Another Round of Red Flag Warnings

I was minding my own business Labor Day when this showed up in @CorduroyPlanet's Twitter Feed. The Reno newspaper's story of the Reno NWS issuing Red Flag Fire Warnings for Tuesday afternoon, noon to 8PM.

A quick look at Reno's AFD assured me that there's no lightning forecast to accompany the approaching Winter-Style Low that triggered the warnings. Serious winds over the Sierra Front combined with the very dry air pulled the Red Flag tripwire. Humidity will recover with the passing of the front.

The SFO/Monterey AFD cited the Winter-Style front too. All across the West it's a winter-Style pattern this week with temperatures dropping some 20°F overnight. Some precipitation will fall, though the NWS isn't talking deluge.

It seems like every interest I enjoy is caught by this Summer's cool regime. I've been seeing lots of Green Tomato stories and recipes on the Food and Garden Blogs I read. Early Snow news from across the Northern Hemisphere, a record cold Winter in South America, and chilly SSTs around the world. Even the waters around the Tip of Baja are running cool this year.

I found the weather to be absolutely Autumnal Tuesday. Crisp was the adjective that best described my world. I finished another part of the Diggins' irrigation...without much sweat.

Next week I'll be at the Reno National Championship Air Races. That's the weekend that I traditionally see the Autumnal Light for the first time near the end of every Summer. It's my undeniable marker that Fall is at hand, and Winter is coming on fast. I start thinking about venturing my educated guess on what kind of Winter we're in for.

There's no telling this year. The only discernible weather trend this year has been cooling. In the 21st Century that means Snowmaking will be a "GO for Throttle Up" November 1st. This probably means chairlifts will turn before Thanksgiving, though I'd venture that my Mountain will open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only until Thanksgiving Weekend.

I'm not looking forward to that. Opening early on Man-Made Snow is very expensive, and there's no more fickle clients than early season skiers and boarders. The Brass from the Front Office are likely to have hair triggers when cash is flowing out of our accounts faster than it's flowing in. As with the larger economy, I suspect that the cash will be sitting on the sidelines until there's good conditions to play in. These are the times when working the Graveyard Shift is a Godsend.