Watching the Game is more like it. The much-hyped Big Storm has landed. Today at noon, the Local TV news said "It's the Biggest Fall Storm since 1962!" And with that, the hyperbole-fest is over...for now. The festival ran all morning and right through the Noon News. Time will tell if the 5 O'clock News will continue to pump it up, or only recap the storm in all it's Telegenic Glory.
I've had more fun than I earned keeping up with it all online. The NWS Offices are updating their Discussions, Advisories, and Warnings as often as events dictate. When events are flying fast and furious, the discussions get way more interesting...and plentiful!
Sacramento's "Good Day Sacramento" featured lots of "Viewer Live Remotes" e-mailed in or messaged in by Smartphone...most featured wildly thrashing trees, wind damaged fences, or flooded creeks, roads, and intersections. The Real TV Crews were at the scenes of the myriad traffic snarls. In Sacramento, the big show was at what's become knows as "The Boat Section" of Interstate 5. This bottom-dwelling section of Super Slab has been flooding for years, whenever it rains hard. Last Summer, CalTrans spent 38 days and 13 million dollars fixing the problem. From the reports on the scene...they clogged one drain in the process...the video showed a CalTrans pickup truck with it's beacon blinking away to warn motorists away from the headlight-deep puddle. I'll be tuning into the Sacramento news at 5PM to see if they got the water to flow.
Storm Inflation
Yesterday in advance of the storm's arrival, I helped SturgeUrge erect a COSTCO Car Canopy in his driveway to shelter his Convertible from the coming deluge. While he got himself up and going, I asked him about this years Acorn Fall. SturgeUrge replied that it was a bumper crop, confirming what I'd heard from Earthquake Guy Jim Berkland a few weeks ago. The heaviness of the annual acorn fall is another of those folksy "indicators" like onion skins, or woolly worm coats, that straw-chompin' philosophers and woodshed weathermen rely on for their forecast modeling. SturgeUrge went on to say that last year's acorn production was low, but the year before was huge! As if on cue, we heard the knock and rattle of acorns on the roof.
Some quick mental acorn-math, gave me relief...three data points, two misses...whew! I'm down for a Normal or Above Average Winter, just not before Thanksgiving. Once we got going on the Carport Project, I noticed something coming from my radio...the bottom-of-the-hour weather spot said the coming storm was: "The Biggest Storm in Two Decades!" I'm thinking..."Good thing this is a 'Pineapple Express'!" Nothing stirs up the Mountain like a couple of feet of snow in October...thankfully, not this storm.
My Mother keeps asking about Boreal Ridge's business model, and will they suffer from opening too soon? I remind her that Boreal's plan is to get on the News, it's just Marketing...probably a deductible expense, and I'm sure they've already claimed: "Mission Accomplished"
This morning, the Reno NWS guys had to adjust down their Snow Level 500-800ft for a few hours, but at 11:30 the mercury shot up, taking the freezing level with it. The fresh three inches of snow features many puddles two and a half hour later, viewed via the Mountain's webcam.
Let me recap. This Storm's History: Super Typhoon Melor...Extra-Tropical Typhoon remnant...Pattern Change...That rain on Tuesday...Biggest Storm in Two Decades...Biggest Fall Storm since 1962...puddles on the Mountain's Webcam...
5PM News Update: The Boat Section dried out after the front passed through, and crews worked 8 hours to clean the drain in question...CalTrans says all is A-OK
That's just one whole storm...why am I so darn tired?
Post-Hyperbole Overload Syndrome, anyone?
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