A few days fair, one not so much, and then a good holiday.

The title has it all.  Read more for details.  The weekend's storm had a few semi breaks here on the west side, and the sun even came out Saturday afternoon.  By 7PM, clouds filled back in, and a quick, but wet system moved through over night.  We are looking at a clear sky this morning and feeling some crisp temperatures.  Nothing like last Sunday morning, but still, there is a nip in the air, as a cold front moved through late yesterday.  The next few days we should see limited clouds, moderate breezes and a fair amount of sun.  High temperatures hang in the mid 60s.

The storm track has moved to our north, still impacting Humboldt and the PNW.  It is wet up there.  In fact, we were just on the southern edge of this past storm cycle, and the bullseye was around the OR/CA border.  Folks in Portland are getting little reprieve.  Luck for us.  In fact, super lucky for us here in Santa Cruz, as we saw sun while Aptos and Watsonville had rain through sunset.  By late Tuesday night, the storm track will once again shift south to our region as another quick wet system moves through.  We could be the lucky folks again here in Santa Cruz, with mostly light, misty drizzle in the early morning hours, while areas around the bay get moderate rain and another 6-10" of snow fall in Tahoe.  By Thanksgiving, sun returns, and warming begins.  We could see 70F here in town by Friday and Saturday.  We are monitoring another set of storms that may begin to impact us as early as this coming Sunday.  Needless to say, we are in a fairly active phase.  It is all about where the storms go.

I used to call this sunset season, but now that I have an 18 month old, I realize it is sunrise season.  Santa Cruz Mountains.

So snow reports coming in from the ski resorts this morning are fair.  Ten inches to two feet have fallen during this cycle above 8000 feet.  Below that, mostly rain.  So the lower based resorts are not looking as good.  But, snow levels did fall to lake level late, so every one got at lest an inch of snow at the base.  This is good news for Mt. Rose and Kirkwood who say their base elevations fill in.  Good base building snow everywhere, so where the snow fell, it caked.  Regardless, with another storm on Wednesday, the holiday weekend should see some good skiing, especially where the upper mountains get open.  And the sun will be out, and temperatures will be in the mid 40s at 8000 feet.  Nice, comfy, Cali skiing.  No, it won't be epic, but if you like to schuss, and you have been waiting all summer, it will be fun.

Maybe some surf talk tomorrow.  Sure, there is some sizable swell in the water right now, but conditions are less than perfect out there.  But if you can get out there, go take a look.  It should be fun. Stay away from river mouths and outflows that have started to move with the recent rains.  Ecoli and other nasties are in the water this time of year.  Stay up current.  And don't forget to plant your garlic.  That stuff needs to be in the ground soon.  And yes, that is pumpkin pie baking in my oven.  Smells good, don't it.