Finally...The Rains Are Here!

[Lord Jim]

It has been a very dry rainy season here in The City That Used To Know How....

We had some storms very early in the season, (Going back to October) but for the month of December we got 13 one hundredths of an inch...so far for the year we're at 29% of normal, (as opposed to 110% this time last year)

In fact there was only one day in the month December that was even overcast, which is very unusual, (especially as close to the ocean as we are) every day was bright and sunny but also quite cold...rarely getting above 51 or 52 degrees....

Then for the first couple of weeks of January, it was still bright and sunny but we had many days where it got unseasonably warm; up into the upper 60's and even low 70's (and then dropping back down into the low 40's at night; it was like an east coast spring weather pattern; some of the cherry trees around here blossomed..it's very strange to be outside in shorts and sandals barbecuing with the sun going down at 5 o'clock)

Then since last Sunday we've been back to sunny and cold, and now finally, at long last a whole series of storms are cued up to hit us straight into next week...we started getting our first good steady rain here about an hour ago...

The culprit has been a huge mother of a high pressure system that sat off shore for over a month forcing all the rain well to our north...

[dales]

I read on SFGATE that some doofus drove into a MUNI tunnel and got stuck.

Coincidence?

I think not!

[loCAtek]

I hope so, the South Bay has barely had sprinkles...

[Timster]

40 degrees Jim?, cold?, really? That is T-shirt weather around here.

I complained that I had no shoes, until, I met a man with no feet...

Seriously, 25 below zero projected for tomorrow, Winter advisory with 2 to 6 inches of snow expected...

[Timster]

Currently -2 and sliding fast...

[Lord Jim]

Tim, I grew up back east, so I have some familiarity with genuinely cold weather....

But 25 below? Where do you live, Kamchatka?

Is there a substantial wind chill factor built into that number?

[Timster]

Well I do appreciate that you're not a complete cold weather neophyte Jim... *large grin* Alas, that is actual. Wind chill factor is going to be... Well chilly... My nipples are getting hard just thinking about it.

[Timster]

Oh, Rochester Minnesota, Der hey...ya.

[Lord Jim]

My nipples are getting hard

Gee, now there's a mental image I could certainly have managed to get through the evening without....

[dgs49]

On the relativity of cold...

I spent the past week in Florida (Tampa and Miami), where it was generally "cold," that is to say, high 50's or low 60's.

Being from Pittsburgh and hoping to go down and enjoy the sunny warmth (shoulda waited another month), I was a bit disappointed.

One reason why it seemed so cold was that the people running the public accommodations were unwilling to admit that it was cold. To wit, at 55 degrees YOU NEED TO WEAR A SWEATER OR A JACKET! IT'S TOO COLD TO EAT OUTSIDE! STORES SHOULD HAVE THEIR DOORS CLOSED, AND THE HEAT SHOULD BE TURNED ON!

But here are these people (mainly locals, I gathered) wearing summer clothes, flip flops, sitting at outdoor cafe's with their teeth chattering, because they were simply unwilling to admit that it wasn't as warm as they wanted it to be. Even the people I was visiting insisted on eating lunch at outdoor restaurants, where I tried in vain to find a seat in the sunshine.

Jimmy, why do you care whether it rains or not? Sympathy with the farmers? A lack of rain seems to me decidedly better than rain.

[Lord Jim]

Jimmy, why do you care whether it rains or not? Sympathy with the farmers? A lack of rain seems to me decidedly better than rain.

When it rains here Davey, it means that in a few hours it will be snowing in The High Sierras, and it's the Sierra snow melt that provides our water supply.

[Joe Guy]

I can't speak for LJ, but my concern is the necessity to continue watering my yard in order to prevent numerous plants from dying. Normally, I would not have needed to water anything after November 1st. And more importantly, we've had a record number of "Spare the Air" days in which you cannot burn a wood fire. Last but not least there are places in the Bay Area that depend on local rainfall for their water.

[dales]

Not to mention if we in SF Bay Area enjoy a REALLY rainy winter, there will be skiing in the Sierras on July 4th!

[dales]

[quote="Joe Guy"]I can't speak for LJ, but my concern is the necessity to continue watering my yard in order to prevent numerous plants from dying. Normally, I would not have needed to water anything after November 1st. [quote]

Plant native (non water-intensive) vegetation, Joe!

This has been SOP in the SF Bay are for over 30 years!

[Lord Jim]

I second Joe's garden point as well.

[Joe Guy]

Plant native (non water-intensive) vegetation, Joe!

This has been SOP in the SF Bay are for over 30 years!

The plants I'm speaking of are in pots and usually are fine with "normal" rain from Nov thru Feb. Everything in the ground is fine, except I have watered hydrangeas that were drooping.

[dales]

My error.

I was thinking of landscape rather than potted plants.

[loCAtek]

Well, this is the first winter I've had to water my [throw-rug sized] lawn. The fruit trees: lemon and orange, I've never really watered before because they usually thrive with just the seasonal rain. While they're producing copious amounts like always, their fruits are a little undersized this year.

The 'Tree' (I don't know what it is, it's been here as a part of the park, since long before I moved in) has gotten lots of watering due to its proximity to my grass; and since it's gotten more moisture than any other arbor, has grown the tallest and the fullest on the block.
Topping that however, is the Timber Bamboo. It started out as four young stalks outta a bucket, and has gone on to create a writhing, thriving clump, that can only be contained with an electric chain-saw. <rrrrrrrrrnnn-nah-nah-nah naaaaaaaah>
Standing back from it just earlier today, while I was eyeing what stalks had to go beneath the blade, I noticed one branch was going for breaking the canopy, and reaching for above the treetop. I had heard this bamboo species coud reach fifty feet or better, but mine had usually halted at the tree limbs overhead. Now, one stalk had found a gap and was going for it! You go grass!

(While the Geekmate was here he befriended a local and had said he was living at my place. That was how I found out what my neighbors thought of my landscaping; their reaction was, "Oh, you live at the Bamboo House!" )

[loCAtek]

Now, come on rain, haven't seen you since this morning

[loCAtek]

How dry is it?

Nevada is burning up