ray.

I have gotten AT LEAST 2 inches, thus far, and there is no sign of lessening. The winds are horrific, hurricane force, but I can’t give you exact speed as my gauge is still inside. All I can say, is it is a nasty one, reminiscent of January. Yeah, it will cut down on the dust, delay the fire season, and cut down on the bug life, but at the moment, I feel as if I am in the midst of a hurricane! Oh, life in the wilds of Big Sur, eh? Hope you all are fairing better.

Here is a shot of the cyclone which is spinning over us. I’ll add more info throughout the day.

Here is the second one:

At noon, NOAA is reporting 3″ in the last 24 hours in Big Sur, and over 5 and 1/2″ at Mining Ridge – so yeah, I’d say I got WAY over 2″! Lots of banging outside. I am not liking this at all!