Month: December 2014

Road work from Co line to Gorda this weekend

Today’s Date: Friday, December 19, 2014

MONTEREY COUNTY– A maintenance project to remove slide material and perform drainage work will take place on a 10-mile section of Highway 1 between the Monterey/San Luis Obispo County line and Gorda tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 20 and Sunday, Dec. 21, Caltrans officials have announced.

Work hours are from 7 am to 3 pm both days under one-way traffic control with flaggers. Motorists can expect a delay not to exceed 15 minutes. Electronic Message Boards will be activated to alert motorists.

The purpose of this two-day emergency project is to clean up after the recent batch of storms and will be performed by the Willow Springs and Templeton North maintenance crews. This emergency roadwork is necessary to ensure all of the maintenance needs of the coast highway area are met. Work will be completed on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 21, weather permitting.

NOTE: Access to businesses will remain open via Hwy. 1 between Ragged Point and Big Sur.

Foto Friday, 12/19/14

It has been a few weeks, but … Here are a couple I took this week out my window during breaks in our storms.

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Highway One Open again

It opened early this am, but I fell back asleep. Sorry.

The accident which tied up Wildcat last night was a fatality of one of our own. Very sad news. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

Highway One looks to be closing

9:45 pm – CHP is calling for CT to close the road. This is what it looks like now:

Details 00416 8:36 PM Traffic Hazard Sr1 S / Little Sur 1 AT LITTLE SUR MM 56.0 and MM 58-59.5 Monterey

Detail Information
9:43 PM 4 [16] 27-S1 1039 ENTAC and LT KACZOR
9:36 PM 3 [15] BIXBY BRIDGE 59.5
9:34 PM 2 [12] [Appended, 21:34:41] [9] 1039 ERIC DEGROOT , WILL MAKE CALLOUTS FOR ROAD CLOSURE, WILL 1021 WHEN ENRT
9:31 PM 1 [9] [Appended, 21:34:41] [6] 27-S1 CPS IN DISPATCH / HAVE CT CLOSED RDWY and HAVE 74B 1022’D
Unit Information
8:39 PM 2 Unit Assigned
9:30 PM 1 Unit Cleared

MM56 is Little Sur; MM 58 is Hurricane Point; 59.5 is Bixby Bridge. Looks like Hurricane Point is the point of problem, and other two are closure points. Just a guess.

Big Sur Storm Report, December 16, 2014

8:20 pm – lots of thunder. Up to 1.03″

7:00 pm – rain really kicked up about an hour ago. At 6:30, the rain rate was 2.24″/hour. This morning, after the 4:30 am downpour, I measured .20″ of rain. Now, I am at .77″.

7:30 am -woke at 4:30 am with a downpour, thunder, and lightning. Now, I see a lot of blue sky, but a tad chilly at 42.

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Big Sur Storm Report, 12/15/14

Details 00273 2:10 PM CLOSURE of a Road Sr1 S / Sr68 Holman SB SR1 ON THE OFR TO WB SR68 Monterey

Noon – thus far, .48″ of rain. Strongest winds have been 32 mph at 11:17 am. And only 43 degrees with a wind chill of 35. Brrr… So far so good with the roads.

Flash Flood Watch Issued for Big Sur

FLOOD WATCH…CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
132 PM PST SUN DEC 14 2014

.PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL DEVELOP BY EARLY MONDAY MORNING AND
THEN CONTINUE FOR MUCH OF THE DAY MONDAY. RAIN WILL TURN TO
SHOWERS BY MONDAY EVENING. THE HEAVY RAIN ON TOP OF LAST WEEKS
RAINFALL WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODING AND MINOR DEBRIS FLOWS TO THE HILLS ABOVE BIG SUR INCLUDING HIGHWAY 1.
SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS AND LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST-
132 PM PST SUN DEC 14 2014

…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HAS ISSUED
A

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR COASTAL MONTEREY COUNTY…INCLUDING THE
FOLLOWING AREA…SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS AND LOS PADRES NATIONAL
FOREST. THIS INCLUDES HIGHWAY 1 SOUTH OF CARMEL TO THE SAN LUIS
OBISPO COUNTY LINE.

* FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON

* PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN DEVELOPING EARLY MONDAY MORNING WILL
CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF MONDAY BEFORE TAPERING TO SHOWERS
MONDAY NIGHT. 3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE
HILLS ABOVE BIG SUR AND HIGHWAY 1. EXPECT MINOR MUD AND DEBRIS
FLOWS ALONG HIGHWAY 1 AND SYCAMORE CANYON AS WELL AS ANY RECENT BURN SCARS.

* RESIDENTS OF BIG SUR SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE CLOSURES OF HIGHWAY 1 AND PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.

Atmospheric River takes aim at the South Coast of Big Sur

For the first time in recent history (probably ever) The Weather Channel specifically mentions Lucia, Gorda, and Cambria, the biggest town – of a whopping 6,000 – being Cambria. It is because this is where this next big storm is expected to come ashore. This will find us late tonight or early tomorrow. The last one took aim at Santa Cruz and Big Sur Valley. Now it is our turn. I am as ready as I can be. Take advantage of this break, as the next one is not due until Thursday.

Take a look at the info I added to the last post, The Calm Before the Storm, for some good info and links about this Atmospheric River.

Calm Before the Next Storm

Actually, it is a series of storms, progged to hit us every day this week but Thursday, starting late tonight/early tomorrow.

And this gorgeous shot is by Lisa Kleissner.

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Thanks for sharing, Lisa!

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Atmospheric River

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Graphic and great article from Scientific American blog

The flow pattern of the atmospheric river now battering the West Coast is classic. The University of Wisconsin at Madison maintains a terrific Web site that shows the flows in real time, updated every five minutes. A snapshot from last night is below. The dark red swath across the equator is the tropical rain band that is usually present; the atmospheric river is the sweeping jet of water vapor (blue in the image) that shoots off towards the U.S.

University of Wisconsin website