Sunday, January 20, 2019

About On Track.

I took the past two days and got up to the snow. Unfortunately, the forecast changed just as I locked in my plans.  That brief high pressure and awesome weather we just experienced in Santa Cruz was not quite so strong, nor so awesome, up in the Sierra.  Still, Friday was superbly fun.  The storm had just broken in the morning and all would have been nearly epic if that next system did not roll in around 10AM.  A thick cloud of fog enveloped the mountain.  It was not PNW pea soup, but a low cloud.  And while it did not rain, the snow absorbed that moisture and the cloud acted as a blanket and things got heavy.  First few runs in the morning weren't through blower, but it was boot deep, and fluff.  Landings were silky.  By afternoon, the fresh tracks were still wonderful, there was a noticeable difference in the snow.  And my goggles were wet.  As was my coat.  But still a lot of fun, and did I mention the landings were silky.  If anything they improved with the day.  So the past week's of 40 plus inches skied only a few inches deep in most spots.  Then, around 6PM the drizzle began.  It lasted all night.  Saturday was firm in the shade and soft in the sun.  Felt like spring.  Luckily, we have today and tonight.

Here in Santa Cruz, the light rain is back on.  We are around .13 inches of rain for today.  This is around what was forecast a few days ago.  Over the last 48 hour the forecast was getting wetter and wetter.  At one point I saw if climb to an inch of rain for today, and was almost that high early this morning.  NWS is back down to calling for maybe another tenth inch tonight.  Winds have already shifted NW, so that suggest the center of the storm is to our east, and we we see rain end shortly.  Right now a solid band is hitting us, and precipitation rates are rising, but this may be the final band as the entire system moves onshore.  Monday should be sunny, and mild.  Then we go into a warming trend for the week.  We could be hitting 70F by late in the work week.  Right now it looks like we should peak out around Friday, but the dry weather is forecast to stick around through the end of the month.  My math gives us at least ten days of sunshine.  The plants are going to go wild.

The Sierra has up to two feet forecast at the crest for this storm.  Kirkwood has been getting a lot less snow than the mountains around the north west of the lake.  Kirkwood is reporting 42 inches from this last week, while Squaw has 74.  That is a big difference. Northstar's 64 to Heavenly's 26.  Still, I can attest the coverage at Kirkwood is excellent.  I'd still say it is in the slightly low tide range, but much more of a mid tide.  And more importantly, what is coverage is caked in snow.  I imagine more resorts are in good shape.  And if you ask me, this depth of snow is ideal.  If we get too much, the mountains are really not quite as much fun as everything flattens out.  Anyway, if you can get on it tomorrow, I imagine it will be good.  Snow levels today started below 7800', and dropped all day.  Currently they are around 6000 feet, so what is falling is all snow at all resorts.  And up high it is fluff.  Regardless of how this one produces, it will give the entire basin a great recoding, and came in right to bond with the firm surface below.  Oh, and the persistent deep slab still exist in the backcountry.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, stay out of the back country for now.

Sunshine tomorrow.  Too bad not tonight, as the full sonar eclipse will occur in less than an hour.  Those clouds will be blocking it.  Upper 50s, but it will feel warmer due to sunshine.  Brisk NW winds continue, but back off through the day.  Low 40s over night.  Some protected pockets inland might drop into the 30s.  Daytime highs in the 60s this week, building to 70F.  Overnight lows rebound back in to the mid 40s.  Pretty damn clear.  Things are going to dry out.

Oh, yeah, that fun moon.  King Tides.  Huge tides tomorrow.  Some of the biggest of the year.  Watch out for coastal flooding during high tide.  About 7 feet at 9:45AM.  Sucking out all day to negative 1.5 feet at 4:30PM.  Watch for currents and plan to tide pool in the evening.


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