Let's talk about the weather!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Just another warm, sunny day in paradise. The good news is that the fog lifted this week. The bad news is that the high pressure ridge camping out off the west coast has apparently asserted squatter's rights. NOAA says that it may last through mid-February. Here's an excerpt from NOAA's long range forecast from January 23rd:

FIRE WEATHER...AN UNUSUAL MID-WINTER OFFSHORE 
WIND EVENT IS DEVELOPING OVER THE AREA CURRENTLY 
AND WILL PEAK TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY. GIVEN THE 
EXCEPTIONAL DRYNESS WE HAVE HAD SO FAR THIS WET
SEASON, MANY AREAS IN SOUTHWEST OREGON AND 
NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA HAVE DRY FUELS FOR THIS 
TIME OF YEAR. AS A RESULT...RED FLAG WARNINGS 
(RFWMFR) HAVE BEEN HOISTED FOR MUCH OF SOUTHWEST 
OREGON AND PORTIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

I can't take responsibility for the "all-caps" approach to their forecasts...it's a lot like shouting it out. Fire weather...Oregon had four fires that broke out yesterday. Two of them were in the coast range. Here's a part of the story from weather.com:

A pair of fires flared up along in the Oregon coastal range east of the town of Arch Cape, about 70 miles west-northwest of Portland on January 23. Fanned by winds estimated at 70 mph, the flames had burned around 120 acres as of January 24,

Unusual? Indeed. This is January and the Oregon coast is one of the most reliably wet locations this time of year. Is this the result of climate change? Possibly, although many people make the mistake of confusing short-term weather patterns with climate patterns. It does, however, fit in with the climate models that suggest drier winters, more droughts, and generally more severe events.

The upside is that the forecast is for some precipitation this week. Unfortunately, it appears that it will be a warm front and may not bring much, if any, snow. Things are looking pretty grim.

The base isn't getting any better.

 Waldo Lake from the top of Where's Waldo. I never get tired of the views at The Pass.

 Ya think?  It was more like 50+ degrees today.

There was three runs that were worth skiing on Peak 2 today. One of them was taken over by the high school ski race, effectively leaving two runs.

Dylan hits the log ride on Boundary Pass.

They can probably hold out a few more weeks with no snow. It's gonna be a challenge for them to keep the run open to the lodge off of Eagle Peak -- things are melting pretty fast. In some respects, it's a wonder they are even able to operate with such thin snow pack. We'll take what we can get, but it's not great by any stretch.

We're hoping the weather will change soon so we can get some powder days in. We'll see.