It is cleared. Photo. Y Debbie Reed
9:30 am – another slide, this one near River Inn. Only blocking 1/2 a lane, so not closing road. Should be able to get clear in no time, but considering that we have more rain on the way for the next two days, could be a precursor of things to come. Please be safe out there!
From Dan Danbom – and I join in the sentiment!
And from Dave Allen, aka Captain Lingcod!
And from Wally Miller:
From ??
Merry Christmas, everyone! I’ll be cooking a mustard-herb crusted rack of lamb with all the fixings today, so that Rock Knocker and I can enjoy our Christmas together. I’ll check in, occasionally, but unless there is another emergency, I am taking the day off. Felix Navidad, everyone.
CALTRANS PRESS RELEASE
Today’s Date: Monday, December 24, 2012 at 5 pm
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*Update #2*
HIGHWAY 1 SOUTH OF BIG SUR IS CLOSED AT PARTINGTON RIDGE ROAD DUE TO A ROCK SLIDE; ROADWAY OPEN AT RAGGED POINT
MONTEREY COUNTY – Highway 1 will remain CLOSED overnight and Christmas Day a few miles south of Big Sur due to a major rock slide that occurred on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 23.
Caltrans is mobilizing an emergency contractor to clear the large debris field and to repair a 60-foot section of the damaged roadway at Partington Ridge Road.
The highway is shut down just south of Deetjens Big Sur Inn (Mile Marker 42) and at Lucia (Mile Marker 23). There is no official estimated time of opening but we are working to have one lane available to traffic later this week.
The rock slide south of Gorda at Mile Marker 7 was cleared at noon today so there is NO closure at Ragged Point in SLO County.
4:50 PM 14 [41] PER STEVE/CALTRANS MM 38 STILL CLOSED DUE TO LARGE ROCKS/BOULDERS ON RDWY [Shared]
11:00 am -Rock Knocker just saw a whole convoy of CalTrans vehicles heading north to Partington.
10:30 AM 52 [136] A27-014 150 DMG”D RDWY BOTH LNS , HOLES THROUGH OUT , BOULDERS LRGR THAN SUVS [Shared]
9:54 am – From my son, who needed to go north, this report:
“road is closed for the day, holes in road, rocks as big as cars, partington ridge road fell onto Hwy 1, going over NF, love you bye”
9:53 AM 42 [122] [Notification] [CHP]-CT SPOKE WITH DIST MNGR WILL TRY TO OPEN F/RAGGED PT TO WILLOW SPRINGS TO GET TRAFFIC FLOWING AROUND 1200 HRS WILL TRY TO DO THEIR BEST BUT MM 38.5 WILL POSS NOT BE OPEN TODAY [Shared]
9:44 AM 41 [119] [Notification] [CHP]-PER CALTRANS MM 38.5 AT THE BIG SUR AREA WILL BE CLOSED MOST OF THE DAY 1023”G FOR THE GEOLOGIST TO CHECK IF AREA IS STABLE [Shared]
9:00 am – here is the slide just south of Alder Creek. Photo by John Handy, of Treebones Resort. I will get it uploaded as soon as possible. The other slide is at Partington Rd. it has large, truck-sized boulders, so will take a while to clear. Hopefully, I will have a photo of that to upload later.
6:30 am – the Cal Trans crews should be rolling out just about now, probably in both directions to assess the damage, and hopefully clearing what they can. I wouldn’t expect a report from them for at least an hour, maybe two.
After midnight sometime, a reader reported VW sized boulders near the bottom of Partington Ridge Rd. , which is 15 miles north of Lucia. Whether this is the same, or a different one than reported as being just North of Lucia at MP 23, is anyone’s guess. CHP website reported this:
4:43 AM 38 [104] [Appended, 05:20:44] [1] LGE VEH SIZE BOULDERS IN RDWY [Shared]
I will update this post throughout the day as information becomes available.
It is hard to tell from this photo, but there are 40+ stranded tourists sleeping in their cars at Lucia, and three RVs. They’re stuck between the two slides. CalTrans will be out at first light to clear the road both north and south, if possible. I have no idea how bad it is, as I have received no first hand reports. My son spoke with a German tourist parked at Lucia for the night and the tourist said there boulders covering the road 12 kilometers north. I have been in email contact with both the PIO, Colin Jones, and Greg DeAlba, the Supervisor of the Willow Springs maintenance yard, and CT will be out at first light.
Just got a call at 5:41 pm, from Colin Jones of Cal-Trans. Highway One is closed from Ragged Point to just South of Big Sur at mm 42. (Grimes)There is a slide near south of Gorda, Colin said near Alder Creek, but i suspect Mud Creek, as that has been acting out lately, and a number of other places are questionable. The highway is closed for the night. It will be re-evaluated in the morning, and Colin will call with additional information in the morning. I apologize for the original typos that my subscribers see, but I am on iPad most of the time, and typos are the way of typing by touch.
At 3:48 pm, CHP reports rocks in the road at Hurricane Point on Highway One. Of course, this isn’t much, but it *could* be a sign or symptom. I can’t remember the year this slid before, but it cut us off to the north for MONTHS. Anyone remember the year?
1:00 pm – okay, our turn! I’ve been checking the CHP website regularly, and 90% of the problems – roadway flooding, mud/rock/dirt slides, and traffic hazards – have been in Santa Cruz County this morning. that might change. Since the heavy rain is upon us, keep safe, everyone, particularly if you have to be out and about. Here’s one CHP report I particularly like re Crg 12 and Strawberry Canyon Rd, which is out in Northern Monterey Co, near the Prundale area, I believe.
“12:56 PM 1 [1] HILL COMING DOWN INTO ROAD”
10:00 am – Santa Cruz is getting HAMMERED!
