Irony or Scary

Happy New Year!

It'll be the Year of the Horse come Chinese New Year, this January 31st.

Buh-bye 2013 the "Driest Calendar Year On Record" in central California and the Sierra Nevadas...

There was no avoiding it this morning...my Social Sites were lit up with records and warnings:

Red Flag Warnings are up for most of the Bay Area hills:

This afternoon, more High Temperature Records fall, @NWSBayArea: "Record High Temperature at #Oakland Airport! High so far today of 70 degrees - breaks previous record of 69 from 2009. #cawx  #recordsetting

Meanwhile up in the Sierras, the Forest Service is doing control burns in forests that should have several inches (if not several feet!) of snow on the ground!

Reno's News/Talk station posted to Facebook:
"Prescribed Burns Underway -- U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will continue prescribed fire operations off of Bunker Drive near Tahoe City and on Luther Pass near South Lake Tahoe through January 18, weather and conditions permitting. 
Smoke from prescribed burns may continue for several days after the initial ignition. Forest Service staff will post road signs around the areas affected by the prescribed fire, send email notifications and update the local fire information line at 530-543-2600, #6."

I know I said it was gonna be another dry winter...but that doesn't mean I like it...that it doesn't fill me with dread...

I'm not liking these odds...I hate when I have to do extra mental health housekeeping...

We'll have to do some outdoorsy stuff while the weather's too nice...between off-season watering at the Ancestral Digs. usually watering the Diggins is all over by NFL Playoff time.

Thank God for the San Francisco 49ers and their quarterback #7, Colin Kaepernick from UNR (University of Nevada Reno) because baseball seems very, very far away.

BajaBabe called me 'pensive' in an email last week. I didn't reply to disabuse her of the notion because I thought she was nuts...and because I don't like to be a jerk...but I found myself taking refuge in the 10 DVD set of "Ken Burns' Baseball" from PBS ever since...

I gotta admit that wildfires in January and Red Flag Warnings in January after "Driest Calendar Year On Record", have me more than a little worried.

Let's call me scared...a little...worry is nothing but a waste of imagination, and I'm fairly frugal...being a "Glass Half-Full Guy"

Let's keep our fingers crossed, be Fire Safe, and "Hey, let's be careful out there"...

Do Clowns Taste Funny?

...the little boy asked the Cannibal...Sorry...

Tuesday
The light looks funny out my window this morning, I can't smell it but it's smoke from the 'Rim Fire' burning in the Sierra Foothills between Angels Camp and Yosemite National Park.

The NWS SFO/Monterey Office posted a photo to their Facebook Page that clued me in:

Tuesday August 20th Satellite View

Then along comes this tweet from @CAL_FIRE: "Over the past 24 hours over 3,400 lightning strikes in CA sparking over 40 new fires that burned over 350 acres. Fire.ca.gov... "

There's still a day or two more of this pattern and the Red Flag Warnings that go along with it.

Friday
The Rim Fire has blown up!  Smoke plagues everyone from Carson City to The Oregon border, down to the foothills and Sacramento Valley. There's what, eleven major fires burning in California today?

CalFire reports Friday: "Lightning fires have ignited or been detected for 9 consecutive days on National Forests in California"

The Red Flag Warnings are over, all the excitement will fade into Memoryland.

I really haven't had the heart (if that's the right metaphor?) to keep a running tally on the fires...I mostly ignored Twitter and only checked into the news to see fresh video...

I did look at the Interstate 80 webcams when Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were posted for Donner Summit. It rained so hard you could see sheets of rain on the webcam images!

Sheets of rain from Sugar Bowl's Lodge

I'd been looking at the same webcams to view the smoky conditions for three days.

This morning, CalTrans had to close both the eastbound and westbound fast lanes of I-80 just uphill of the DaveCave for a sinkhole! All that rain must have bored through a backfilled trench that carries some conduits.

They've got the WB #1 Lane reopened now...what's next? Pestilence? Uncle!

