Moods of the sky behind our weather instruments 2024-25

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of the seasons turning,

We are well into autumn, so it is time to start another yearly sequence of photographs around our weather instruments (everyone invited to contribute of course!)  Two days ago I was trying to take a "run of the mill" photo of our anemometer and the waxing Moon when an amazing surprise crashed my picture:



I just happened to be standing right in between this hummingbird and our hummingbird feeder.  It paused to see what was in its way.  I managed to squeeze the shutter before it moved on!

After such a priced photo, I rushed back home so that this hummingbird could get one last meal before the cold night ahead.

Enjoy!

Edouard 

[Blicj11]

Nice photo Edouard. Thanks for sharing.

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of the seasons turning,

December is drawing to a close, and with it, autumn.  For most of you, the winter solstice will happen tomorrow.  You can look up the exact time for your location on this webpage:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20241221T0920&msg=December%20solstice%202024

The weather in these parts has reflected the uncertainty of these times.  This morning I snapped this foggy scene just in time for this posting:



On the winter solstice I cannot help but think back to the ancient human activities at places like Göbekli Tepe and Stonehenge.  If such people were transported in time to our December - what would they make of our insistence on merrymaking?  Surely they would ask the question we would be embarrassed to answer.  Just what is the reason for the exuberance? 

It is hard to avoid thinking about Theodor Geisel's children story:  "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"  The book ends with a charming optimism, but what would happen if such a scenario occurred in real life?  A glance of the news headlines hardly supports such optimism.

For ancient peoples, ceremonies on winter solstice embodied their quest for hope during the darkest time of the year.  It makes for good analogy - but is it just that?  Perhaps those ancient peoples knew something we do not, and what we have forgotten in our dogged quest for merriment simply for its own sake could yet come back to haunt us.  . . . . . . .

Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of global weather,

2025 has started off with a bang in a number of locations.  There has been some savagely cold storms.  Now there is a historic series of fire storms in southern California.  What's the connection?  This photo taken yesterday morning has a clue:



It is a deceptively placid scene.  It looks more like summer or early autumn than January.  There is lies the trouble.

January is normally one of the wettest months for northern California.  However, the long range forecasts have us dry through 3/4s of January.  The culprit? . . . .  There is a block ridge of high pressure in the eastern Pacific.  This has two effects, it shunts the jet stream into the far north where it picks up arctic air and blasts the eastern parts of the United States with cold.  The other is the effect for California.  Effectively we have retrograded back to September/October before the rains normally start.  Northern California benefited from a wet November and December - not so for southern California.  Consistent with La Niña, southern California is dry and vulnerable to the Santa Ana winds.  There is a well-made video from the Weather Channel on how the Santa Ana winds are generated:

https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/video/the-science-behind-how-santa-ana-winds-form   

It is a well-known phrase: "the butterflies in Brazil effect the weather in New York."  In our case there appears to be a very unsavory mix of climate change and La Niña that is dealing a number climatic calamities to outright catastrophes and it is only January 9th . . . .. .

Oh well, . . .. Edouard

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of the fickle moods of the skies.

Those of us in the western part of the United States are starting to fear another drought.  The normal rainfall for California is limited to about 4 months of the year and January has been almost completely dry.  Instead, we have been seeing something unusual: fog



Summertime fog is normal in the San Francisco Bay area, but not in winter.  Given the turmoil in the world and the curious patterns to be seen in everything from planetary configurations to earthquakes it is certainly easy to take the fog as something of an ominous sign.  On the other hand, it might be nothing more than an indication of a much needed weather pattern change which will finally bring much needed rain to the region.

Edouard

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat observers of the moods of the sky,

The weather has been fairly extreme for most of the United States this winter.  For California and the Pacific Northwest the culprit has been atmospheric rivers.  February has brought two episodes to the west.  This morning however suggested that a break is in the offing:



Of course only time will tell, but even those who fear a drought must be breathing a sigh of relief that the rains have stopped for the moment.

Edouard