Ahhh rain you are so good!

[897tgigvib]

This climate here in Northern California gets little if any rain from May or June until September or October. Call it May 15th to October 1st on average. It gets pretty dusty and dry, the forests living on reserves or the tree roots reach to the aquifers, lakes, rivers, or streams. And those water sources reduce too during summer. Summer is when lots of small perennials go dormant. Most of the wildflower annuals are finished by July. Some linger in shade.

Yesterday evening it rained. Oh Great Spirit thank you! Hiyaa hak anaaa aya yaaa.

As the sun rises today I so look forward to seeing nature growing.

 

[hoodat]

Rain tried to sneak in here a couple of times but it's way early for SoCal. None of it made it ashore.

 

[897tgigvib]

Hopefully it'll make it's way down there Hoodat. I looked at the satellite images. The image that shows water in the atmosphere shows big huge fingers coming down from the arctic polar vortex that are merged at mid latitude canada. The biggest one goes south past TEXAS, a shorter one partway down the east coast and one part way down east of the Mississippi. We have the one west of that huge one Texas has. Yesterday the end of the finger was just north of where I am, and now it's pushed almost to Santa Barbara. I hope it's growing.

I've been kind of studying that Polar Vortex. It's like the jet stream except is mostly around the perimeter of the arctic ocean. When there is more se water and less sea ice up there the polar vortex weakens after and remains weaker even after ice reforms for awhile then strengthens again. Meantime, while the polar vortex is slow and weak, moisture slips down the latitudes from the arctic, especially with all the open ocean adding moisture to the air up there, and it then allows moisture to come south towards us. But like what the meteorologists call a card game, where the moisture comes down is still being figured out. Last winter a lot came down the eastern U.S., and very little came to California.

 

[digitS']

I assume you are saying that your current storm system came from the north, over the Pacific.

Looking at NOAA's radar map: I see the storm in NorCal and it is heading north. Looks like a dandy storm in the Central Valley!

I suppose it is one little part of it that should be up here tomorrow night. Or, maybe that will be coming in further north on the Pacific coast. A tenth to a quarter inch - not much. It must be a little wrung out if that is all.

We have that same dry summer, Mediterranean climate, Marshall. However, there is some dispute about whether it should be known as such. The Spanish meteorologists consider northern Spain as a variation of the Mediterranean climate. Lower elevation mountains of Italy and Greece fit with their definition. A great big part of western US does, too.

Steve
who was sprinkled on this very morning!

 

[baymule]

We wound up with 5 inches. Houston streets flooded-glad I don't live there-lots of people drove their cars into deep water. Dumb thing to do.

 

[897tgigvib]

In 1986 during the January flood I drove my ole 1972 Ford I had at the time into deep water that, well, I was dumb, I saw pickup trucks stranded with folks on the cabs on the side of the river, er, road. But know what? It was dark! As my headlights went underwater I opened the window to hold a flashlight to see, and I stayed in the middle, and that car kept going!!! Water was coming in the window, the pedals under water! And it kept going!!! NOT KIDDING! Then I drove it out to the other side!

How in heck did my car make it? That ole car's hood was always kinda popped up in the back on it's left hinge, and I guess that's where the motor got air, even though water was gushing into it.

When I got to the other side I had to open the door to let water out. (I was on my way to my girlfriend's house. She ordered me to make it there, and I could hear her girlfriend saying I'll never make it, that even her father couldn't make it home.) Wellp, I made it there, totally sopping wet and shivering cold. The gals started singing that song about aint no mountain high enough, no river wide enough...and i was all, please let me just use the shower! Can I borrow one of your brother's shirts and pair of pants???

Oh, and I do recall hearing the folks on the tops of their trucks telling me to stop and pick them up. I hollered yea right and i'll be stuck too... Everybody was ok.

Yup Bay, dumb thing to do. But I did once.