Winter is Here

[ski3pin]

Well we're all still here. The world didn't end. That means a good winter to look forward to until the equinox. Winter is coming in like a lion here. Good! The Lady just discovered we needed Parmesan cheese for the french onion soup and ran to to store while we still can.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
220 PM PST FRI DEC 21 2012

...PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF
INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE WEEKEND...

.ADDITIONAL PACIFIC STORMS WILL TRACK ACROSS INTERIOR NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE WEEKEND BRINGING MORE SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS
AND UPPER FOOTHILLS. IN SHASTA COUNTY...SNOW LEVELS WILL AROUND
500 FEET TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING THEN RISE SATURDAY INTO
SUNDAY TO 2000 TO 3000 FEET. OVER THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN
SIERRA NEVADA...SNOW LEVELS ARE FORECAST TO BE 3000 TO 4500 FEET
THROUGH SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 5 FEET ARE
POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAIN TERRAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
DRIER WEATHER IS EXPECTED EARLY NEXT WEEK.

CAZ069-221200-
/O.EXT.KSTO.WS.W.0014.000000T0000Z-121224T0600Z/
WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA-
220 PM PST FRI DEC 21 2012

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST SUNDAY
ABOVE 4000 FEET...

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 2 TO 5 FEET.

* TIMING: PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW THROUGH SUNDAY.

* VISIBILITIES: ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES.

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: INTERSTATE 80 AND AREA HIGHWAYS.

* WINDS: SOUTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 55 MPH.

* IMPACTS: SNOW WILL LIKELY IMPACT TRAVEL ON AREA HIGHWAYS SUCH
AS ALL TRANS SIERRA NEVADA HIGHWAY PASSES.

 

[Lighthawk]

This will definitely fill in the base, especially down below 7,000' where it got washed away by the warm rains. It's going to be a great ski year!

 

[Smokecreek1]

Well we're all still here. The world didn't end. That means a good winter to look forward to until the equinox. Winter is coming in like a lion here. Good! The Lady just discovered we needed Parmesan cheese for the french onion soup and ran to to store while we still can.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
220 PM PST FRI DEC 21 2012

...PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF
INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE WEEKEND...

.ADDITIONAL PACIFIC STORMS WILL TRACK ACROSS INTERIOR NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE WEEKEND BRINGING MORE SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS
AND UPPER FOOTHILLS. IN SHASTA COUNTY...SNOW LEVELS WILL AROUND
500 FEET TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING THEN RISE SATURDAY INTO
SUNDAY TO 2000 TO 3000 FEET. OVER THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN
SIERRA NEVADA...SNOW LEVELS ARE FORECAST TO BE 3000 TO 4500 FEET
THROUGH SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 5 FEET ARE
POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAIN TERRAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
DRIER WEATHER IS EXPECTED EARLY NEXT WEEK.

CAZ069-221200-
/O.EXT.KSTO.WS.W.0014.000000T0000Z-121224T0600Z/
WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA-
220 PM PST FRI DEC 21 2012

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST SUNDAY
ABOVE 4000 FEET...

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 2 TO 5 FEET.

* TIMING: PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW THROUGH SUNDAY.

* VISIBILITIES: ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES.

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: INTERSTATE 80 AND AREA HIGHWAYS.

* WINDS: SOUTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 55 MPH.

* IMPACTS: SNOW WILL LIKELY IMPACT TRAVEL ON AREA HIGHWAYS SUCH
AS ALL TRANS SIERRA NEVADA HIGHWAY PASSES.


Ski-good luck on your run, I decided to have another drink and just enjoy my beans and ham-hocks and play it by ear before i walk down the hill, wish had a lady around like you and lighthawk, but that's life. World did not end, but lot's of snow coming down and my dog "bob" is enjoying a nice soup bone but is still trying to get me to take him for a walk in the snow-power is still on here, but merry x-mas to you all, and maybe we will have a nice new year adventuring out there in back counrty. Real good snow coming down, may help that Rush Fire rehab work.

