Who closed the door?

[Hydraulicjump]

While our tug friends are freezing their fantails off in the upper Midwest, Canada and East Coast, we in the West have it warm, sunny.....and incredibly dry. Here in Northern California we are experiencing an unimaginable dry spell, caused by a "ridiculously resilient ridge" (a term coined by a Stanford grad student) that has been sitting on top of us for more than a year, shutting the door to storms. A colleague at Berkeley who studies Holocene climates says it has not been this dry in 500 years, and that is a conservative estimate. This weather may go back to the Medieval warm period for a comparison. Freshwater tug boating (such as Lake Tahoe and all of the reservoirs) is not going to be so great this season. Go north to Washington and BC. And by the way, this same ridge is responsible for your frigid winter this year.

So I am thinking that freezing yer scuppers may be bad, but come spring, you'll be ok.

Fortunately, the ocean hasn't dried up. San Francisco Bay is as gorgeous as it can get, and hardly anyone is out there messing around in boats, which is a pity. It is MUCH warmer than it will be in the summer.

Jeff

ps: our first rainfall in more than 50 days is likely to occur this Friday. Enough to wet the ground. This during the height of our rainy season.

 

[Levitation]

And a few days back here in Michigan it was 13 below with a driving wind that was gusting to 30 mph.
Just walking the 200 feet from the house to my shop was a life risking situation if one were to fall or be incapacitated.
Today we have another clipper that is almost a whiteout and multiple lane highways down to one lane each way. We live in interesting times. A cold and snow winter that exceeds the 100 year record. And you folks are in a drouth/heat-wave that goes back to the Middle Ages to be equaled.

 

[tlkenyon]

Climate is what you expect......Weather is what you get.

Going from 30 above at noon to probably 20 below by supper. Winds switched from 20 from the south to 30 from the NW in 30 minutes. Gotta love it.

 

[baz]

You'er got to love the PNW where, except for foggy conditions, you can boat/cruise around all year long. 😉