California storms thread

[cbayer]

I am starting this to give people an opportunity to check in, report conditions in their areas and submit and access information.

My current location is Catalina Island, about 26 miles south of Los Angeles. The winds here are currently building and we expect the worst to start in the next hour.

Most recent information, including warnings and radar maps can be obtained here:
http://weather.noaa.gov/

I hope that everyone stays safe and stays in unless they need to move elsewhere. Today's storm is supposed to be worse than yesterday.

:hide:

[villager]

1. Have to drive to a school meeting, across the valley, later this afternoon....

Will doubtless need to leave extra early...

[BeHereNow]

6. You're a brave man villager!

No way I'd get on the freeway today- I hate
driving them under normal conditions!
Be CAREFUL!
BHN

[villager]

12. I'm thinking leave extra early, and do all surface streets...

n/t

[BeHereNow]

14. I think that is a great idea- if part of your to and from, l suggest Chandler Blvd.

I'm always surprised how light the traffic is on Chandler.
Pretty street to, nice and wide with beautiful trees.
Take care whatever you decide!
BHN

[villager]

15. Normally, I'd do a lot of the drive on Burbank -- but that'll be flooded west of Sepulveda!

Chandler's a good idea -- once I get that far! :-)

[BeHereNow]

17. Yup, Burbank Blvd, Balboa- that whole area always floods.

There was a woman trapped on top of her car on Balboa
the first day of rain.
Have a good meeting at the school!
BHN

[Warpy]

2. Yesterday's storm rained itself out over Cali and AZ

leaving NM just a few sprinkles as it blew through lickety split.

We're all hoping this next one has a little more punch to it and will hang around long enough to do some good. Our weather guys are optimistic.

Poor NM, so little water, so much alcohol.

[BeHereNow]

3. Thanks cbayer- look out for those water spouts you schooled me on!

Steady rain here, spotted thunder and gusts of wind-
all in all, not as dramatic as yesterday, but constant.
BHN:hug: Stay safe!

[MineralMan]

4. Ah, the island of romance.

You're really exposed out there to the weather. It looks like it's going to get nasty. I'd not be standing under any trees until it passes. Truly.

[county worker]

5. On the central coast we had a power outage most of Monday.

I cannot get internet access at home and that's been going on for three days now. Many lines are down.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. SF, here ---

Yesterday afternoon/last night and the night before last were pretty brutal -- howling winds, loads of rain, the full thunder and lightening show. Right now we are having a very nice weather break -- a little blue sky, a short shower here and there. Haven't checked to see what is heading our way next, though.

[proud patriot]

44. I'm glad you are safe

:hi:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. It was miserable in San Jose this morning but the rain has mostly stopped now.

There are a few road closures in the usual places (mountains, Hwy 1, low-lying areas near the bay) Smaller tree limbs are down here and there, but nothing too serious. There are still a few tens of thousands of people without power, but the horrible apocalypse has not materialized. It's a bit worse up in the North Bay but so far no major flooding. Now I want to head up to the Sierra to see all of the snow... And I don't even like skiing!

[Bobbieo]

10. Rain has stopped in Yuma but forecast says it will be back.

Wish we could take more from the people who are getting too much - does that make sense?

[bridgit]

9. There's a bit of a lull by comparison here in Sacramento, and after half the night...

and day so far of hellacious wind & rain. Flooding, much debris, trees and power lines down fallen in rows. A job scheduled in Richmond was canceled due to cars reported as flipping over on or about the Richmond bridge - very nasty with more to come. Just now there's a piece of sunshine passing by...but that will not last and is in fact dimming during this final key http://www.news10.net/weather

[MineralMan]

11. If you want a live, streaming report on the storm:

http://media.myfoxla.com/live/

They're covering it non-stop, with field reporters, helicopters, and radar. Very interesting, even if it is a local FOX station.

[Zoigal]

13. Slow, steady rain here in Pedro with

occasional wind. So far nothing like yesterday's deluge....z

[mike_c]

16. currently between rain storms on the north coast....

Rivers are full and the Pacific swell is BIG. Expecting rain and wind eventually this PM.

[wryter2000]

18. Great idea

It was raining in sheets in Oaktown this morning. It's calmer now, but it ain't over yet. I haven't heard of any mudslides in the East Bay. I'm sure people in the hills must have lost power by now.

[BeHereNow]

22. My kidlet is in Oakland- so thanks for the update.

I warned her to get some groceries in before the storms
because she doesn't have a car up there.
Hope she listened!
BTW- I love Oakland, such a nice town.
I miss her but understand why she prefers it to L.A..

