Winter Solstice 2013

[highz]

A blocking high has been keeping us dry in New Mexico for over a week. We sure could use some of that wet.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Sun/overcast-almost 60 degrees out there-but very very windy. Most of the snow that fell is almost all gone !Chance of snow later this week and a better chance next week ! What a strange year this has been!

Smoke

 

[camelracer]

Spent the day on the beach today.

 

[craig333]

Looks like it wants to rain but only a 20% chance is forecast.

 

[MarkBC]

At Central Oregon ski area, Mt Bachelor this morning:

The Good News :


The Bad News :


But at least there's A LOT more snow than there was 10 days ago...even if the latest is runny snow.
Better than no snow at all, which areas to the south are experiencing. Southern Oregon's Mt. Ashland ski area has not yet opened this year -- due to lack of snow (too warm) -- and may go out of business if they don't open.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Super windy-most of the snow in town is gone, sun is out, some times overcast , a chance of rain/snow next week. They say we are up to 20% of our usual snow pack and we need five more storms like the one we had just to get even again! Oh yeh, Reno broke a heat record yesterday-70 or so. It seemed warm enough when I walked the dog this morning that maybe should have had on my cut-offs and flip flops instead of my usual winter gear! Ba humbug !

Smoke

 

[ski3pin]

The drought continues..................................the Lady mentioned last evening that we should put our deck awning back up - the kind that can be ripped off with heavy snow load - that way, she says, it will be sure to snow. I think we just might do it.

She is always concerned we'll jinx the coming winter, and skiing days, if we put the snow tires on her car too early........................

 

[craig333]

Not working today, maybe I'll go out and wash the truck (at a car wash that recycles water of course). Do my part

 

[MarkBC]

I know that we're still in a drought in Oregon...and yet, according to this report, it appears that local ski area, Mt. Bachelor, has the third-deepest snow pack in the USA: United States Snow Report


I thought the Rockies were getting a normal amount of snow this winter...or is "normal" for the Rockies not very much? And with all the record snow back east they only show up at #4?
I guess it's just that the West coast is the wet coast, because storms off the Pacific -- when there are storms off the Pacific -- are warmer and therefore more moisture-bearing than storms from/in the continental interior.

 

[highz]

Fire season is underway here in NM. So far, the fires have been in the urban interface, light fuels, and have been controlled early.

Next week we set up my schedule in the fire lookout(s), so I'll be starting that very soon - in February!!!!! That's just crazy.

 

[ski3pin]

Next week we set up my schedule in the fire lookout(s), so I'll be starting that very soon - in February!!!!! That's just crazy.

Good for you and here's hoping you have a very uneventful season!

 

[ski3pin]

We noticed today how much lighter it is now early in the morning. There is a definite feeling we are racing toward the equinox, after a quick head on with daylight saving time. That is, except for you Jay!

 

[Smokecreek1]

It doesn't look like the end of Feb. here-it's sunny/partly cloudy, a little windy, cold-but if you find a sunny spot outside you can sit and read or whatever-but no snow on the ground anymore, and not much more in the hills. They say we have 20% of what we need, but we are supposed to get rain next week. All glum and doom here-The national weather service has a few new gadgets on its site that tend to support that. I think HighZ, may be seeing allot of fires this year-maybe to many, but he'll surely keep busy. Time to walk the dog and think about my next "wander"!

Smoke

 

[ski3pin]

It doesn't look like the end of Feb. here..................................

nor here either. Our peach trees are blooming

................usually the bloom would be much later - into April - and a cause for celebration.

 

[ski3pin]

The March1st snow survey by the USFS along highway 88 in California's Sierra Nevada came across my desk yesterday. The agencies have a few days window around the 1st to get into the field. For the Mokelumne River Basin the water content of the snowpack is 10% of average.

 

[MarkBC]

The March1st snow survey .... For the Mokelumne River Basin the water content of the snowpack is 10% of average.

Sad and scary...

_________________________________________________________

Things are really wound up tight around the low off the California coast:

Clouds are cool.
GOES West Visible-spectrum Image

Maybe most of you already know this, but for those who don't...
Fun/Handy Weather Fact: In case you can't remember that winds circulate counter-clockwise around low pressure (in the Northern Hemisphere)... Use the left-hand rule: Turn your left arm/hand so that the thumb is pointing in the direction of the pressure -- down for low, up for high -- and the curvature of your fingers point in the direction of the wind circulation.

Now, you just have to remember that it's left-hand-rule in the northern hemisphere, but if you're in the southern hemisphere use the right-hand-rule.
(a suggestion for a mnemonic: "In the USA, 'the Left' rules in the North, and 'the Right' rules in the South.")

 

[jha6av8r]

Hmmm.... almost follows our political party system!


In the USA, "the Left" rules in the North and "the Right" rules in the South.)

 

[craig333]

Nature is trying to catch us up. March can be a very wet month. Keep your fingers crossed. But no rain while I'm camping please.

 

[ski3pin]

Here we are, the last weekend of winter. We had a couple of storms but no March Miracle, and nothing promising in sight. Yesterday the high reached 60° and all the doors and windows were opened. The blueberry bushes are budding out, all too early..

 

[craig333]

Heading over to Dillon Beach today. I need to remember my shorts and sunscreen. Typical fog is not in the forecast. May even reach 80.