Cue the locust swarms!

Red Flag Warning

From the WeatherUnderground active Warnings Page:

"... Red flag warning in effect from midnight tonight to 3 am PDT
Wednesday for thunderstorms. The red flag warning covers most
inland portions of the San Francisco Bay area...

The National Weather Service San Francisco Bay area has issued a
red flag warning... which is in effect from midnight tonight to
3 am PDT Wednesday.

* Affected area: all inland areas of the San Francisco Bay area
except near San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley.

* Timing: shower and thunderstorm chances will begin by late
Sunday night and continue through at least Tuesday
night... possibly into Wednesday as well.

* Thunderstorms: gusty winds and lightning are possible through
the period. Thunderstorms may initially be dry but should become
wetter with time. Stronger storms may produce abundant lightning
and small hail.

* Outflow winds: speeds to 25 mph are possible near thunderstorms.

* Impacts: dry fuels along with the potential for abundant
lightning may result in new fire starts even with storms
that are wet.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now... or will shortly. A combination of
dry fuels and lightning strikes could result in numerous fire
starts."

      To quote Lance Armstrong: "Not. Good."

As I type, it's 97.7 °F at 5:40PM in the Inland Valley. I spent some time sittin' in the pool between the Giants game and the NBCSportsNet replay of today's Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race 2, and watered all 360° of the Ancestral Diggins...Saturday's High was only 76.2°F, and I transplanted two little Artichoke plants Saturday as well...

The Beaver Creek Fire continues to balloon out of control. Evacuations are up to 2600 according to the 6 o'clock news on KSFO...with another 1300 under Pre-Evacuation Orders. The news reader said 160 square miles now have burned. InciWeb has it over 100K acres.

The Siskiyou County Wing of the family is sitting pretty, the Orleans Complex is moving away at 10+ miles away and counting. InciWeb says they expect 100% containment by September 15th at 6PM PDT!

The Red Flag Warnings cover Truckee, Reno,NV and the Tahoe Basin, as well as most of the Sierra...I've cancelled my trip to Truckee for the time being...to avoid the smoke from the 'American Fire' and the thunderstorms the NWS is promising for the week...

Reno's NWS Office posted this to their Facebook Page

I'm curious what this weather regime will do the the America's Cup Regatta on San Francisco Bay...The challengers are into the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals now to decide who will challenge for the Old Mug come September, and they've been more than exciting!

After two days, where four races were scheduled, equipment failures and high afternoon winds, just two races were contested. Each race had the winner crossing the finish line while their opponent limped to shore after an on-course equipment failure.

Monday, the Organizers have moved up the first race of the day to 12:10PM for Race 3 & 4.

These 72ft catamarans are like 'Floating Formula One Racers'...carbon fiber on the bleeding edge, racing at speeds not even dreamed of two years ago, not to mention back in 1986 when I first dreamed of America's Cup racing on The Bay!

I finally found a decent, printer-friendly TV schedule of the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals: Thanks San Jose Mercury News! I scrolled to the bottom of today's story, copied it, and made a Word.doc for the clipboard.

Let's be Fire Safe out there...We can get thru this!

ENSO

So El Niño looks like a fading memory for 2012/2013 according to the Climate Prediction Center's October 90 Day Outlook Discussion published today.

I'm guessing we'll have another slow start to Ski Season...call it a hunch.

Wednesday we had widespread Red Flag Warnings for the Sacramento Valley, Inland Valleys, and Bay Area ridgetops.

Here in the Inland Valley our nights are cooling rapidly, but the forecast is for warming through the weekend. There is some buzz about "pattern change" on the horizon, but the jury's still out on that one. It's time for the local TV weathermen to get antsy...they've gotta be bored to death with the same ol', same ol' summer forecast regime...

Back to the Drawing Board:
My San Francisco Giants will fight to get back on track this evening in St Louis. Tim Lincecum makes the start, and looks like 2010's "I've Got This" Lincecum in the post season.

