Sochi2014 Outta This World

 Update:
Sochi2014 Organizers stockpiled Two Year's worth of snow in the woods above the event slopes under thermal blankets.

BBC Buisness interviewed the artificial/stockpiled snow contractor, Snow Secure. It's an interesting listen.

Closing the circle next week at Sochi, Olympic Medals awarded on February 15th will include pieces of the Chelyabinsk Meteor that slammed into Russia's Southern Urals last year on February 15th.

This big rock hit during my hookey playing from this blog, but it held my rapt attention at the time.

For my money it had everything...Astronomy, Russian Dash-Cams, viral video...what's not to like?

PBS's NOVA did a show this fall on hunting the pieces of the space rock. 'Meteor Strike' can be streamed free online.

These things always remind me of Easter Egg Hunts. Remember the California Foothills meteor that hit in 2012? The Chelyabinsk Meteor Hunters did not employ a Zeppelin like NASA did in the Foothills Meteor Hunt.

Thursday night I watched some Sochi2014...Men's Snowboard SlopeStyle the new-to-the-Olympics event. I agree with 2-Time Snowboard Half-Pipe Gold Medalist Shawn White, that course is a little Extreme...or Dangerous as White called it. White, who got banged-up during SlopeStyle practice this week, withdrew from the SlopeStyle event to focus on the Half-Pipe.

I think I saw some Grooming Machines parked off the adjacent trail to the SlopeStyle Course...I'll keep an eye peeled...

Meanwhile...

A different kind of Sochi2014 Up & Down...

6'-9" Hockey Player Zdeno Chara towers over 4'-11" Skater Kristen Moore-Towers

I'm in town all week, Folks!

The Hits Just Keep Coming!

Sochi2014 is turning into just plain SnarkTastic Fun!

In today's busy world it never ceases to amaze me how fast the Scolds and 'Debby Downers' can get their panties in a bunch! We can thank/blame SocialMedia for that.

With so many wordsmiths tweeting #SochiProblems, and Network TV's magazine and chat shows featuring the snark, is any wonder the Killjoys have fired up their TwitterMachines to exact their pound of flesh...

It's all in good fun...unless you're 'sense of humor challenged'...

Just in time to stir the pot, Breitbart Sports covers the media's 'Goody Bags' from the Sochi Hosts...

Still amazed that the Russian Olympic Organizers would site their games at a sub-tropical seaside resort where Russians holiday to escape their bone-chilling winters, I found this fascinating story about Sochi 'Snow Hoarding' Good plan, Russkis!

The authors needs a spot of Snowmaking 101. Snowmaking machines do make snow...but nothing resembling 'powder'...still stockpiling nearly a million cubic yards of snow 'just in case', is a good plan. Should Mother Nature forsake Sochi, the groomers could move the stash onto the courses and work them over until they're ready to race on. I've got news for the authors...powder is the last thing ski racers want on the racecourse! To a competitor, they want the hardest sheet of ice they can get!

Snow stockpiling can't cost that much...I'm still musing over the $51 Billion spent on Sochi...

 

Even if the Sochi Organizers paid Roscosmos to fly their Olympic Torch to the International Space Station and spacewalk it for the cameras, that would run, what...$10-$20 Million tops? A drop in the 51 Billion Dollar Bucket...

I wonder if 'The Russian Judge' is gonna be a thing this time around?

Oh jeeze...Never a dull moment when it comes to Sochi2014, there's another kerfuffle. I don't remember this kind of outcry when the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition hits the news stands...every...single...year. You know what? The female Russian athletes don't look a bit like 70s East German Lady Olympians any more. I've got your progress right heah!

Freestyle Schadenfreude

I do love me some Olympics, especially Winter Olympics, and the Sochi 2014 Olympics TV coverage starts tonight in The States.

The Sochi Buzz has slowly been ramping-up over the past six-or-so weeks. I haven't written about it because until the hordes of Athletes, Western Sportswriters, and TV Talking Heads began to arrive in Sochi, most of the stories were political in nature.

All the Sochi coverage before this week was in the  'Is Sochi Safe From Terrorism?' vein...not exactly my cuppa tea...I remember the 1972 Munich Massacre vividly to this day...not a pretty picture.

Putin's Russia does have regional enemies, and they're using terrorism to bloody effect in Stalingrad (now called Volograd) in October 2013 and December 2013. Enough said.

This week the Sochi News is the comedy flip-side of the dark worries that went before.

