Don't Shoot!

...Me, I'm just the messenger!

I've tried twice since early November to scratch out this blog...Most years I do my prognostication blog in mid-October, this year it's like if I don't put my thoughts to paper, maybe the worst won't happen...I dunno...My first attempt was November 2nd.

I titled it Hindsight is 20/20:
"How'd that Halloween thing work out for ya, Boreal?

Well...to quote Agent 86..."Missed it by that much!" Boreal opened at noon on October 32nd according to their website. I looked at their webcam around 4PM that November 1st afternoon and things looked pretty threadbare...

Saturday their website was touting: "Snowmaking continues" they'll reopen when conditions allow.

According to the Reno NWS Forecast Office's AFD, snowmaking temps will arrive overnight. Alas the moisture tied to toe cold front is hanging north of the I-80 Corridor, so none of Mother Nature's Finest will accumulate. However, good cold temps will hang around for a day or two, though warming is forecast into the weekend..."

Boreal did get open and stay open, though not wall-to-wall yet...

I couldn't get to the point...I tried again on November 18th:

Here We Go...Maybe...
One forecast is saying record year!

However, that's This "winter, the mountain lodging industry in the western U.S. is in a position to post record-breaking numbers according to the most recent data released by DestiMetrics." as reported by Ski Area Management Magazine...

Tuesday CalFire announced they were extending staffing in San Mateo County to deal with the very dry fire conditions.

Here in January, wildfires are 'still a thing' in tinder-dry California...it's scary.

OK, now it's 2014 and I'm at it again. It reached almost 70°F here at the Ancestral Digs, with frosty nights. Up on the Sierra Crest, temperature inversions have played havoc with air quality and overnight temps and humidity keep snowmakers from plying their trade.

As 2013 wrapped up, all the NWS Forecast Offices that I follow on Facebook made a flurry of posts with photos and graphs chronicling the super-dry year's end.

The Sacramento NWS Office posted this on December 26th

I have a bad feeling about this...

The Blocking High...'it's like déjà vu all over again'

The same big picture as the past two winters. I won't cite all the alphabet soup of ocean oscillations...it's too painful...too real.

How can I sugar-coat it...I'm seeing a third dry winter in a row...something I haven't seen in 33 years of living Central Sierra Nevada weather.