Also going backwards back on San Francisco Bay, TeamOracleUSA pitch-polled their new AC72 catamaran America's Cup racing catamaran. They dug both hulls while bearing away in 25 knot winds into the biggest ebbtide currents of the season. The fast current swept the overturned cat out under the Golden Gate Bridge and four and a half miles out to sea!

Fortunately all hands are accounted for and no major injuries to the crew were reported. It took most of the night to tow the cat back to TeamOralceUSA's Pier 80 base.

Upside down at Pier 80

I'm no expert...but it looks like a total loss to my eyes...News reports place the value variously at $8-$10 million...the wing sail is a total loss, and the teams next AC72 won't splash until early next year. Ouch!

No forecast necessary here...this is a big setback for the Home Team

Another Week

The doping problem that surfaced with my San Francisco Giants when 2012 All Star Game MVP, Melky Cabrera (and Giants' Left Fielder) tested positive for testosterone and incurred a 50 game suspension from Major League Baseball really deflated my balloon.

Melky totally lit up opposing pitchers across the League. Not coincidentally, he lit up the fans and AT&T Park.

A bunch of fans became The Meklmen and dressed up as Old-Timey Milkmen and carried on throughout the Park and across the league. Before long, a couple of comely lasses showed up as the MelkMaids. TV spots, Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts followed, and a festive time was had by all...great fun, really (like San Francisco needs an excuse for a Dress-Up Party) More MelkMaids and new outfits in Orange gingham...

All that went up in flames, Melky...Dope...

It seems like just days after Melky betrayed the fans (or as Melky said accepting his All Star MVP Award, "Thank you the Fang"), the Giants began to suffer a lot of strained hamstrings.

Pablo Sandoval (The Panda) was first, then Buster Posey...couple this with some losses, it was a little much.

After a day off Monday, the Giants were on the road at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. Despite a highlight reel catch by the Panda and shortstop Brandon Crawford, the Giants trailed the Astros 2-1 when they came up to bat in the 9th.

A Brandon Belt single, a pinch hit double by Joaquin Arias and another single by catcher Héctor Sánchez won the game 3-2. A wild one, but more importantly, the Dodgers lost and the Giants extend their lead to 3.5 games ahead of the Dodgers.

So now I find myself watching Hurricane Issac come ashore near New Orleans. Let's hope it turns out better than Katrina did seven years ago today.

Closer to home, Red Flag Warnings are up all around the Tahoe Sierra...please be careful everybody!

Blowin' In The Wind

Thank God! Those "triple digit temperatures" from mid-week are just a memory. I'm reminded of them when I walk by a mirror and see my bright redneck! I missed a few spots with the sunscreen spray...fortunately it's only colorful...not painful.

I'm pretty much religious about safety glasses, ear plugs, sunscreen and sports helmets...

I was chatting this morning with a new Facebook friend who lives in the California foothills, the Robbers Fire is burning some seven miles southwest of her place, as the crow flies. I watched some reports on the fire on Friday night's local 11 O'clock News. Evacuations and road closures were in effect, and a few hundred homes are threatened.

This morning, I made a point of watching the Trainwreck News stream for a Robbers Fire Update. There's good news! Though humidity is still very, very low, the temperature trending down for the next several days. Plus the wind direction has turned away from inhabited areas and the smoke is blowing away from the foothill towns now. The CalFire website has the latest details on the firefight...The Devil you say...I hope it's not an omen...the Robbers Fire is Incident #666!

I took a look the the Reno AFD. There's some of the Monsoonal moisture scudding up the eastern side of the Sierras, and afternoon thunderstorms and those troublesome outflow winds are likely south of Interstate 80. Fortunately these aren't widespread enough to meet Red Flag Warning criteria.

It occurs to me that a Wildland Fire Toolbox would come in handy going forward. I'll work on that and post it here so my Foothill and Sierra Nevada friends can keep tabs on wildfires near them or their friends.

