Rain On My Parade

I made a whirlwind dash up and down the Hill in just over 24 hours. Mail call and some other administrative chores needed attending to. It was a nice drive with good listening on the radio. I even missed most of the rush hour slowdowns save for three or so miles near Roseville.

Mostly it was a beautiful day...until I got to Cisco Grove, where I ran into some heavy mist...enough to set the wipers to intermittent. No matter in the greater scheme of things, Truckee was dry but darkly overcast...I ducked into the DaveCave just in time to watch the first playoff game from AT&T Park which featured an awesome pitching performance by the Giants' two-time Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum, who hurled a complete game shut out...while striking out 14 batters!

Friday dawned foggy at my end of Truckee, the cold overnight temps drawing the moisture from the wet soil into the air and growing some low-lying "Tule Fog" As I roared out of town, I noticed the trees have begun to respond to the cold snap. It's almost Leaf Peeping time in the Tahoe Sierra.

Heading outta town Friday afternoon, DonnerGate OC

I drove over Donner Summit on the Old Lincoln Highway, US40. Donner Lake was like a dark, deep green mirror reflecting the yellowing aspens and cottonwoods framed by the green conifers to fine effect. I took a few pictures of snow on the Carson Range...still hanging in from Tuesday...high cirrus and a lot of haze kept them from post card contention.

The Carson Range looks down onto Truckee and Donner Lake

I filled my tank and grocery shopped in Vacaville, and made it to the Ancestral Digs in time to unload and put away the groceries, and the traveling stuff before the Giants' game began.

The Giants took a 3-0 lead in the 1st, added another run in the 2nd, and lead the game until the 8th, when the Atlanta Braves tied it up. A splash hit into McCovey Cove won it for the Braves in the 11th inning...First torture, then losing...rain on my parade...

Right after the game I clicked over to SpeedTV to watch the Formula One Qualifying from Suzuka, Japan...oops, torrential rain,and  standing water on the racetrack...Qualifying is on hold for now...soggy standby, Japanese style...

Rain or shine, it's nice to be with the family at the Ancestral Digs...it's forecast to be nice here in the Inland Valley tomorrow.

My Niche Sports Front and Center

Noticed during my morning News Roundup: Amgen Tour of California Bicycle Race to start in Lake Tahoe May 15th, 2011. My sport, in my neighborhood! Squaw Valley USA is the Start of Stage 2 and Northstar at Tahoe will host the Finish of Stage 1!

Team Garmin lead the ToC Peloton May 19, 2010

Oh my, Stage One will be awesome on TV! Lake Tahoe is tops TV-wise...it should be good racing too. The Organizers have yet to release the Stage Routes, but scenery aside, there's thin air and big mountains to climb around the Lake.

Stage 2 Squaw Valley USA to Sacramento will be good too...again lots of scenic climbing, and more than a little descending.

The Amgen ToC is the premier Professional Bicycle Race in America. I think of it as a Preview of the Grand Tours later in the season...Le Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and the Vuelta a España. Since moving the ToC from February to May, the race has attracted the best riders and biggest Pro Teams in the world. It's another step forward for American Bicycle Racing.

In the beginning only a few Americans raced in Europe for European teams. Now American Teams are common on the Grand Tours, and Lance Armstrong is Le Tour's greatest Champion with seven wins.

New Salts Advance AC Agenda
News from the America's Cup Arena is good this week too! The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the Terms Sheet from the Organizers on a 9-2 vote. With the potential bottleneck breached, the Golden Gate Yacht Club's bid to host the 34th America's Cup Regatta on San Francisco Bay is free to campaign Internationally for the nod.

USA and Alinghi pre-start in Valencia, Spain

I won't gush about the America's Cup on the Bay, I've done enough on that score...and more.


Early Snows Continue
Ski Magazine tweets Early Snow at Silverton Mountain, Colorado. Their Ski Patrol got some turns in, too.

First Freshies at Silverton Mountain

October Baseball!
The San Francisco Giants begin their Playoff Season at home against the Atlanta Braves Thursday evening. AT&T Park will be rockin' Go Giants!

Giants' closer Brian Wilson prepares the final pitch of the 2010 Regular Season

Winter's Cameo

I was a whirlwind of activity all across the Greater Inland Valley today...errands, grocery shopping...a Pre-Baja trip to the Candy Store, all before making a big batch of "Mom's Potato Salad" and baking a "Lumpy Peach Cobbler" in anticipation of the imminent arrival of the Siskiyou Wing of the Family.

Sweet bubbling goodness.

Sweet bubbling goodness...lumpy style!

The Ancestral Digs are now invigorated with the Siskiyou Wing's  arrival...bearing the bounty of their Mountainside Gardens. A huge, overflowing bucket of dahlia blooms...enough for bouquets in every room of the Digs, with plenty left to bestow on another Dig or two! A huge basket of vine-ripe tomatoes and chilies from the Siskiyou Gardens will make for amazing menus for the duration.

Dahlias dazzle the Digs

Basket of Plenty

Behind all my frenzy today, was the subtle "noise floor" of High Sierra/Sierra Foothills weather news.

