And this would be why we have a road closure on the South Coast of Big Sur. Let’s see what the light discloses and hope that it can be cleared and opened today, Friday Feb. 7. Update: It indeed opened up at this spot on Friday. It is still closed due to Regent’s Slide at Big Creek, and between Regent’s and Paul’s, the highway has now been closed for a total of two years, the longest since it originally opened.
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With respect, I believe it's not that simple. "Triggering" processes are complex, but the term is relevant and useful as well as misleading when the other relevant factors aren't considered or . If rain were the only factor, we would be truly inundated. The site which fails is "ready" (other factors are near their limits) to fail, if all it takes is rain to trigger the event in all cases. There are a multiplicity of factors involved in slope (and other structural) failures. Witness that slope failures occur sometimes when other factors near the edge of resistance factors. Media/authority misinformation?
It's not "about" Big Sur, but it's a good link on the principles . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8IYbYIy2Ww
We had between 4 and 5 inches up here on Garrapatos above Palo Colorado.
I think that video is a really good explanation of how this works and how it happens. The specific situations and triggers will of course vary, and you can't necessarily predict exactly, but with research on a specific area like Big Sur, you could identify areas that would be at risk from ranges of rainfall. I guess most of coastal Big Sur would qualify, due to slope and ground content. The Regent slide is like this - continual water in the soil lubricating the slope.
Even with a month of no rain, some areas remained saturated. We got almost 10” this last storm up on the Mendocino Coast - just shy of 60” so far since November (like Big Sur used to get). Fortunately, no major slides from the recent storms but more rain is on the way next week. Stay safe everyone!