Smoke

 

[Foy]

Our "getaway" is 3 hours west of our Raleigh, NC home (elevation 280')in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's a nice old house located along a ridge-top at 4,000'. It faces south-southwest and has a 180 degree view with Grandfather Mountain (elevation 5,947') at its center. At our latitude, the elevation provides temps like southern Canada some 1,000 miles north. We're about 5 miles from a store and getting there requires dropping about 1,000' over a network of gravel and paved roads with essentially no strait stretches and an abundance of "Oh, #&%!! drop-offs, mostly sans guardrails. We adopt a well-defined "siege mentality" when it gets icy, which from November through April is pretty much any time. It's all good: I just plug in the old diesel to keep it semi-warm, and when the frozen stuff is falling, I go outside every couple of hours to crank and warm up the truck and clear the snow off of it.

When I was a student up there about 100 years ago, I lived in that very house and had a very persnickety 1967 IH Scout. Winter in those days meant parking the truck, pulling the battery out and taking it inside, covering the hood, windshield, and front wheel wells with a stiff, frozen canvas tarp, and hanging a 100-watt "trouble light" on each side of the engine and one directly under the oil pan. With a little luck, reversing the process early the next morning would make it likely the truck would start. A full day of classes and labs and study sessions well into the evening meant the truck would have to be backed into a parking space well up the hill in the commuting student's parking lot, where sitting all day with the high in the teens could make starting it with only the cold battery difficult. By the time I finished my freshman-junior years and both of my senior years, I was "done" Canadian winters in the Blue Ridge. With all of the modern conveniences vehicles provide today, including two batteries for the diesel, I find myself craving a week or so of crummy weather up there. Come 12/31/12, that's exactly what we'll be doing. The storms you folks had early this week reached the NC-TN border (where Boone is located) early Friday am, and the high in Boone, NC was 22 yesterday. Our neighbor up the mountain says he never saw his outside thermometer go over 16 at his/our place. We're to get your present storm by Wed-Thurs and another big drop in temps. I can hardly wait.

Foy

 

[ski3pin]

Great story to share, thanks Foy!

 

[ski3pin]

Well it continues! Two days of running the big snowblower and the Lady digging off our neighbors decks and walkways, we're still happy. Going to have to run out for another loaf of french bread for the onion soup.



Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
308 AM PST SUN DEC 23 2012

...PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WIND WILL CONTINUE FOR THE
MOUNTAINS OF INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON SUNDAY...

.AN ADDITIONAL PACIFIC STORM WILL TRACK ACROSS INTERIOR NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA TODAY BRINGING MORE SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. IN SHASTA
COUNTY...SNOW LEVELS HAVE CLIMBED TO AROUND 3000 FEET. OVER THE
WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA CASCADE RANGE...SNOW LEVELS
WILL RANGE FROM 3500 FEET NORTH TO AROUND 4000 FEET SOUTH. ADDITIONAL
SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 2 FEET ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER
MOUNTAIN TERRAIN TODAY THROUGH THIS EVENING. A BRIEF PAUSE IN THE
CURRENT WET PATTERN IS EXPECTED ON MONDAY BEFORE ANOTHER PACIFIC
FRONTAL SYSTEM HITS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE CHRISTMAS DAY
TUESDAY.

CAZ069-240015-
/O.CON.KSTO.WS.W.0014.000000T0000Z-121224T0600Z/
WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA-
308 AM PST SUN DEC 23 2012

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS
EVENING ABOVE 4000 FEET...

* TIMING: SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUE BECOMING MORE STEADY BY LATE
SUNDAY MORNING WITH PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL DURING
THE DAY. AS MUCH AS 1 TO 2 FEET OF ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL IS
EXPECTED.

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: BLUE CANYON, DONNER AND ECHO SUMMITS ON
INTERSTATE 80 AND HIGHWAY 50.

