Saturday, February 25, 2017

Still Trying to rain in Willits, San Francisco and Santa Barbara

If I look at my weather on my Iphone it says now it isn't supposed to rain today now. A few hours ago it said it should rain a little. If I look at the Live weather radar online it looks like Willits and east of there and San Francisco area and Santa Barbara from the looks of the present light storms (so far)  are all going to get hit by a littl rain coming off the ocean. So, that's sort of a relief especially for northern and Southern California that have both been sort of washing away along with many roads and trees the last few months or so since the soil got completely saturated and wouldn't take in anymore water so it all had to run off somewhere and took many roads with it because of the altitude extremes we have here in California.

And now an hour or so later it says it's going to rain again which is maybe the 6th or 7th time they changed their minds about what is going to happen locally in regard to the weather. What's up folks?

If you are moving here from another state you have to be aware in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and likely Texas too you have to be aware of flash floods a lot whenever there are dark clouds in the sky anywhere you are.

So, if you are driving like out in the desert somewhere just because the clouds are over a mountain range 25 miles away doesn't mean that water coming out of that mountain range might not be 3 to 5 feet high, especially if you are walking or driving near any dry washes like you see in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and Nevada and other states. So, flash floods can really be a problem when dark clouds are anywhere within 25 miles of where you are. Just because water is coming down 25 miles away doesn't mean it isn't going to roar right up to you and over you if you are walking or driving anywhere near a (dry wash). Dry washes aren't always dry. They are usually either dry or full of water and this is how a lot of non-local people die in these states by the way.

The other thing to watch out for in California is rogue waves during storms. People from other places like to walk out on rocks and beaches to take pictures of the pretty waves and they die every year because they are not familiar with what oceans can do during storms like locals are, especially on the biggest ocean in the world, the Pacific.

So, don't climb out on rocks at the ocean just because you think you are safe because that is how people die here during the winter. And don't walk out on the beach during a storm because of rogue waves.

This year, I was throwing a chuckit ball for my big Yellow Labrador on a nearby beach to where I live one mile away and lost track of both the waves and my daughter's corgi. The rogue wave came up almost to my waist and I saw my yellow lab fight to keep on his feet in the wave but for about 30 to 60 seconds I thought our corgi had been taken out to sea. So, only by looking the wrong direction about 5 seconds I almost lost my corgi, myself and my yellow lab in a moment unguarded and I used to be a surfer in southern California in the 1960s so I should know better.

So, because of flash floods that will hit you with no warning (sort of like Earthquakes) and rogue waves that hit you often without warning too (like I illustrated that happened to me just this winter), you need to be very aware at all times in nature anywhere in California if you are at the beach or near "Dry" washes anywhere in the western states. So, if there are dark clouds bringing rain or windy, rainy storms at the beach be very careful so you and your children are not swept away and gone forever like happens to many visitors to western states every year from all over the world.

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