This is Fun!

New Snow 12:30 AM Wed
I made a banzai run up the Hill Monday morning. It was glorious in Truckee Monday afternoon, warm and colorful. I made my final "get ready for winter list" short enough so I won't lose any sleep over the remainder.

The Temperature Inversion Regime stayed in place for the last three nights, so there wasn't any Snowmaking. Tonight the snow is falling in the High Sierra, but the tail of the cold front really fell apart coming ashore and crossing the Valley. It should snow for another four or five hours, and a Bluebird Sunrise should be on tap.

There's another one headed our way for Thursday/Friday, that they say could give us a foot or two. The Forecast Discussion leads me to believe that this storm will move quickly through the area, so accumulations will likely be to the lean side of their forecast. The winds associated with the system should forestall formation of the temperature inversions for a couple of days after the front passes.

Maintenance Duty 12:30PM Saturday
I'm havin' too much fun today! Well, it is a Saturday! There's College Football on the TV, with the sound off... I prefer radio, so the little box is tuned to the local talker. I've been working on the CorduroyPlanet Toolbox all afternoon. I wonder how all the resorts decided that this was the week to put their Webcams online? It has to be the latest snowfall...making ski resorts look like...well, Ski Resorts.

I ran this drill two weeks ago. Back then only Alpine Meadows, Boreal, and Sugar Bowl's webcams were live. I see most resorts are touting their planned November 20th opening dates today. That's why Webcams from Mt Rose, Diamond Peak, Ski Tahoe Donner, Kirkwood, Northstar, Sierra at Tahoe, Squaw Valley, Homewood, and Heavenly are online today. My informal survey finds a roughly even split between pretty viewcams and snowmaking cams.

So now I've built a Webcam Toolbox. These webcams are fascinating. Eventually, Resort Marketing Departments will reign in their hyperbole to the RealWorldView because the Webcams can not tell a lie! Truth is always the best policy...it's so Real...

Woolly Worm Report Published 12:30PM Sunday
The San Francisco Chronicle's Outdoor Writer, Tom Steinstra published his annual "Winter Weather Forecast" Sunday. Tom's forecasts have always been peppered with observations of nature (minus woolly worm data this year) but he may have something in with his "Coastal Temperature Interface" theory.

Steinstra writes:
"There's a direct relationship between sea temperatures and air temperatures at coastal towns that affects how storms move onshore. When the sea is cold and land is warm, that temperature gap acts like a wall that forces storms north into the Pacific Northwest. When the temperatures are the same, the storms wheel right in over Northern California. Take the readings when the front moves onshore."

Might Tom's Interface be part of the Local Ridge Forming Mechanism? Could be...I looked back through Tom's Archive, and he's on a roll. Last year Tom cited the Woolley Worms, but got it right. My search didn't find Tom's 2007 Forecast, but he's on form in 2006 as well.

It serves me right for not keeping a Weather Journal. It's going to be a huge project to find an collate all the data going back just a few years. The payoff will be like Christmas Morning I hope!

The Lunar effect is obvious when it comes to the tides, less obvious is the Moon's role in Great Earthquakes. Historically, most of the Great Earthquakes have occured near the Full or New Moon, when the gravitational effect of the Moon is at it's greatest.

The English Language features the word Lunatic, implying a belief that the Moon has influence on Human Behavior. I wouldn't rule out the Moon's influence on storm formation or progress tracks. There's way more to our weather and climate systems than you can keep a casual eye on.