Trixology

Weather => General Weather Discussion => Topic started by: elagache on December 02, 2014, 10:17:58 PM

Title: "Black Tuesday" as far as rainfall!!
Post by: elagache on December 02, 2014, 10:17:58 PM
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Happy day here at the Canebas weather station.  We have gotten our first prolonged spell of steady rainfall for the 2014-15 rainy season:

(http://www.canebas.org/misc/Voila_images/First%20long%20rain%20episode%20of%202014.jpg)

And the rain continues to come.  Back in the early beta phases of WeatherCat 2.0, I wrote an AppleScript synthetic channel that computed the difference between the actual monthly rainfall and the average seasonal rainfall for that month.  Almost 9 months later, I've seen that gauge in positive territory for the first time!

(http://www.canebas.org/misc/Voila_images/First%20time%20ahead%20of%20average%20monthly%20rainfall%202014.jpg)

The rain is supposed to keep coming until the end of the week with another heavy downpour expected tomorrow morning.  [rain2]  Could this be the beginning of the end of the drought? . . . .  (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/rain_happy.gif)

Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: "Black Tuesday" as far as rainfall!!
Post by: HantaYo on December 03, 2014, 02:20:16 AM
That is a nice ground soaker   [rockon] [bounce] Come on El Nino- I dare you
Title: Re: "Black Tuesday" as far as rainfall!!
Post by: Blicj11 on December 03, 2014, 01:16:15 PM
Nice work on that synthetic channel. It's good to see that the gauge works on the uphill side of zero.
Title: Orinda under the rain . . . (Re: "Black Tuesday" as far as rainfall!! )
Post by: elagache on December 03, 2014, 10:06:58 PM
Dear Jeff, Blick, and WeatherCat "had enough of drought already" types,

That is a nice ground soaker   [rockon] [bounce] Come on El Nino- I dare you

Yes indeed, actually a little too much.  There are lots of problems from downed trees.  Alas, many trees were weakened too much by the drought and now they are falling apart.  The storm total is thus far 2.62" (66.5mm) but the heavy stuff has passed. 

Nice work on that synthetic channel. It's good to see that the gauge works on the uphill side of zero.

I've never released it because it is an odd application and it has the problem that you really need an accurate basis for seasonal rainfall.  I'm not sure my source is very trustworthy.

I headed out this morning for a little fresh air and got caught in some showers.  Since I had my iPhone 6, I was able to take a few photos of Orinda under the rain.  Here are some mushrooms that were almost a foot wide!

(http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-8bHTMsS/0/L/Large%20mushrooms%20along%20side%20of%20road%20-L.jpg) (http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-8bHTMsS/A)

Here are some trees losing their autumn foliage:

(http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-KKQhTDb/0/L/Trees%20losing%20leaves%20in%20the%20rain%20-L.jpg) (http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-KKQhTDb/A)

Here is water finally flowing into a local creek:

(http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-htTpnW9/0/L/Water%20running%20in%20Moraga%20creek%20-L.jpg) (http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-htTpnW9/A)

These creeks have been mostly dry for almost a year.

Finally, water rushing into a storm drain partially clogged with autumn leaves:

(http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-6nPQKGT/0/L/Water%20rushing%20into%20storm%20drain%20-L.jpg) (http://canebas.smugmug.com/Nature/Wild-Flowers/Winter-scenes-2014-15/i-6nPQKGT/A)

I also learned something about the iPhone 6.  Did you know that the thumb-print recognition system doesn't work as well if the phone or thumb is wet?  ;D

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Orinda under the rain . . . (Re: "Black Tuesday" as far as rainfall!! )
Post by: Blicj11 on December 03, 2014, 10:10:29 PM
I also learned something about the iPhone 6.  Did you know that the thumb-print recognition system doesn't work as well if the phone or thumb is wet?  ;D

It also doesn't work in extremely arid climates. Apparently it works well in perfect weather, whatever that is.