6:30 am – weather and road condition reports will be provided throughout the day, but to begin with, this report from NWS:
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
417 AM PST SUN DEC 23 2012
.DISCUSSION…AS OF 4:00 AM PST SUNDAY…ANOTHER WEATHER
SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE DISTRICT TODAY. THE LEADING EDGE OF
THE SYSTEM IS BRINGING LIGHT RAIN TO THE NORTH BAY THIS MORNING.
LIGHT RAIN WILL SPREAD OVER THE SFO AND MRY BAY [then picking up this afternoon] …. TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE 1 TO 2 INCHES ACROSS THE AREA WITH LOCALLY 2 TO 4 INCHES IN THE HILLS.
RAIN WILL END TONIGHT IN THE NORTH AND EARLY MONDAY MORNING IN
THE SOUTH. DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED MONDAY. A FAST-MOVING FRONTAL
SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BRING RAIN TO THE NORTH BAY TUESDAY
AFTERNOON SPREADING INTO THE REST OF THE DISTRICT TUESDAY NIGHT.
THE MAIN IMPACT OF THIS STORM WILL BE NORTH OF THE CWA SO RAINFALL
AMOUNTS WILL BE MUCH LESS THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM AFFECTING US.
THE EXTENDED FORECAST HAS A HIGH DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY AS WE MAY BE
DEALING WITH A CUTOFF LOW.
11:32 AM – highway 1 [1] MUD SLIDE AND BOULDER 1125 SB LANE ONLY
This is at Highway One, southbound at the intersection with Carmel Valley Rd. man, I’ve never seen a slide here in all my 28 years!
10:00 am – Okay, we’ve got weather, boys and girls, and we are going to HAVE weather, unsettled weather up until Xmas.
Here is a NEXRAD shot from early this am:
And here are the 24 hour rain totals from 6 am (when I GLANCED at my rain gauge at first light, I think it was around 1 and 1/2 inches, since yesterday afternoon)
Here is another NEXRAD shot from later this am (note the time in PST is on the top left)
And here is the most recently tweeted shot from NWS-Monterey. It shows a band of lightning and strong winds coming through Carmel:
6:45 am – the below incident is no longer listed on the CHP website, but boy did the rain just pick up. Weather reports later today.
IS REOPENED 13.7 MI NORTH OF SAN SIMEON (SAN LUIS OBISPO CO) AT 0615 HRS ON 12/22/12
IS REOPENED TO SOUTHBOUND TRAFFIC 0.2 MI SOUTH OF GORDA (MONTEREY CO) AT 0615 HRS ON 12/22/12
5:30 am – This from CHP this am. Will try to get more info when I can. I am guessing – operative word guessing – that this means that CalTrans set the road closure sign up at the Willow Springs Maintenance Yard. Nothing will be done until dawn.
Incident: 00024 Type: CLOSURE of a Road Location: Sr1 N / Gorda TBM/LatLon: 35.842500 -121.401944
Detail Information
5:10 AM 3 [9] 1039 MTRY COM [Shared]
12:37 AM 2 [4] CTRANS ENRT TO SET UP CLOSURE
12:37 AM 1 [3] REQUEST CLOSURE F/ CALTRANS
Unit Information
12:51 AM 2 Unit Assigned
12:51 AM 1 Unit At Scene
I have gotten a chuckle out of the Mayan Prophecy die hearts, have paid attention to the 11 year cycle of the Solar Maximums (which we are entering), have watched the “fiscal cliff” we are approaching (who comes up with these names, anyway?) but choose to focus on the lengthening of days and the holiday season of Joy.
Below, I repost one of my Winter Solstice posts from 2009:
“The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26′. Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used like Midwinter to refer to the day on which it occurs. For most people in the high latitudes this is commonly known as the shortest day and the sun’s daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest.” (Wikipedia)
There are as many different types of celebrations of this astrological event as there are cultures and religions, past and present. It is the “official” day of winter, here in the northern hemisphere, and it is when the days begin to lengthen again.
For me, rooted in a northern clime, the significance is both the beginning of winter, and the lengthening of the days. I am a person of the sun, who rises with it, and slows my rhythms when its time with me is also slowed. Long before we had a name to go along with these most natural of nature’s patterns (seasonal affective disorder), our bodies simply increased the secretion of melatonin in the body, causing longer sleep. Now, we know that special lights, plants, and negative ions can diminish the effect of the lesser sunlight.
It is a seasonal lull that many of nature’s plants and animals observe. It is a time for us to be focused inward rather than outward. Rather than fight the natural patterns, I choose to follow them, and become quiet, solitary, and introspective. Tomorrow, that time lessens, and my outward focus will begin its return, just as the sun increases its time in our northern skies.
I will celebrate the holidays with friends, as we all do, but for me, the true holiday is today, the Winter Solstice, when I begin my outward focus, once again, and leave the inner world I have come to inhabit.
I don’t usually post photos I find on FB, but this one is so good, and so appropriate! Sunrise this morning at Stonehedge.
HIGHWAY 1/ROCKY CREEK VIADUCT PROJECT CONTINUES WITH DAYTIME ROADWORK AND OVERNIGHT CLOSURES
MONTEREY COUNTY – Daytime roadwork on Highway 1 continues next week from 7 am to 5 pm Wednesday, Dec. 26 through Friday, Dec. 28. There will be NO overnight closures from Sunday, Dec. 23 through Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. There will be NO daytime closures on: Monday, Dec. 24, Tuesday, Dec. 25, Monday, Dec. 31 or Tuesday, January 1, 2013. Daytime and overnight roadwork resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013.
We have certainly had a wonderful proliferation of rainbows lately! Here is one from Martha Diehl:
