SoCal watch out!

[Ban my account ffs!]

As I said over a week ago... drought busting storms were going to start rolling into California as our friend El Niño rears its ugly face in mid-winter.

A storm is going to slam into California that could set low pressure records with hurricane force winds for central and southern California and up to 10 inches of rain in parts of SoCal.

Hundreds have already been warned to evacuate their homes due to the potential for severe mudslides.

[Sbane]

And they have already had a ton of rain this whole week. There was even a tornado yesterday.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The Bay Area has been set upon by rain & lightning for the last couple of days. Not at all pleasant.

[Psychic Octopus]

     The Bay Area has been set upon by rain & lightning for the last couple of days. Not at all pleasant.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.

[Countess Anya of the North Parish]

     The Bay Area has been set upon by rain & lightning for the last couple of days. Not at all pleasant.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.

tell me about it. I live right around the corner of my school. And when I got there I was completely soaked!

[Cubby]

....There was even a tornado yesterday.

Thats very unusual. They are rare west of the Rockies. I've never heard of one in CA.

I don't think I could live in California. If its not the massive, out of control fires every year, then its rain/floods. And even if the weather is okay, you always have to worry about earthquakes.

[RosettaStoned]

....There was even a tornado yesterday.

That's very unusual. They are rare west of the Rockies. I've never heard of one in CA.

I don't think I could live in California. If its not the massive, out of control fires every year, then its rain/floods. And even if the weather is okay, you always have to worry about earthquakes.

Stereotype. I've only experienced ONE earthquake and it wasn't even gnarly. Nothing in my house even broke.

[Cubby]

Stereotype. I've only experienced ONE earthquake and it wasn't even gnarly. Nothing in my house even broke.

Thats one more than I've ever experienced.

I didn't mean to make it sound like you're all going to die. But you do seem to have a lot of natural disasters, even excluding earthquakes. You never hear about wildfires east of the MS river for instance.

[Torie]

As I said over a week ago... drought busting storms were going to start rolling into California as our friend El Niño rears its ugly face in mid-winter.

A storm is going to slam into California that could set low pressure records with hurricane force winds for central and southern California and up to 10 inches of rain in parts of SoCal.

Hundreds have already been warned to evacuate their homes due to the potential for severe mudslides.

It was odd to see that the center of today's storm was well, right here in the great OC!  It was also weird to see that it was quite localized, with the clouds forming about 75 miles out to sea from Catalina Island, and then moving to the mainland to pound it, and pound it hard, which it did. (Normally the storms track down from Alaska, pound up north, and we down here get a more modest residual from the Southern tails of the storm.) Heck we even had that bizarre thing that I have read about in books, called lightening. I thought it might be a fiction until I saw it with my own eyes! 

[Torie]

And they have already had a ton of rain this whole week. There was even a tornado yesterday.

It was out to sea a bit off Long Beach, if we are thinking of the same one.

[Хahar 🤔]

The rain's been quite pleasant. Very nice.

I don't think I could live in California.

You live in Connecticut.

If its not the massive, out of control fires every year,

Southern California, not here.

then its rain/floods.

Again, not here.

And even if the weather is okay, you always have to worry about earthquakes.

We worry about earthquakes far less than you do about blizzards.

[Associate Justice PiT]

If its not the massive, out of control fires every year,

Southern California, not here.

     Not to mention they tend to happen in the more rural areas (Oakland Hills fire aside), no?

[platypeanArchcow]

If its not the massive, out of control fires every year,

Southern California, not here.

     Not to mention they tend to happen in the more rural areas (Oakland Hills fire aside), no?

Yeah, but they make the air unbreathable everywhere.  So glad I wasn't in Pasadena during the Station fire.  I kind of wish I were there for this rain though... sounds fun.  The weather in Chicago has been boring and annoying lately, weaving up and down around freezing, all the snow has half-melted into icy crap.

[The Artist Formerly Known As and Now Again Known As Ogis]

I live in Nothern California and I actually look forward to the storms, because (a) we rarely get them and (b) nothing really happens other than people get wet and we get a little extra water in our reservoirs. I mean, today was probably the worst weather we've experienced in at least a year, and it's pathetic. One inch of rain or something insignificant like that. I saw more snow failling in freaking Dallas in a day than I saw in my entire life in NorCal.

SoCal (pardon my abasiveness) is just a terrible place. It has a lot more variable weather, along with far more along the lines of natural disasters.

As for earthquakes, there have been a couple recently, and I didn't even feel one of them. In fact, there have been no earthquakes that caused more than $1000 estimated in damage as far as I know.

[Cubby]

We worry about earthquakes far less than you do about blizzards.

Only some of us worry about blizzards. I wouldn't say I enjoy them, but there's an element of suspense about them that is part of every winter here. There's the many conversations about them in the days leading up. There's the mad dash to the grocery store to stock up on milk, bread and other "emergency supplies". Then there's the mad dash to the library to check out 10 DVDs each to occupy our time. Good times.

[Sbane]

And they have already had a ton of rain this whole week. There was even a tornado yesterday.

It was out to sea a bit off Long Beach, if we are thinking of the same one.

Not sure if it was the same one. One hit Costa Mesa as well and there was a Tornado warning for Irvine.

[Ban my account ffs!]

No wildfires east of the Mississippi?  We had some very sizable forest fires here in 2006 and 2007...

The Ham Lake fire in May 2007 burned 76,000 acres in northeastern Minnesota. 

In fact, the only reason you don't see fires east of the Rockies is because we suppress them so well.  Before settlement, vast sections of the prairies burned every year.  In the pre-statehood diaries of weather observers at Fort Snelling near Minneapolis, every time there was a notable dry spell during fall or spring, they would note hazy, smoky skies.

Now since most of the prairie is nothing but exposed dirt in the fall and spring, it doesn't burn.

In any case... the wildfires in California are natural and good for the ecosystem.  It's just that we suppress fires which allow a buildup of dead wood which makes for more catastrophic fires when they do occur.

[Cubby]

No wildfires east of the Mississippi?  We had some very sizable forest fires here in 2006 and 2007...

The Ham Lake fire in May 2007 burned 76,000 acres in northeastern Minnesota. 

In fact, the only reason you don't see fires east of the Rockies is because we suppress them so well.  Before settlement, vast sections of the prairies burned every year.  In the pre-statehood diaries of weather observers at Fort Snelling near Minneapolis, every time there was a notable dry spell during fall or spring, they would note hazy, smoky skies.

Now since most of the prairie is nothing but exposed dirt in the fall and spring, it doesn't burn.

In any case... the wildfires in California are natural and good for the ecosystem.  It's just that we suppress fires which allow a buildup of dead wood which makes for more catastrophic fires when they do occur.

The river goes right through the middle of MN, so thats a tough call   

I found the Ham Lake Fire on Wikipedia. Didn't know about that.