Tag: Big Sur

Storm Report, 2/28/14

10:00 pm – I’m signing off for the evening. Thus far, I recorded 2.44″ since midnight. Winds are up a bit, again, but nothing like last night. Stay warm, stay dry, and sleep well.

And this is what we have to look forward to tomorrow – at least predicted!

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2:00 pm – thunder and lightning just started. Wind howling again, and up to almost 2″ thus far? Rain rate 2.67″/hour. Whoa, Nellie! Up to 5.14″/hour! Unbelievable! Here comes that 7-8″

20140228-133553.jpgHere is the most recent satellite. Compare it to the last one.

Noon – no rain at the moment, winds calming down, gusts only to 10 mph. Whew! It is time for a nap!

11:00 am – 1.5″ Del Venturi Rd in Ft Hunter Liggett closed. Road still open to Cambria, so far.

20140228-104933.jpg10:00 am – 1.2″, sustained winds of 30 mph. Water spouts off Point Sur per NWS. Lots of fun! 38 degrees and dropping!

9:00 am – road conditions – slide JNO of Garrapata Bridge and Traffic Hazard at Soberanes Point of unknown type. I’m willing to get there are other, unreported as yet problems.

8:00am – Winds gusted to 71 mph this am. Rain totals sitting edging up on 8/10ths, dogs went out during a break in the rain, only to be caught in a down pour. Lid blew off the wood box outside, taking a railing with it, despite being secured. Raining cats and dogs at the moment, at the rate of 2″ per hour. Big, big tree blocking Plaskett per my neighbor, and that’s just the first one. Missy and Dakota got into a dog fight with blood and a torn ear. So, how is your morning going? Add your storm stories this am.20140228-103956.jpg

BSMAAC meeting postponed

Dear MAAC members,
Based on the storm forecast of heavy winds and up to 6” of rain expected on the Big Sur coast late tonight into tomorrow morning, the MAAC meeting has been cancelled for Friday, Feb. 28th and rescheduled for Friday, March 7th at 10:00 am. Thank you for your understanding and I will look forward to seeing you next week.

Kathleen Lee
Chief of Staff for
Supervisor Dave Potter
(831) 647-7755

Now that the meeting I had come off the hill for is canceled, my blood test done, I think I’m going to make a run for it, with a stop for groceries and gas, propane and lunch in Big Sur! Smart to get back up my hill before the big one hits! Bigsurkate

Hey, Big Sur! What’s next?

This looks like fun!

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In the mean time, there are blue skies in Monterey.

Be safe, always, but particularly tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday. Keep an eye out for flooding.

Highway One Open as of 6:30 am

I think the title says it all. From Cal Trans:

“A rock slide overnight on Highway 1 south of Big Sur near Coast Gallery @ Post Mile 42 has been cleared and the roadway reopened. this morning with no restrictions.”

Rain is here!

4:00 – This is Dave Allen’s take on these storms. Wind advisory start now!

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Sweet! Look what’s coming:

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1:30 – wind advisory just issued.

1:00 pm – in town. Rained on and off most of the way here, but hasn’t been any rain in town for last hour. At Jeep dealer, as it won’t go into Low Range, even though all of that was serviced a month ago! I’m not a happy camper, as it is impossible to come DOWN Plaskett in the mud without 4x4low. Did make it this am because I left early, it hadn’t rained but .2″ so not too muddy. Only slid 3 times!!

Sycamore Canyon closed to all but residents. PG & E warning about possible outages due to high winds and downed trees. Treat all downed wires as live, but you all know the drill. Be safe everyone!

7:30 am – It arrived at 7:25, earlier than expected. I was planning on getting out of here around 10, now, I may want to make that a bit earlier! It is currently raining at the rate of .22″ per hour. Watch for updates through out the day, but I will be traveling north, so updates will be sporadic.

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Great News! Rain on the way!

Maybe fire season will finally end?

From NOAA’s forecast discussion:

DISCUSSION…AS OF 09:05 AM PST SUNDAY…THE MARINE LAYER LITTLE TO NO CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN TODAY INTO TUESDAY…AS HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS THE DOMINATING WEATHER FEATURE. EXPECT TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S TO LOW 70S WITH MORE DRY WEATHER.

BIG CHANGES IN STORE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK AS A SERIES OF STORM SYSTEMS MOVE TOWARD THE REGION. BOTH WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY PROMISE TO BRING SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL (ESPECIALLY FROM WHAT WE HAVE SEEN THIS YEAR) AND GUSTY SOUTH WINDS. PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE FORECAST FOR DETAILS ON THESE UPCOMING STORMS!