As with all things human of late, social media have carried the ball to hilarious effect.

This morning, ABC's Good Morning America did a story on @SochiProblems the snarky new Twitter account that tweets all things #SochiFail

Russia's spent uphill of $51 Billion to build the seaside Olympic Village and Alpine venues...but they're running just a little behind. Hotels without running water, missing finishing touches, WiFi network Phishing MalWare, even streets missing manhole covers!

 

Toilet Humor abounds in Sochi it seems...

 

I've been ice fishing many times...but never considered the indoor angling opportunities cited in this Sochi Bathroom Plaque!

Long time readers will remember my recommendation of @MagnifyRoads the local that tweets all of CalTrans' I-80 electronic signboards every time their message changes. I've written that these messages are more useful than a weather app in telling me what I need to know about the weather on My Mountain in Real Time.

Magnifeye's proprietor is in Sochi as a volunteer, and has a Tumblr Blog you can follow for the latest. Today's entry mentions his three foot fall into an open manhole!

@MagnifeyeRoads' Jonathan Sass

Somehow in the run-up to Sochi2014, I missed the fact that Sochi is a resort built on the shores of the Black Sea! Wikipedia says Sochi has a Sub-Tropical climate!? Wow, think 'Lake Effect Snow' on steroids!

I found an online story about avalanche control above Rosa Khutor, the Alpine resort where Sochi's Alpine events will be held. Rosa Khutor lies 25 miles from the Black Sea Shore, where 3+ foot snowfall in a day is not uncommon...hence the linked story that features  explosives in a Non-Terrorism context.

Sochi2014 is on NBC-TV in The States, and Sochi is 12 hours ahead of the West Coast of America, so most of NBC's Broadcast coverage will be Tape-Delayed.

With SocialMedia saturation, it's going to be hard to avoid spoilers...thankfully, NBC is streaming everything that happens in Sochi LIVE online.

I for one am ready to settle in and watch The Games...Best of luck to Sochi2014, the athletes and Organizers!

Take 2

More photos...less than a thousand words:

 

Word from several sources is that the model runs are coming together for a Pattern Change about the end of the month!

The Sacramento NWS Office seems to be leading the charge...as they would. I think of them as the Chamber of Commerce of Forecast Offices...Cheerleaders even...

 

There is a pretty robust system on the horizon, even Bryan Allegretto, OpenSnow.com's Tahoe Snow Forecaster, the forecaster I trust the most long range-wise is a believer...so far.

Bryan has been the only standout these past two atypical winters when it comes to 1 week+ forecasts, always calling the inevitable fizzled forecasts from the rest. Always later and less than the NWS forecasts. In the main, Bryan nailed all the changes AND the timing.

BA is like oil on troubled waters to me...

Lastly, here's the Reno Office weighing in...in Chamber of Commerce-style I'd say!

This isn't usually the style of the Reno guys...they're the most conservative of the four NWS Forecast Offices that I keep tabs on.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt...I can't imagine how bored they must be. How can you blame them for getting excited at a glimpse of hope?

I must confess, I haven't been reading their (or any other Office's) Area Forecast Discussions since the Blocking High settled in before Thanksgiving...I'll quote Bob Dylan: "You don't need a weatherman know which way the wind blows"

So can I stop feeling guilty and look forward to putting the garden hoses away?

Fingers crossed...there's still a couple of wildfires in California that haven't been 100% contained...

Worth A Thousand Words

It looks like the frigid weather in the Plains and Northeast will last through Groundhog Day, February 2nd:

East Coast sentiment

Forecast models don't offer any relief...

 Weatherman Mark Finan a week ago

The forecast map though Groundhog Day:

Temperature Anomaly thru 1st week of February

The Culprit:

Big Picture

The 'Blocking High' that's keeping every drop of precipitation away...entrenched.

There are active wildfires in California today, and officials continue to warn of High Fire Danger.

Warm temps keep bears from hibernating. Photo at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort

Let's be careful out there...and keep our fingers crossed!

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"...

Making Lemonade

When life gives you lemons...

As a 'Glass-Half-Full' guy it did me good to find another 'Glass-Half-Full' Guy who's actually celebrating the low intensity start to Winter 13/14.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Outdoor scribe Tom Stienstra writes: "Drought has it's outdoors recreation benefits"

Mmmm...camping near Monterey and taking a Dungeness Crab/Sanddab Combo partyboat trip would help take the edge off...

Pacific Sanddab