* WINDS: SOUTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* IMPACTS: SNOW WILL IMPACT TRAVEL ON AREA HIGHWAYS SUCH AS ALL
TRANS SIERRA NEVADA HIGHWAY PASSES. CHAIN REQUIREMENTS WILL BE
LIKELY AT TIMES.

 

[MarkBC]

Well it continues! Two days of running the big snowblower and the Lady digging off our neighbors decks and walkways, we're still happy. Going to have to run out for another loaf of french bread for the onion soup.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
308 AM PST SUN DEC 23 2012

...PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WIND WILL CONTINUE FOR THE
MOUNTAINS OF INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON SUNDAY...


Sure looks that way -- in Oregon and parts of adjacent states a bit, too:

But I'm pleased to see that tomorrow -- my first day of Xmas-New Years driving -- is forecast to be OK in Bend and Redding:

It's an Xmas miracle!

 

[ski3pin]

.................and it continues! Somewhere in the background we can hear Bing Crosby singing.............................We won't forget to add the "merry and bright" part.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
345 AM PST TUE DEC 25 2012

...ANOTHER WINTER STORM WILL MOVE INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
TODAY...

.ANOTHER POTENT WINTER STORM WILL BRING A WHITE CHRISTMAS TO THE
INTERIOR MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. SNOW WILL BEGIN TO
DEVELOP OVER THE SHASTA COUNTY MOUNTAINS EARLY IN THE MORNING AND
THEN SPREAD SOUTH TO AROUND INTERSTATE 80 CORRIDOR BY THE
AFTERNOON. THIS WINTER STORM WILL BRING MORE HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY
WINDS TO THE THE SIERRA NEVADA INTO WEDNESDAY...WHILE
PRECIPITATION WILL DECREASE OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS.

CAZ069-260000-
/O.UPG.KSTO.WS.A.0013.121226T0000Z-121227T0800Z/
/O.EXB.KSTO.WS.W.0015.121225T2000Z-121227T0800Z/
WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA-
345 AM PST TUE DEC 25 2012

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO MIDNIGHT PST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT ABOVE 3500 FEET...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SACRAMENTO HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING FOR THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA
ABOVE 3500 FEET FOR HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS...WHICH IS IN
EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO MIDNIGHT PST WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE WINTER
STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 4 TO 8 INCHES WITH 1 TO 2 FEET ABOVE 6500
FEET.

* TIMING: THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING.

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: INTERSTATE 80 OVER DONNER PASS...HIGHWAY 50
OVER ECHO SUMMIT...HIGHWAY 88 OVER CARSON PASS.

* WINDS: SOUTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH OR HIGHER.

* IMPACTS: TRAVEL DELAYS WITH CHAIN REQUIREMENTS LIKELY.

* ELEVATION: ABOVE 3500 FEET.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL
MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS.

 

[MarkBC]

The low at my house in Bend was 1°F yesterday, January 3, the low for the season so far.
Last winter the low for the whole season (at my house) was 13°F; it's a colder winter in Bend this year.
In December 2009 the temperature dropped to -12°F, the coldest temp we'd had in Bend for many years. (though not a record for Bend, which is around -20°F)

(Yesterday morning where I was camped, the last morning of my Nevada trip, I woke up to a low of -16°F

. That was outside -- the low was 30° in the camper)

 

[Phird05]

In the last ten days the temperature in the morning at my house in Riverbend, just outside of Crested Butte was never warmer than minus 26F. One day at minus 26F, then several at minus 27F and 28F and the last three days minus 30F. It's a "dry cold" though. Not bad at all!

Stay warm!

