Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The weather is so bad we stayed in Santa Barbara a week extra

Because of the weather and because some of us are getting over a chest cold we stayed a week longer in Santa Barbara where we thought it would be warmer. For example, yesterday before the latest storm hit I was walking barefoot on one of Santa Barbara's beaches and looking at what looked to be a wrecked Cal 25 sailboat on the beach under the cliffs there or what was left of it after it had lost it's mooring in a storm and had washed ashore and crashed on the beach there. The mast was there laying down and the sail buried in the sand likely unretrievable now because of being buried so deep into the sand there with rigging strewn across around it too and the fiberglass hull broken in many places and torn apart by the waves of whatever storm had brought it in away from it's mooring 6 blocks to a mile out to sea where it had been moored with many other boats.

But, today I was looking at the weather and while it is only 59 degrees here it is actually 68 degrees in the San Francisco Greater Bay area where I live normally. So, today it is a fluke because of the atmospheric river from the Hawaii Area hitting the SF Bay Area and is actually almost 10 degrees warmer up there now.

The problem with this likely will be flooding from melting snow in the Sierras at lower elevations from this warmth. So, on top of the 8 inches or more rain that is said to have fallen many places between San Francisco and Sacramento and points north and east, will be the melting snow from lower elevations adding to the potential flooding many places now.

On top of this many more storms are coming on this atmospheric river that likely will cause flooding not only in the north in places like Paradise but also in the south where all the fires have been as well. So, though the rain is welcome there will be a great deal of property damage and possible loss of life throughout the state as the rains destroy places burned earlier last year now.

Also, found out that 30 inches of snow fell in Mt. Shasta and McCloud area so they are digging out and many roads are not plowed yet. Also, Interstate 5 as of 8:11 pm is still closed north of Redding at Fawndale Exit. My friends told me 4 to 8 feet piles of snow are piled in the center of town on roads through the town that have been plowed. My friend said a friend with a Range Rover came by and had the capacity I guess hydraulically to lift the car up so he wouldn't have to push snow with the main part of the vehicle and then lowered it one inch at a time so my friend could drive off his 2 1/2 acres of land in his all wheel drive Subaru Outback. So, that was very helpful.

Another friend was snow blower blowing snow from his road on his 2 1/2 acres so he could get his truck out to the main road where it was plowed. So, this is the whole Mt. Shasta area now trying to "Dig Out" from all the snow so far the last 24 hours.

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