I do not remember when I have awakened to be more thrilled at the sounds of the morning. It is raining. Seriously raining. Already about .40 inch as of 7:50 this morning.
I know there are parts of the County–recently burned areas–that will suffer from heavy rain. But we need it badly, for the fruit trees, for reducing the fire risk (even for a little bit), and, yes, for our souls. What a beautiful, calming sound! I had almost forgotten what it was like. The last significant rain was many months ago.
This is one of those cutoff lows (weatherman’s woes). It has drifted for days off the coast of northern Baja and given us interesting high clouds and gorgeous sunsets (I may post a photo or two later)–and given the forecasters challenges in predicting where it would wind up. Well, now we know. Right here! And we are under a flash-flood watch till Saturday afternoon.
Let it pour (but not too hard).
__________
This morning’s forecast discussion appears to downplay, in advance, what has in fact materialized. And no, I really do not understand all this jargon, but it sure sounds good:
BELIEVE AMOUNTS WILL BE LIGHT DUE TO CONFLICTING JET STREAMS AS THE TWO SYSTEMS COLLIDE. THERE IS NEVER CONSISTENT JET DYNAMICS TO GET MOIST ATMOSPHERE TO LIFT SUBSTANTIALLY. HOWEVER… QPF SHOULD INCREASE THIS EVENING WHEN THE SYSTEMS PHASE…WHICH WILL ALLOW BAROCLINICITY TO PRODUCE RAPID CYCLOGENESIS.
Closing in on 10:00 a.m. and also closing in on one inch of rain already. Forecast had said up to 1/2″ and later was revised to up to an inch, for the entire day.
I love rain. I was just out in it, picking mandarins (last of the 2007 crop of the long-holding ‘Gold Nugget’ and first of the new crop of the early varieties, ‘Owari Satsuma’ and ‘Page’). I could have stood out in that shower for an hour or more!
I complain early and often, as my wife will attest, when I get up in the morning look out and see gloom. Which is pretty common here. But in truth, my weather preferences are very bimodal. I like rain just as much as I like a sunny day.
My “ugh, gloom again” reaction was my first thought this morning when I saw how poor the visibility was. Then I woke up a bit more and realized it meant humidity! And that would mean rain could fall after all, with the very low humidities of recent days now past us. Only a bit later did I realize it was raining, and had been doing so for a while. Much lighter here now, but continuing. This is perfect, and may it continue for several more hours just like this!
Seed planted by MSS — 30 November 2007 @ 17:57
Fair point here by the NWS, issued at 8:30:
OK, I agree. This has not been heavy. It is all relative. But it has been on the highish end of moderate at times.
Looks like the flash flood watch even includes the area of the finca at its western edge. Moosa Creek must be filling up from the (moderately) heavier stuff in the foothills east of Valley Center.
Seed planted by MSS — 30 November 2007 @ 18:11
1:30 p.m. and closing in on an inch and a half!!
Seed planted by MSS — 30 November 2007 @ 21:28
2.04″ as of 3:20 p.m.! Wow, much more than forecast. I can’t remember the last time the actual came in well above the forecast range. And while now very light, the rain has not stopped since before sunrise.
Seed planted by MSS — 30 November 2007 @ 23:23
We wound up with 2.87″ (or 72.9 mm for the metrically advanced).
An amazing, unexpected, and most welcome richness of precipitation!
Seed planted by MSS — 02 December 2007 @ 02:14