SLOweather

This afternoon we launched an expanded Storm Data page just in time for today’s storm. You can see the page here. There is also a link to it in the left column of the main SLOweather page.

I was sorting digital pictures I’ve taken in 2005 and ran across this image.

Any guesses on what it is a photo of?

Check out the third storm, potentially for Sunday night/Monday.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
530 AM PST WED DEC 28 2005

CAZ034>041-044>047-051>054-059-087-088-290000-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY COAST-SANTA BARBARA COUNTY NORTH COAST-
SANTA YNEZ VALLEY-SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-
CUYAMA VALLEY-SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST-VENTURA COUNTY COAST-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY COAST-VENTURA COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-
VENTURA COUNTY COASTAL VALLEYS-
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS RECREATIONAL AREA-LOS ANGELES COUNTY VALLEYS-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SANTA BARBARA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
VENTURA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MOUNTAINS EXCLUDING THE SANTA MONICA
RANGE-ANTELOPE VALLEY-CATALINA ISLAND-SANTA CLARITA VALLEY-
530 AM PST WED DEC 28 2005

…AN ACTIVE AND POTENTIALLY VERY WET PATTERN FOR SOUTHWESTERN
CALIFORNIA FOR THE NEXT WEEK …

OVER THE NEXT WEEK…SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA WILL BE THREATENED BY
THREE STORM SYSTEMS…AS THE STORM TRACK INTO THE WEST COAST SHIFTS
SOUTHWARD.

THE FIRST STORM WILL SPREAD RAIN ACROSS THE CENTRAL COAST TODAY.
THIS BAND OF RAIN IS EXPECTED TO BRING ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF INCH
OF RAIN TO SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES…EXCEPT ONE HALF INCH TO ONE INCH
ACROSS NORTHERN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY. THERE COULD BE LOCALLY
HIGHER TOTALS…MAINLY IN HIGHER TERRAIN. THE BAND OF RAIN IS
FORECAST TO WEAKEN CONSIDERABLY AND QUICKLY AS IT PUSHES SOUTH OF
POINT CONCEPTION…WITH ONLY A CHANCE OF RAIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON
INTO EARLY TONIGHT ACROSS VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES. ANY
MEASURABLE RAIN ACROSS VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES WILL
ALMOST CERTAINLY TOTAL LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH…AND IT
IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME LOCATIONS IN VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES
WILL RECEIVE LITTLE IF ANY RAIN. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE ABOVE 8000 FEET
THROUGH THIS EVENING…THEN SHOULD LOWER TO BETWEEN 6000 AND 7000
FEET TONIGHT. THERE COULD BE LOCAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF AN INCH OR
TWO IN A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF LOS ANGELES AND VENTURA
COUNTIES.

THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM WILL BE MUCH STRONGER AND WETTER. RAIN FROM
THE SECOND STORM WILL SPREAD INTO THE CENTRAL COAST LATE FRIDAY OR
FRIDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY. ACROSS VENTURA AND LOS
ANGELES COUNTIES…RAIN WILL LIKELY DEVELOP LATE FRIDAY NIGHT OR
SATURDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE INTO EARLY SATURDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM
HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING A GOOD SOAKING TO THE AREA. PRELIMINARY
ESTIMATES OF RAINFALL WITH THE SECOND STORM SYSTEM ARE FOR
1 TO 2 INCHES IN COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS…WITH UP TO 3 INCHES
POSSIBLE ACROSS SANTA BARBARA AND SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTIES…AND
3 TO 6 INCHES IN THE MOUNTAINS. FLASH FLOODING AND MUD AND DEBRIS
FLOWS WILL BE A VERY REAL THREAT FOR THE BURN AREAS…AND FLASH
FLOOD WATCHES WILL LIKELY HAVE TO BE ISSUED IF THE STORM IS AS
STRONG AS FORECAST. DUE TO THE SUBTROPICAL NATURE OF THIS
SYSTEM…SNOW LEVELS ARE EXPECTED BE FAIRLY HIGH…GENERALLY ABOVE
7500 FEET ACROSS THE AREA.

