It's in the HUNDREDS a little inland, and here on the coast it's in the mid-80's. It's been that way for days, and they are saying it's lasting through tomorrow.
Yesterday when I was driving north to Clam Beach, it smelled of smoke. "Smoke" has also been in the daily forecast. It hasn't rained here in weeks and weeks and weeks. It's so not like this place. My first experience with California fires, and I have to say I'm over it. I'm sure lots of other people feel the same way.
They banned fireworks just south of us last week. I never heard of that, but it makes sense.
Showing posts with label unpredictable weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unpredictable weather. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Not One to be Reckoned With
While I was in Wisconsin there were thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, flooding, the draining of an entire lake into the Mississippi River, countless homes damaged and destroyed, farm animals drowned, and much more mayhem.
Now I'm in California, where there are fires. There are the Mendocino fires, and there is the Humboldt fire, in SoHum, in Paradise/Shelter Cove area. The Paradise fire is not contained. Today we are driving the kids to "Surf Camp" (about 15 minutes north of our house, at the lovely lovely Moonstone Beach - lucky kids, I say) and we drive by a sign saying that Highway 299 (the highway one would take to get to Blue Lake, where Mike sometimes rents hot shop space, a mere 10 minutes from where we live) is shut down due to fires there. The last I heard on the radio several communities in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties have "evacuation warnings" meaning an evacuation isn't mandatory, but might be a very good idea.
I guess last weekend while we were in Portland there was a "lightning storm" here that has started all of this mess. Being a windy and wooded place, fires travel faster than Cal Fire can fight them. So far, where I live the skies are still blue (unless they are foggy). Send good thoughts to our fire fighters (and SoCal's fire fighters, who are on loan to us to contain these fires) - may the fires be contained and the damage be minimal.
And it hasn't rained here in almost a week! The first time since I've lived here that I have wished and hoped with all my might that the rain would just fall and help us!
P.S. We are safe here, so please don't worry, but that doesn't mean folks around us are bearing so well.
Now I'm in California, where there are fires. There are the Mendocino fires, and there is the Humboldt fire, in SoHum, in Paradise/Shelter Cove area. The Paradise fire is not contained. Today we are driving the kids to "Surf Camp" (about 15 minutes north of our house, at the lovely lovely Moonstone Beach - lucky kids, I say) and we drive by a sign saying that Highway 299 (the highway one would take to get to Blue Lake, where Mike sometimes rents hot shop space, a mere 10 minutes from where we live) is shut down due to fires there. The last I heard on the radio several communities in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties have "evacuation warnings" meaning an evacuation isn't mandatory, but might be a very good idea.
I guess last weekend while we were in Portland there was a "lightning storm" here that has started all of this mess. Being a windy and wooded place, fires travel faster than Cal Fire can fight them. So far, where I live the skies are still blue (unless they are foggy). Send good thoughts to our fire fighters (and SoCal's fire fighters, who are on loan to us to contain these fires) - may the fires be contained and the damage be minimal.
And it hasn't rained here in almost a week! The first time since I've lived here that I have wished and hoped with all my might that the rain would just fall and help us!
P.S. We are safe here, so please don't worry, but that doesn't mean folks around us are bearing so well.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
It's Snowing in "Paradise"
Yeah, so Sunday it snowed enough for the kids and me to have a snowball fight, and I don't mean like a sorry excuse for a snowball fight either. It was a full fledged down and dirty knock 'em out snowball fight. And those of you who know me realize this means that it was a completely unfair fight that I only didn't lose because 1) I know how to outrun Kaya and Josh on slippery ground and 2) I used my umbrella as a shield.
It snowed for much of the day and the snow actually stuck. I'm pretty certain I was the only person in the entire town of Blue Lake, where one of Mike's glass studios is, who had an actual ice/snow scraper in the trunk of my car. Yeah, everybody was jealous. Everybody was also making a very big deal out of it, like they had never seen snow before in their lives. While I appreciate that Josh and Kaya, who have lived in Humboldt County for most and all of their lives respectively, don't recall ever having seen it in person, my being from Wisconsin sort of colored my personal experience. Let's just say I wasn't too pumped on the snow situation. Especially since Saturday was warm enough for no coats! It's like the weather taunted us with what it could be like, and then BAM! SNOW. Ew.
Yesterday it alternated between sun and rain, no snow that I can tell, but looking up in the mountains I can see they have been dumped on with snow up there, and the weather forecast has predicted that the mountaintop communities should expect another eight inches today/tonight! That is a lot for around here. Heck, I think that's a lot for anywhere.