When I'm a the DaveCave and there's a wildfire nearby I fire up my Police Scanner. Unless the fire is in my neighborhood, you can't hear the fire crews on the air, but you hear dispatch, the aircraft and their controllers, and the remaining Fire Lookouts. During Fire Season listening to the Forest Service's 8AM Radio Report is very instructional and includes a detailed Fire Weather Forecast for the area.

It still goes without saying, let's be fire safe out there!

Now It's Fire Weather

I'm still wide awake...I just finished Wednesday's blog, "Whew!" I thought about addressing the Colorado Springs wildfire at the end, but I didn't want to be a "Debby Downer"

The truth is I watched streaming coverage for a couple of hours Tuesday afternoon as The Waldo Canyon Fire continued to burn outside of Colorado Springs. I became aware of the fire Monday when a blogger I read regularly tweeted that she was evacuating.

The Waldo Canyon Fire started Saturday west of Colorado Springs. Tuesday is the fifth day in a row of Record High Temperatures in Colorado Springs. The mercury hit 100°F while I watched Tuesday afternoon. Wind weren't unreasonably high, and they were Southernly, keeping the fire contained to a North/South ridge well west of town. About 3000 souls had been evacuated along with my blogger and her family. No deaths or injuries to residents or firefighters were reported, but some structures, including homes were reported lost.

Wildfire has wormed it's way onto my thought railroad over the past couple of weeks because the Reno NWS has been issuing many Red Fire Warnings for the Tahoe Basin, and last week the temps here in the Inland Valley hit triple digits.

Monday, Truckee's local newspaper tweeted news of a fire within Truckee's Town Limits. Monday was the five year anniversary of the Angora Fire that destroyed 242 homes and 67 commercial structures and burned 3,100 acres in South Lake Tahoe.

I found myself drawn like a moth to flame by the ongoing scenes from the Waldo Canyon Fire. Local TV station KKTV was doing yeoman's work covering the fire, evacuations, traffic, weather and Forest Service press conferences.

Just before the Giants-Dodgers game began (8:15PM MDT) the weather threw a hanging curveball to the firefighters. Record afternoon heat kicked of a string of thunderstorms that steered the prevailing winds from southernly to westerly, and in mere minutes the fire leapt off the containment ridge and down Queens Canyon headed at a fast clip right into the western outskirts of Colorado Springs.

Nighttime came early as the plume of smoke blew across town, and another 7000 evacuations were made mandatory.

The smoke crossing the valley like a squall line on the sea. The Sun obscured enough to see sunspots with the naked eye.

I snapped a photo from my laptop's screen as the smoke plume descended on Colorado Springs.

I couldn't bear to leave the Giants shutout of the Dodgers...it was yet another exciting contest. When the game ended I looked back in on the fire coverage. Evacuations had ballooned to 32,000 souls, and the video showed homes burning in the darkness.

My heart ached watching the young TV newspeople trying to report the unthinkable while trying to soft pedal the horror, and offering encouragement to their viewers who are after all, their neighbors.

Pray for Colorado Springs, and for Christ's sake be careful with fire!

Wednesday Postgame Update:
Prayers for Colorado Springs appear to have been answered. No T-Storms bloomed today, thus no outflow winds to wreak havoc on the firefighters, and reports of light rain and rainbows are giving hope to residents Wednesday evening.Though Red Flag coditions still persist, the winds are SW again, which keeps the fire from entering Colorado Springs wholesale.

Back at AT&T Park, Tim Lincecum finished the breakout from his deep, two month long slump, and lead the SF Giants to a three shutout sweep of the arch-rival LA Dodgers!

Thanks to @TheMelkmen who retweeted the link to "Whew!" I fielded more than 120 page views and counting. Thanks @Melkmen followers!

The Giants have a day off Thursday...It'll give me an opportunity to put together my Tour de France Fantasy Racing Team!