I was within earshot of the radio all day...and I even managed to fit in some Local TV News (that I promptly ignored while mid-day multitasking) I did make time to view KCRA3's 11 O'clock News. There's still some interesting stuff lighting up the Radar Images. Monday and Tuesday's system parked over the Central Sierra and has been spinning rain into the Big Valley, and snow over the highest peaks all day...there were even Chain Controls up Wednesday morning on a couple of Trans-Sierra Highways. Lingering cells of precip were featured in the 11 O'clock radar pictures...all the way into the Big Valley.

The system is forecast to exit the area Thursday. No real consequences for the mountains...no early base was laid down...I'll see for myself if the winter weather snap brought on the Fall Colors when I blow up the Hill for some DaveCave maintenance...some last minute fishing tackle gathering, and a Mail Call.

OK, Now I'm Confused!

There's lots of weather and climate stuff going on this week.

First things first! The week began in the High Sierra with snow! The Reno paper was on it:

Mt Rose Monday from the Truckee Meadows (Reno)

The weather over the weekend was wild and wooly in the Greater Reno-Tahoe Area, with rain, snow, flood warnings...even thunderstorms and flash flood warnings.

This system passed through and became entrained in an extratropical system working it's way up the spine of the Sierra from Baja. The resultant system organized and became an infamous "Back Door Storm" and it peppered the High Sierra Monday into Tuesday...lots to see on the webcams, and the whole mess made for  very colorful images on the TV News Radar. (remember October is traditionally when California's TV Weatherfolks awaken from their Summer Stupor...think bears coming out of hibernation)

It was nice to watch engaged weatherpeople doing the TV weather once again!

The High Sierra weather made news into Tuesday afternoon.

Just in case there was anyone still curious about the wild weekend weather Tuesday, Reno's Daily the Reno Gazette Journal quizzed a local climate scientist about the La Niña connection. After citing the usual La Niña forecasting confusion, and the weird Summer he added: "The numbers tend to reflect that and I'm looking forward to a few more surprises."

Homemade hits near Mt Rose Summit Tuesday

Following the weather online is still like following the Game was this weekend. The Reno AFD was jumping! Then I found a curious weather/climate story thanks to Anthony Watts' "Watts Up With That?" Blog. Imagine a dust-up between Russian and Polish weather forecasters who are in disagreement vis a vis the coming Winter.

Distilling the conflict down to it's essence, it seems there's some disagreement as to the Gulf Stream's influence on European weather, plus more disagreement on the health or strength of the Gulf Stream thanks to Global Warming, and what effect it will have on the coming Winter, which the Russians claim could be "the coldest in 1000 years"!

The conflict is many-layered like an onion...even NASA checks into the fray...they have the Gulf Stream heating up from AGW...weren't we told that "The Science was Settled"? From where I sit, I'd say the data isn't even settled yet...never mind the science!

Anyway, the Post-Post-Soviet inter-mural squabble threatens Biblical Weather...wrapped in the unconscious comedy of the comedically-challenged.

I invite you to read the story at the link, for the rest of the story...or, if you need a good chuckle! The comments are a laugh a minute...there must be a lot of out of work Comedy Writers on the Climate Skeptic's Beat!

Grab Bag of Interests

Go Giants! I enjoyed a great baseball game Wednesday evening. My Giants won 3-1 behind the excellent pitching of Tim Lincecum who took the mound with a chest cold, and promptly gave up a lead-off home run, then found his groove and won the game, giving up six hits and striking out 11 batters in 7 innings.

So, I'm wrung out tonight...as are the 40 thousand or so fans who were in attendance at AT&T Park tonight. The Giants' "Magic Number" is 3 now. Any combination of Giants' wins and San Diego losses that adds up to three, gives the National League West Title to the Giants.

I was checking in with some other Giant Fan Friends on Facebook after the game...man oh man, everyone was all amped-up! This is so fun! There's just something so endearing about 55+ year-old grandparents planning to don bright orange fright wigs to go out to the ball park to root for the Home Team!

Properly energized, I trolled my usual fishing, weather, technology, and climate science haunts...read some digital camera reviews, and looked at some newspapers online...something for everybody!

The San Francisco Chronicle has been reporting on the 34th America's Cup Regatta daily. I've got my fingers crossed that the Organizers and Politicos can navigate the international waters together to bring the Big Regatta to the Bay!

Albacore Tuna are within range of the Bay Area's dedicated skiff fisherman, and albacore are being caught up and down the Coast. Now it's just over two months until Dungeness crab season opens!

Our Indian Summer is still cooking, though it will be tapering off in another day or two. This week's heat is going to pay off at the Farmer's Market, in spades...there's gonna be some great vine-ripe heirloom tomatoes this week! We've managed to avoid any serious wildfire outbreaks, so far. Even hurricane season seems like it's giving us a pass.

It's funny really...all this heat, finally! This "Summer" you couldn't record a Triple Digit Temperature to Save Your Soul!

Now, as I lay about...enduring the sweltering temps, I'm starting to think about grooming a little more each day...not as much as I'm thinking about the Giants, but more than before my trip up the Hill to hit the Reno Air Races.