THE THIRD STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE THE STRONGEST…AND HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS ACROSS THE
AREA. THE TIMING ON THE THIRD STORM…WHICH IS NOW THOUSANDS OF
MILES AWAY FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA…REMAINS SOMEWHAT UNCERTAIN. AT
THIS TIME…IT APPEARS THE STORM WILL MOSTLY LIKELY AFFECT THE AREA
DURING THE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT TIMEFRAME…WITH THE
MOST LIKELY TIME OF THE HEAVIEST RAIN AND STRONGEST WINDS OCCURRING
DURING THE DAY ON MONDAY.

COMPUTER MODELS SHOW THAT THIS SYSTEM HAS ALL OF THE NECESSARY
FACTORS TO PRODUCE VERY HEAVY TO EXCESSIVE RAINFALL TO MUCH OF THE
AREA…ON THE ORDER OF 2 TO 4 INCHES IN COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS..
WITH 4 TO 8 INCHES IN THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS. THIS WILL BE A
POTENTIALLY SERIOUS SITUATION IF IT UNFOLDS AS THE COMPUTER MODELS
ARE SHOWING…ESPECIALLY FOR THE BURN AREAS AND FOR LOCATIONS JUST
BELOW THE BURN AREAS. THIS WILL BE ESPECIALLY TRUE IF HEAVY RAIN
FALLS ON SATURDAY. WITH THIS THIRD STORM…SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH WINDS
COULD REACH 25 TO 40 MPH IN COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS DURING THE
HEIGHT OF THE STORM…WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS LIKELY ACROSS SAN
LUIS OBISPO AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES. IN THE MOUNTAINS…WINDS
GUSTS COULD EASILY EXCEED 60 MPH.THIS STORM IS STILL SEVERAL DAYS
AWAY…SO IT SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED THAT THIS IS JUST A FORECAST…AND
IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA FOR LATER UPDATES ON THESE UPCOMING AND
POTENTIALLY POWERFUL STORM SYSTEMS. RESIDENTS OF SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA…ESPECIALLY THOSE NEAR OR BELOW BURN AREAS SHOULD BE
PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION…IN ADVANCE…TO PROTECT
PROPERTY…ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE HEADING OUT OF SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND.

$$

BRUNO/RORKE

I didn’t know until a couple of days ago that the SLOweather RSS feeds were broken. They are fixed now, but I had to remove the weather plugin to do so. I’ll see about replacing the weather plugin as soon as I understand what was wrong.

….from SLOweather…

If you haven’t noticed, Google sometimes changes their home page logo to suit the holidays or current events. It looks like they are most of the way through this year’s Doodle sequence.

You’ll notice from the URL http://www.google.com/doodle10.html that this is the 10th Doodle. Substitute 2 through 9 for the 10 in the address to see previous sequences. The first one is just http://www.google.com/doodle.html. There is no “1″ in it.

From yesterday’s LA Times:

“The Flu Season Hits Early and Hard
Hospitals throughout L.A. County are overwhelmed with sufferers, officials say.”

Here are links to various regularly updated influenza reports on the Internet. Like weather forecasts, they all seem to be a little different from each other.

Centers for Disease Control report In-depth analysis

The national map graphic from the CDC This officially reported data is a week or 2 old.

A Flu “Threat” Map. Click on California to zoom to counties level. I’m not quite sure what to make of this map, because as I write this, it says SLO County has “No Activity”.

The FluStar main page

The FluStar SLO County report

This morning, Islay Hill wore an interesting blanket of fog, as the rest of the valley was fogged in…

Today is the Winter Solstice, the first day of winter, and the shortest “day” of the year. After today, the amount of daylight each day slowly starts to increase again until the Summer Solstice.

In my experience, the weather around here lags the the sun, though, so expect more cold weather, and maybe colder weather, for a while.

Today, Thursday, 15 Dec 2005 is the full Cold Moon. That’s about right. This morning’s SLOweather low temperature was 38.9°F at 7:11am, and the NWS forecast low for tonight is 35°F. Bundle up…