THE FORECAST MODELS REMAIN PERSISTENT … THE FIRST IMPULSE WILL ARRIVE WEDNESDAY AND BRING
WIDESPREAD LIGHT TO OCCASIONALLY MODERATE RAINFALL TO THE REGION. THE BULK OF THE PRECIPITATION FROM THIS FIRST SYSTEM IS SET TO OCCUR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH RAINFALL AMOUNTS GENERALLY BETWEEN 1/2 TO 1 INCH. GREATER AMOUNTS UPWARDS OF 2 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS BY THURSDAY MORNING. A BRIEF BREAK IN RAIN WILL OCCUR ON THURSDAY AS THE FIRST SYSTEM MOVES TO THE EAST. MEANWHILE, THE MID/UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO DEEPEN ACROSS THE PACIFIC AND SEND A SECOND IMPULSE TOWARD THE CALIFORNIA COAST ON FRIDAY. THIS STORM SYSTEM WILL TAP INTO MUCH DEEPER MOISTURE AND WILL TRIGGER MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE REGION FRIDAY THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY. AS THE CENTER OF THE MID/UPPER LOW MOVES INLAND…GUSTY WINDS FROM THE SOUTH WILL ALSO DEVELOP AND MAY CAUSE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS AS THE SOILS BECOME SATURATED.

RAINFALL TOTALS THROUGH SATURDAY ARE CURRENTLY PROJECTED TO RANGE BETWEEN 1 TO 2 INCHES IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WITH 2 TO 5 INCHES IN THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO FINE TUNE THE FORECAST IN THE COMING DAYS AND FOCUS OUR ATTENTION ON THE PROJECTED RAINFALL AMOUNTS AS WELL AS THE POTENTIAL FOR DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES ON FRIDAY WHEN WIND SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE STRONGEST. LOCALIZED URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE LATE IN THE WEEK WHERE THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL OCCURS.
STAY TUNED!

Don Harlan ( the original road warrior)’s theory of Big Sur’s rain patterns may be proving itself once again. He always said if we got little rain in December, watch out in March!

Here is NOAA’s graph of the rain we can expect.

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And here is the radar pic sent to me by Dave Allen.

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Quite the series headed our way. Be prepared and be safe!

By the way, there is a new weather station at Pacific Valley School. The link is PV weather station I’ll be adding this to my weather links to the right. It is quite detailed.

Upcoming Week

While I completely LOVED the rain, and like everyone, I am praying for more, today was a nice change from the last four days. Sunny, gorgeous, summer-like – including looking down at fog on the coast. Our drought is the lead story on the CBS Evening News tonight, while the East and South are preparing for another horrific snow storm. Here, this week is expected to be warm and sunny. I’d like to get away from my computer, away from the Internet, and start working in a dreadfully, woefully neglected garden. So, if you don’t hear from me, check outside in the dirt!

And just for grins … Something I found on FB. 😉

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Boulder in Road, Highway One, Big Sur

UPDATE – Correction, incident near Coast Gallery, mm 40. Here is the CHP update:

Detail Information
1:29 PM 5 [20] A27-014 SO DPTY W/UNIT WHILE HE WAITS FOR 1185 FOR HIS PATROL VEH [Shared]
1:25 PM 4 [19] A27-014 97 W/SO MM 40 SO BO VEH AND SML ROCK SLIDE / NEAR TC W/PATROL VEH // REQ CALTRANS [Shared]
1:04 PM 3 [17] 1039 BRUCE W/DOT WILL SEND PLOW OUT [Shared]
12:56 PM 2 [13] [Appended, 13:02:10] [4] 2FT BOULDER IN THE #1 LANE
12:54 PM 1 [1] 1125 NB LN , RP WAS ABLE TO GET AROUND ON SB SIDE

There is a big boulder in the road near the Deli. As those who live here know, this might just be the first of many. This is in the area burned in the Pfeiffer Fire in December. Fortunately we are not getting pounded like Marin – 6″ in 12 hours, and parts of Sonoma are approaching 12″ of rain. Still, be aware, pay attention, and SLOW DOWN!

1:04 PM 3 [17] 1039 BRUCE W/DOT WILL SEND PLOW OUT [Shared]
12:56 PM 2 [13] [Appended, 13:02:10] [4] 2FT BOULDER IN THE #1 LANE
12:54 PM 1 [1] 1125 NB LN , RP WAS ABLE TO GET AROUND ON SB SIDE

New Drought Category

A new drought category has been created. It is called, “exceptional drought.” It is the Category Five of droughts. The coastal portion of Big Sur is not yet in this category, but the mountain/eastern portions are. Including me. Coastal areas are in “extreme drought” or Category 4 conditions. As we all know, this is not good. It is even more surreal to write this as I watch the news of Atlanta recover from a little bit OS snow.

My rain gauge measured absolutely zilch today. I thought maybe when I moved it a few weeks ago I might not have gotten it straight, but considering that seems to be the consensus in other areas that showed some wetness, but no measurable rain, it probably is fine. I did get some dampness up here, but mostly under trees and on window screens. Certainly could not call it rain under anyone’s definition.

I am a native Californian. I have lived in this state all my life. I am going to be 65. I have never experienced anything like this. Extreme measures are in the works and necessary. Conserve, be aware, and educate those who aren’t.