This photograph was [NOT – see correction] taken at the Lake Fire near Lakeport. It is pretty graphic. It was sent to a friend from a ff up there. He noted, “This could easily be Highway One, if people aren’t careful.” I wish I knew the photographer. If you do, please let me know.
CORRECTION: A friend, Jean LeBlanc, sent me a link to the REAL STORY behind this photo above. It was arson and caused 5 heart attack deaths. This photo shows The Old Fire jumping Highway 18 in Oct 2003 and was taken by Troy C. Whitman of Cypress, CA. Click on the link just below the photo for the rest of the story.
The stupidity I refer to is in reference to the fires mentioned below. The first was a campfire that Rock Knocker spotted on the way up yesterday. The people were out and about, but left their campfire burning, and their “stuff” was still there. He poured what water he had on it, and when he got up here, I called the USFS at PV Station. It was 2 miles up Plaskett.
08/11/2015 10:45 LPF-2408
New Wildfire PLASKETT RDG CG M . . . . . 35.932 x 121.431
then there was this one:
08/11/2015 17:35 FHL-2416
. Wildfire CONE PK LO M . . . light flashy fuel 5 [acres] 36.077 x 121.282
I do not know the source, but I’m willing to bet next month’s wages it was human caused.
Yesterday, there were two fires in SLO County. The largest, a couple hundred acres, was on Camp Roberts. The second started on the center divider of 101 and spread to the north bound lanes, near Welsona. CAL FIRE picked this one up. There was also a smoke check by LPNF for the west fork of Limekiln. The biggest fire, so far, was Wednesday and Thursday at training area 8 on Fort Hunter Leggitt. That one I and a neighbor smelled a strong smell of smoke Thursday night all the way up here.
A gentle reminder that fire season is here and we need to be cautious and aware.
5 pm – here is SLO lightning tracker. One can see that the lightning is coming across the SLO/Monterey Co line and here on the South Coast. I haven’t heard any, yet, but it definitely looks like rain. It is hard to see the county line here, but it is below the “50” and right smack through the middle of the northern group of cells.
Here is what RL (real life) looked like at 5 pm. It currently looks as if there might be rain over the ocean:
4 pm cloud build up (this is, of course, looking north, but the ESE is getting dark) Clouds, 9/10/11
1:00 pm – red flag warning ended at 11am. Here is what NWS said: “…RED FLAG WARNING FOR DRY LIGHTNING NO LONGER IN EFFECT. THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEKEND ARE EXPECTED TO BE WET…”
10:30 am – nothing visible here, and the clouds I woke to are gone. It is clear with a blanket of fog on the coast. However, all around us they are getting pounded with lightning strikes in Kern County and southern San Luis Obispo County as well as the LPNF in Santa Barbara. There are multiple down strikes in each of those three counties and complex fires (multiple strikes grouped together into one fire-fighting effort) are present in each county.
From my SLO weather source: “An upper-level low pressure system is anchored over southern California coast and will be slow to move out of the area resulting in scattered thunderstorms with rain and lightning today through Sunday.
The system has tapped into subtropical moisture and will continue to do so for the next couple days and, as a result, thunderstorms that develop will most likely be accompanied by possible heavy rain.
Since there is no well-defined front associated with this type of system, exact timing of thunderstorms and rain amounts is very difficult to predict. In other words, periods of sunshine or partly cloudy skies may last for extended periods, before bands of thunderstorms rolled through your area.
Note: Thunderstorms may be accompanied by lightning, gusty winds,heavy rain and hail.”
From a fire fighting source, “South Op’s has taken over 20,000 downstrikes in the last 24 hours. Most of the lightning on a line from the AZ border northwest to the SLO area appear to have light to moderate precip; Opal Mt. and White Mt. RAWS stations showed .24 and .27 inches of precip, but the majority of the RAWS stations showed less than .10 or no precip at all. but the storms farther north along the southern to central sierra foothills were light to no precip. Should be an interesting day.
Last year, the road had been closed to all traffic for the 3d day. This year, all campgrounds are full, and there are lots of people visiting establishments up and down the coast. It is so good to see. Keep on comin’ y’all.
I took a couple shots of the gardens at Ripplewood near the Big Sur Library today. Will post one or two tonight or tomorrow.
Personal update: Dakota continues to improve. While there is still a large “gap,” the inside is healing up nicely. No outside off a leash until completely healed. Mom was moved to a rehabilitation center Friday night. So far, she’s happy there. I don’t expect that to last.
On this date, bigsurkate was born (the blog, not the person). Thanks to all my readers for your comments, your contact, and for making this so much fun!!
Last year on July 4th, Big Sur was on lock down — a ghost town. This year, Big Sur was packed. Events were held at almost every venue. Cars lined the highway at Esalen, HML, Nepenthe, Spirit Garden, River Inn. Every where one went, crowds were enjoying music, food, drink.
What a difference a year makes.
YAY! I reached 100K “hits” today for my 1 year anniversary, with no small help from my son, Brendon Shave, and thanks to all of you this past year.