OK, apparently, I'm a snow scrooge. Whatever. Mike scolded his kids for getting all wet playing in the snow and then being cold because they didn't have the proper winter wear, and I stuck up for them: "They are just kids. None of us knew to have proper winter wear because it hasn't snowed here in years." Yeah, OK, he said. And then we went home and huddled under blankets with cups of hot chocolate and watched The Family Guy. The way it should be on a snowy day.
It snowed for much of the day and the snow actually stuck. I'm pretty certain I was the only person in the entire town of Blue Lake, where one of Mike's glass studios is, who had an actual ice/snow scraper in the trunk of my car. Yeah, everybody was jealous. Everybody was also making a very big deal out of it, like they had never seen snow before in their lives. While I appreciate that Josh and Kaya, who have lived in Humboldt County for most and all of their lives respectively, don't recall ever having seen it in person, my being from Wisconsin sort of colored my personal experience. Let's just say I wasn't too pumped on the snow situation. Especially since Saturday was warm enough for no coats! It's like the weather taunted us with what it could be like, and then BAM! SNOW. Ew.
Yesterday it alternated between sun and rain, no snow that I can tell, but looking up in the mountains I can see they have been dumped on with snow up there, and the weather forecast has predicted that the mountaintop communities should expect another eight inches today/tonight! That is a lot for around here. Heck, I think that's a lot for anywhere.
OK, apparently, I'm a snow scrooge. Whatever. Mike scolded his kids for getting all wet playing in the snow and then being cold because they didn't have the proper winter wear, and I stuck up for them: "They are just kids. None of us knew to have proper winter wear because it hasn't snowed here in years." Yeah, OK, he said. And then we went home and huddled under blankets with cups of hot chocolate and watched The Family Guy. The way it should be on a snowy day.
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Crazy Weather
Here it is raining and storming so much that many people (last I heard on the radio, 1/2 a million in California alone) are without electricity. I'm not one of those people. But I feel for those who are affected by this.
Back in Wisconsin there was a 50-car pile-up on I-90 because of the intense fog, combined with the snowy weather conditions.
Here they warn you not to leave your house if you don't really have to on account of the pouring rain. Being one who drove on a regular basis in snow back home in Wisconsin, I thought this was being a bit overly cautious. But the climate here seems to lend itself to ultra slick roads when it's raining a lot. So it's really not a whole lot different than driving in the snow. Combine that with the fog. The fog here is intense.
I hope everyone is being careful. The forces that be are beyond our control. Respect the weather. That's my hippy dippy speech of the day. I won't call it Mother Nature, OK, but just respect it. The road by my house was closed last week for a little while because the river jumped the bridge. The (happy) cows by my house could go swimming if they wanted. Somehow I don't think they want to go swimming.
My Monday workday is over now so I am going home. Today the weather was so strange that I didn't know if I should bring my sunglasses or my umbrella. By the end of the day I had used both interchangeably. Never a dull weather moment here.
P.S. Snow may be cold, but you can't go sledding in the rain, you can't go ice skating in the rain, or skiing in the rain. My BF likes to say you don't have to shovel the rain off the car, but I'm cooped up inside a lot, and right about now I think I could go for a little bit of snow. At least snow is fun. Cute umbrellas and rain boots lose their appeal pretty quickly.
Back in Wisconsin there was a 50-car pile-up on I-90 because of the intense fog, combined with the snowy weather conditions.
Here they warn you not to leave your house if you don't really have to on account of the pouring rain. Being one who drove on a regular basis in snow back home in Wisconsin, I thought this was being a bit overly cautious. But the climate here seems to lend itself to ultra slick roads when it's raining a lot. So it's really not a whole lot different than driving in the snow. Combine that with the fog. The fog here is intense.
I hope everyone is being careful. The forces that be are beyond our control. Respect the weather. That's my hippy dippy speech of the day. I won't call it Mother Nature, OK, but just respect it. The road by my house was closed last week for a little while because the river jumped the bridge. The (happy) cows by my house could go swimming if they wanted. Somehow I don't think they want to go swimming.
My Monday workday is over now so I am going home. Today the weather was so strange that I didn't know if I should bring my sunglasses or my umbrella. By the end of the day I had used both interchangeably. Never a dull weather moment here.
P.S. Snow may be cold, but you can't go sledding in the rain, you can't go ice skating in the rain, or skiing in the rain. My BF likes to say you don't have to shovel the rain off the car, but I'm cooped up inside a lot, and right about now I think I could go for a little bit of snow. At least snow is fun. Cute umbrellas and rain boots lose their appeal pretty quickly.
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