L.A.'s Storm Of The Century (Thus Far)

[erik]

In case anyone here hasn't turned on the TV or gone on the Internet, we here in the Los Angeles metro area are being hammered by what is likely the most severe rainstorm we have had so far in the 21st century. We have a very cold low pressure system parked off the Central California coastline that is driving what weather experts are calling the "Atmospheric River", or the "Pineapple Express"--a huge 2500 mile-long conveyor belt of subtropical moisture coming out of the Hawaiian Islands. It began at around noon today; and not only has it not stopped (yet), but we have had it coming down at rates of one to three inches per hour, along with gusty winds approaching, at times, hurricane force, with occasional lightning as well.

Now we have had a fairly wet winter thus far, with rain coming in and out of here since December 15th. But this storm has been extremely huge and even dangerous. We still have areas in our foothill communities that were stripped barren by brushfires over the last several summers, where the vegetation hasn't grown all the way back; and those areas remain vulnerable to flooding and mudslides. Trees are being toppled over by the combination of the winds and the saturated ground beneath them, crushing cars and even houses. Homes along Seal Beach have a sand berm to protect them against the high waves coming in off the ocean, but they need pumps to get the rainwater that is trapped behind that berm near the homes back out to sea.

And in case I haven't mentioned it...people here in Southern California, who drive bizarrely when it's sunny, and crazily even when we get merely light rain, are driving totally insane in this monsoon, going through flooded intersections like they're racing at the Indy 500!

So you'll excuse me, I have to get the water out of my garage....

[moe]

Hang in there Eric. Hope your garage and the stuff in it and of course you make it through OK. The obvious question is: what is the status of the drought? I know northern California reservoirs are filling up (or overflowing as in the case of Oroville), how is the water supply situation down south where you live?

[erik]

Compared to what other people have had to go through, mine was an easy clean-up.

The combination of rain and wind has actually been enough to uproot trees from the ground and onto houses, cars, garages, and apartment complexes, along with turning surface-street intersections and freeways into lakes. If there is any benefit to all of this, besides restoring our underground water table, it is that our local mountain resorts got an additional two feet of snow, while the Sierra resorts added four feet or more of fresh new powder. This too will help our water situation statewide.

But the real concern is with the Oroville Dam up in northern California which, as many of you may have heard, suffered some fairly severe structural issues with both its main and emergency spillways due to erosion, and with the lake behind the dam having risen from being almost totally dry two years ago to a point where the water was actually spilling across the top. The dam itself isn't in any danger of collapsing, but they needed to release water out of the lake to be on the safe side--at the rate of 100,000 cubic feet per second--and evacuate nearly a quarter of a million people living closest to the dam in four counties.

Anyway, we are dealing with this incredible weather as only Californians can do--which, for quite a few, is running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

[moe]

Feb 18, 2017 18:31:57 GMT -5 erik said:

I have no idea why this is here -once again I fall victim to my mindless devices.  See real post below

[moe]

Just saw the news-had no idea your situation in LA was that bad. I think you put it mildly just how severe this storm was. I couldn't believe the mudslides, sinkhole and flooded streets. I drove on I-5 from San Diego to LA and back a few months ago and it was all the crazy I wanted in perfect weather-I can't fathom what it was like during the storm. I even heard about some poor soul getting electrocuted when a Line fell on his car. Tip from an old electrical guy:stay in the car-it's getting out and touching ground that completes the circuit and at that point its all over. If you have to exit like if there is a fire, jump as far as you can so you aren't touching the car and ground at the same time. Try to stay dry and well!

[erik]

As near as I understand it, the electrocution occurred because a man tried to get around a downed tree that was blocking the strett he was walking on. Unfortunately, because it was nightfall, he stepped into a puddle of water that, unbeknownst to him, had just been electrified by the wire that was downed by that tree. This was in the Van Nuys section of L.A., out in the San Fernando Valley.

So many unbelievable things happened yesterday because of this storm. Not far from that electrocution, a woman driving her car onto a side street off of Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood fell into a sinkhole she hadn't seen; she was trapped twenty feet down and had to be rescued.

And there are tons and tons more stories related to this storm.

[the Scribe]

That storm is moving over the Phoenix Tempe area right now. We have been in a decades long drought as well so rain is welcome but not to that degree. So far we have gotten just drizzle, a steady drizzle. No flooding yet that I know of. I expect the weeds to start popping up from under our moon rocks big time in the coming weeks along with the desert wildflowers. (which will be fuel for desert brush fires during the hell of summer temps here).

[erik]

Get ready to learn how to swim all over again.

