Network Panic?

A little low pressure system flies through the Pacific Northwest, and the bitter end dusts the Mountain with a trace of snowfall, and suddenly all the outliers start checkin' in.

Here at the Ancestral Digs, this was a Non-Event. A little Northerly Breeze to enliven Garbage Day, and confound the neighborhood's gardener's pursuit of fallen leaves.

Further west, said winds did amount to a Traffic Nightmare for SF/Oakland Bay Bridge Commuters.

Tuesday the Cold Front came through, and in it's wake, the North Wind blew across the bridge in the mid-30's...MPH, not Knots. These winds perturbed the "patch" (read: BandAid!) installed by CalTrans over Labor Day Weekend on a critical member on the Eastern Span, causing it's failure.

Today, I saw a CalTrans Spokesman say they knew the patch was moving a few days ago (before the winds were an issue), and that design work on a mitigating scheme was underway. The steady Northerlies in the aftermath of the Cold Front's passing Tuesday became the Straw that Broke the Camel's Back. Fortunately no one was seriously injured when the patch...all 5000lbs+ of it!..fell into the fast lane Tuesday afternoon. The CHP closed the Bridge Tuesday evening, as soon as they could get the traffic off the bridge. No estimate of reopening was made, or offered.

Thursday morning's News reported no Reopening Time for the bridge yet.

With this as the prevailing Background Noise on CorduroyPlanet, I started getting calls and emails about The Northern Alliance's weather...KirkVallus e-mailed a Webcam Link that showed snow falling on the flanks of Mt Hood. I called and we talked weather, winter, and about his jalapeño harvest.

This morning, BajaBabe phones and breathlessly asks: "Is it snowing there? It's snowing here!" She vented on the cold, and how all the leaves fell overnight...just in time for her time off. I filled her in on my intel, and my forecast going forward...I'm still clinging to December for a starting date.

Before her call, I'd been looking at the latest Forecast Discussions, and they say yet another week of nice Fall Weather...and, in the Mountains, Temperature Inversions are likely, confounding Snowmaking efforts. Some high clouds moved over the Sierra Crest this morning, and killed the Cold Snap enjoyed for the past few days.

On the Noon News from Sacramento, Boreal's Reopening Tomorrow Story aired 9:00mins into the one hour newscast. Open for Halloween...watch for the live remotes on a Newscast near you.