BHN

[wryter2000]

27. She should be safe enough

But she'll get good and wet, for sure, waiting for an AC Transit bus to go shopping.

I'm glad you like my hometown. (I call it that because I've lived here for 40 years, even though I grew up on the other coast.) It's a great place that doesn't get no respect.

:hi:

[dana_b]

36. I'm wondering if the apartments in Pacifica

are going to slide down. So far, so good says the article but I can't believe people still live there!!

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Crumbling-Pacifica-cliff-holding-up-in-storm-82121992.html

[Hekate]

19. Central Coast/Goleta: woke up to thunder and lightning. Lots of gusty wind, rain...

More of the same is forecast for tomorrow, right down to the morning thunderstorms.

Yesterday morning there was a waterspout or tornado touch-down in a friend's yard, just across town from me! It came and went quickly, but it uprooted a tree, blew things around, and damaged three homes -- my friend lost quite a bit of her roof. Fortunately both her boyfriend and her son were there at the time, and were able to get tarps nailed down. Her son is a carpet-cleaning expert and has access to wet-vacs and blowers and such to help get the inside of the house cleaned up. He also knew to drill some strategically-placed holes in the ceiling to let water drain out of the attic into buckets, instead of letting the attic fill with water....

We're lucky so far. We desperately need the rain to refill our reservoirs, but when we get so much dumped on us all at once the hills get slippery, especially in burn areas that have not yet had a chance to grow ground cover back. So far there are no evacuation warnings for SB County, though there are further south. There's a bunch of road closures, mostly in the mountains.

I have a 9:30 a.m. county commission meeting to attend, and it normally takes me 20 minutes to get from here to there, although I allow more time in case of traffic. Tomorrow I plan to leave home no later than 8 am, not only because of road conditions, but because the (free) parking lot for the County Admin building will fill up quickly, and I may end up having to park at the (not-free) public parking lot around the block and then walk through whatever puddles and blowing rain there may be.

Our neighbor's palm tree is shedding fronds like mad; one landed practically on our doorstep. He came over yesterday and cleared them from our driveway before we even noticed -- they're thorny and it wouldn't do our cars' tires any good to run over them. There's more today -- one thing about palm trees: they trim themselves.

We're doing fine here. We'll see about next week.

Hekate

[cbayer]

20. Hang on Manhattan Beach area. There is a bad cell passing just west of the island

right now and headed your way. Stay away from windows and off the roads, please.

[PufPuf23]

21. NE Humboldt on the Klamath

Lots of rain the last several days and more predicted but the winds also predicted have not occurred.

No rain now (after heavy to light rain most of the night and day) but cloud level at 4000 ft (about snow level) and fog on the steep moutainsides.

Power was out Monday for about 4 hours and I expected several days wo/power (the PG&E grid ends about 12 miles upriver, there are still villages off the grid on the Salmon River and downriver Klamath and about a 35 mile de3ad zone along the Klamath).

There was a 6.5 earthquake just off Humboldt Bay on January 16. Fortunate as such a quake would have caused much more damage with soils saturated after the ongoing storms.

The Klamath is high but not as much as one could expect because of a lighter and higher than average snowpack. However, tonight's predictions are more than an inch of precipitation and snow level and temp dropping.

[Gregorian]

30. Orleans.

I've got to make it out there one of these days. I've been all throughout the trails in Humboldt county, but probably missed the best part of the entire place. I had property in Hydesville for a while, but it just wasn't the same as it was before the hoards descended on the place. Or something. haha.

[PufPuf23]

32. Yep, Gorgeous outside now.

Blue and clouds overhead and sun on the ridges to the west and no rain but clouds but windows to new snow on Orleans and Somes Mountains. Clear below 3000 feet but fog interlaced in the trees. In about 20-30 minutes the light, will turn golden than gray and dark.

Not much private property at all as 99% Federal National Forest local ownership.

I am a "deep" local who has spent 60% of 57 years in SF/Berkeley and Portland/Corvallis areas.

PM me if you visit and I will show you things off the beaten track and common knowledge.

[JI7]

23. i wish it was like this all the time

[mopinko]

24. batten down those hatches carol

stay safe, yourself.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. So far dry, cloudy and windy, San Diego

We usually get the tail end...

[sakabatou]

26. We had a lil bit of flooding in my home

Thank the FSM that our pumps and towels work.

[gleaner]

28. Thanks ....

I am in a suburb of LA. Today's storm is worse. The ground is so saturated that water is standing all over the yard. I got drenched going out to the gate to put out trash and get mail. As the day progresses it is getting harder and the wind is supposed to start up this evening.