Paul

 

[Smokecreek1]

The low at my house in Bend was 1°F yesterday, January 3, the low for the season so far.
Last winter the low for the whole season (at my house) was 13°F; it's a colder winter in Bend this year.
In December 2009 the temperature dropped to -12°F, the coldest temp we'd had in Bend for many years. (though not a record for Bend, which is around -20°F)

(Yesterday morning where I was camped, the last morning of my Nevada trip, I woke up to a low of -16°F

. That was outside -- the low was 30° in the camper)


I'm glad I chickened out (to cold and to much snow here) Mark-been watching those Nevada temps (two homeless people died out in Winnemucca) and those temps didn't look like any fun over around Austin. It was Zero here the other day and we have lot's of snow-deep snow, and I took the dog for a walk when it hit 2 degrees--and then I only made it a block before I turned around and came home-even have a cold now. 30 degrees in the camper, now that's really enjoying the winter scene, maybe later on, or maybe I'm getting to old for that? Hope not. Been thinking of heading over to the Oregon coast in search of some warm weather---it's in the 40's there with night time temps on in the 30's. I guess I've become a wimp! They say we have almost 200 % of our snow pack, maybe it will be that good year we have been waiting for! Glad you had fun!


Smoke

 

[MarkBC]

I'm glad I chickened out (too cold and too much snow here) Mark-been watching those Nevada temps...

Smoke, you would have been fine...80-proof vodka doesn't freeze until -16.5°F, and 100-proof doesn't freeze until -41°.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Smoke, you would have been fine...80-proof vodka doesn't freeze until -16.5°F, and 100-proof doesn't freeze until -41°.

Thanks-I'll remember that next time!

Smoke

 

[ski3pin]

Last Saturday we had a need to go backcountry skiing and get back in touch with our roots. And, our backyard is one of the best places to go. In was -8° as we drove through Hope Valley south of Lake Tahoe and 3° when we arrived at Carson Pass on Highway 88.

We had a friend with us, the Young Guy.

He was happy to be out skiing with us.

The snow was incredible, the driest lightest powder I can remember. The downhills and turns were memorable. The Lady out ahead.

Winter is the very best time of year!

 

[highz]

Hey, would you quit hogging all the snow?

I've only been able to take the skis and snowshoes out four times this winter before the snow cover got too thin. We could use some more storms, so please send them south.

 

[ski3pin]

<snip> We could use some more storms, so please send them south.


We'll do all we can!

 

[craig333]

Not sure what it was up in Grass Valley at the campground but I arrived with 1/4 tank of propane. When I left the gauge was below E. Even had to use the choke on the Jeep. No pics but we got stuck lots out playing in the snow. I lost a bead on the Jeep, had to get winched. Then found out my Detroit wasn't working. Fixed that when we stopped for lunch and never got stuck again.

Saw one Grandby and an Alaskan on a Unimog. No one was tent camping!

 

[Smokecreek1]

Not sure what it was up in Grass Valley at the campground but I arrived with 1/4 tank of propane. When I left the gauge was below E. Even had to use the choke on the Jeep. No pics but we got stuck lots out playing in the snow. I lost a bead on the Jeep, had to get winched. Then found out my Detroit wasn't working. Fixed that when we stopped for lunch and never got stuck again.

Saw one Grandby and an Alaskan on a Unimog. No one was tent camping!



Winter Bah-humbug, I'm tired of winter, the sun came out for a couple of days and it felt good, and then the snow came back the other day! Sure hope that wasn't our usual Indian summer. Some of the real old timers are saying this is the worst winter since 83 up here-wait a minute, I was here then and my sewer line froze and i had to dig it up and replace it (that was fun), am I an' old timer? At least our temps are not below zero right now, why it hit 40 the other day, told my neighbor, must be time to put on my cut-offs (I wish). A friend camping down at the Salton Sea said he is using a tank of propane a day in his trailer-went down there to get warm! Was to cold to walk the dog for a while, I can't wait until spring comes or some temp over 40. Wonder what the Oregon coast is like!

Smoke

 

[craig333]

I've given serious thought (as serious as I can this far out) to doing the snowbird thing when I retire. Just follow the good weather around. Winter is not my favorite time of the year.

 

[Ted]

I can't wait until spring comes or some temp over 40. Wonder what the Oregon coast is like!

Smoke, forecast for this weekend is low to mid 60's in Fort Bragg. That's not far from Westport, one of your preferred spots. So what are your priorities, warmth or Superbowl?