[the Scribe]

a little video from the conversation

Storm Lucifer??? lol





REPENT ERIK




(evidently a storm named SATAN is moving in right behind Lucifer)

[philly]

I'm surprised Trump hasn't taken credit for ending the drought....bigly

[erik]

A few more trees came down in Pasadena, near the Rose Bowl, yesterday, the result of both the wind and the moisture having so saturated the soil beneath them that they were uprooted. Most of these trees are fairly old, sometimes 100 years old, and have grown to such heights that the roots can't support them anymore in these kinds of weather conditions.

This is going to go on for quite a while, as we anticipate another storm coming in on Saturday night.

[Dianna]

Erik, is it still raining out there?

[erik]

Quote by Dianna:

Erik, is it still raining out there?

At this point, not here in the L.A. area. But they are predicting rain for this coming Sunday night (when the Oscars are to be held) and into Monday.

Just for the record, every single reservoir in the state of California, from the Oregon border down to the Mexican border, is at or near its capacity with all the rain we have had the last two months. Two years ago, almost every one of those reservoirs was so dry and desiccated you could walk across them and only get your feet wet.

I had said that the only way California was going to be able to end the drought was for us to get rainstorms of apocalyptic size; and sure enough, we have gotten rainstorms of apocalyptic size. But you can always have too much of it, and people's homes and businesses get flooded.

[the Scribe]

Erik, do you know anything about this? And is this considered to be part of the drought or is this diversion of water something different?

[erik]

As far as I can tell, given that neither Trump nor Hannity know what the f**k they are talking about and have never lived here, I'm going to call it what it is: FAKE NEWS.

This can be so discounted as such.

[the Scribe]

Now that the drought is mostly over I wonder if all that snow melts too fast it will cause massive flooding? Most people in my city have desert landscaping or xeriscape and the weeds are causing havoc with code compliance. I have had to mow my rocks if you can imagine that. Some people are torching theirs. While others use poison.

Blizzard dumps snow on Hawaii, California set for record winter rain

By Dan Whitcomb
Reuters March 02, 2017

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As California edged toward historic rainfall totals in one of the wettest winters in memory, its neighbor state across the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, has been hit with sustained blizzard conditions that have dumped 8 inches of snow onto mountain peaks.

Snow is not unheard of for the higher mountains of Hawaii, which reach above 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in elevation, but weather experts say this week's storm was particularly strong and lingered over the state, delivering a heavier than usual punch.

"The reason for the snow amounts being heavier than we usually see is that the upper low (pressure system) really persisted down there, that has allowed colder air to remain locked in place," said Andrew Orrison of the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

But the blizzard conditions in a state normally thought of as a tropical paradise have made national headlines, accompanied by pictures of snow-capped Hawaiian mountain peaks.

In California, meanwhile, heavy rains have swollen rivers and reservoirs and blanketed the Sierra Nevada mountains with twice as much snow as usual this winter, helping power the state out of five years of severe drought. Orrison said with winter not yet over the state was already among the top two to three seasons on record for snow and rainfall in Northern California.

"Right now we're looking at potentially an all-time record for rainfall and you have to go back to the winter of 1982-83 for snow pack being as deep as it is."

He said that while there was still some "lingering concern" for Southern California, which has not had as much snow and rain, the northern and central part of the state were no longer considered to be in a drought.

"It's a very good story to have and there has just been substantial improvement, even in Southern California," Orrison said.

On Thursday, the National Drought Mitigation Center said that less than 10 percent of the state remained in drought – the lowest amount since 2011.

By comparison, on the same day last year more than 95 percent of the state was in the throes of an unprecedented, five-year drought that led farmers to fallow fields and cost billions to the economy.

Forecasters said it was too early to predict what could be in store next winter, although there were some preliminary indications of a so-called El Nino climate pattern that warms the ocean and typically brings more rain and snow to California.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Editing by David Gregorio)

[erik]

Quote by ronstadtfanaz:

Now that the drought is mostly over I wonder if all that snow melts too fast it will cause massive flooding?

It really depends on how the dams and flood control infrastructure we have in place are all managed. There will obviously have to be a release of runoff at at least some of the major dams in the Sierras and Cascades, which have seen some of the heaviest rain and snow totals on record, and that includes Oroville and Shasta. And there need to be inspections of the structural integrity of these dams, just because of the fact that they went over the last two years from being nearly totally dry to many of them filled almost to the point where the water went over the top (like at Oroville).

I don't know that flooding can be totally avoided, even if the rain and snow stopped (and even that's not a sure thing in March and April). If it's done judiciously, like it was at Oroville Dam, where areas that are supposed to absorb the huge water flow are able to handle it, then the chances of massive flooding will be reduced. But nothing's a sure thing here, because we haven't had to handle this move from extreme drought to extreme wetness for a very long time.