Tomorrow is supposed to be worse, and Friday they are predicting thunderstorms and heavy rains. That almost never happens.

We are below a mountain pass, some distance away but we still get very strong winds. The burn areas are at great risk. Whatever you do, please avoid them. There are flash flood and landslide warnings.

[Catshrink]

29. Stay safe, cbayer

We'll be getting the storm here tomorrow in Arizona. The weather folks are predicting record rains here -- that's after you all take the brunt of the storm.

[Gregorian]

31. I loaded up with diesel yesterday. No power all day yesterday.

I'm building a shop, and it's a muddy mess here.

/>

[ConcernedCanuk]

34. Is that deisel for power?

.
.
.

I living off the grid, and am curious about deisel generators

If you have info or links

I'd appreciate either/and/or

:hi:

thanks in advance

[Gregorian]

35. Generator and tractor.

I'm not sure what your requirements are. Full time. Load. But I got on Craigslist, found a 7.5kW Onan 3 cylinder diesel (the kind that come in those giant bus RV's), for a grand. Then welded up a tank and frame. And got a stainless box off Ebay and turned it into my power panel. It has a remote on off switch so I can do that from inside the trailer where I've been living. I used this for 2 years while waiting for planning to allow me to hook up to the main power company. It's an expensive way to make power I think. PV panels and batteries aren't cheap either.

There are other small diesels. The best way I found to research is to hang out on Ebay and see what's for sale. Then do the Google searches. I use Google with the additional search term of site:craigslist.org to search all of craigslist through Google.

My generator is something like a 1/3 gallon per hour of diesel. Beware of three phase generators in that they are like three small generators. If you want to run an espresso machine, 1500 watt electric heater, and a microwave, you pretty much need the amps that single phase provides.

It's a neat way to survive, but it's pretty ugly. Every 100-200 hours you go through a gallon of oil. $400 a month on fuel if you only run the generator in the morning and evening. It really brings home just how much resources us modern homo sapiens use.

One thing to consider is how long you need it. If it's a longer period, then photovoltaics might be good. Unless you're way up north like I seem to remember you are.

I sold a generator to a cowboy who has something crazy like 100,000 acres. And he needed a generator for one of his ranch houses that has something like a 10,000 gallon diesel tank.

Feel free to ask me anything. I don't know much. But I might be able to help.

[bergie321]

33. Phoenix Area

Is expecting more rain this week than we got all of last year. A lot of our flood retention areas are already filling and the worst is yet to come.

[azmouse]

40. 2 to 4 inches of rain expected.

Should be an interesting couple of days ahead.

[XemaSab]

37. Not too wild

here in Redding. :shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. It is HERE, cats and dogs pouring down now

San Diego by the by

[proud patriot]

39. Quack Quack ....ooooooooommm..Zen w/ the ducks I am

:hi:

[Ignis]

41. LOTS of waterfowl in strange places today.

I passed a few pelicans down here at the south end of the Bay and a flock of seagulls at a park that's usually teeming with geese.

Quack, indeed!

[proud patriot]

43. we had some flooding at our preschool where I work

ferrying 3 yr olds to and from class through lake portable .

our parking lot half filled and over flowing the sidewalk into the field and playground .. :eyes: quack!

[LeftyMom]

42. Trees down here and a little street flooding.

The river's high but not worryingly high yet.

[Catshrink]

45. It's here now... 5am and rain like I've never seen it

here in the desert. This will be a fun drive to work this morning!

[cbayer]

46. Yesterday wasn't nearly as bad as we feared. Today looks like it could really

deteriorate in the afternoon and evening. Then, hopefully we are over this mess.

We had lots of flooding over here and downed tree limbs, but all boats and buildings appear intact. Looks like they had a rock slide in Avalon.

Stay safe and dry everyone!


:hi:

[cbayer]

47. Kicking because I am hoping we can keep these all in one place. nt.

[gleaner]

48. It has been raining steadily all day ....

After my previous adventures swimming to the trash, I have bagged it and sealed it and it will go out tomorrow when I have some dry shoes. The clothes can be washed and dried but the shoes stay wet not to mention the hair.

The wind kicked up last night but it is quieter today. They are still predicting more rain for Friday and I am hearing thunder as I type. Better go comfort the cats and hurry my husband out of the shower in case the lightening strikes close. The cats are very upset. They don't go outside but they know something is different. They are talking and one has burrowed her way under a pillow to sleep which is what she does when she finds the world to be a threatening place. I may get a blanket and join her.