AND THE RAINS CAME DOWN
We have been experiencing a Pineapple Express, a stream of tropical rainstorms coming from Hawaii to California. It has been raining non-stop for what seems like 40 days and 40 nights and shows no signs of letting up for the rest of the month. We need all the moisture we can get as California has been in a prolonged drought; our reservoirs have been drying up; farmers have not had adequate water supplies to grow the nation’s crops, and city dwellers have had to cut back on water consumption by 25%. 39 million Californians are all impacted.
Right now, our largest reservoirs are getting close to 50% capacity, due to all the rain we received over the last month. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain
Our California rains typically come during the winter when the Pacific High stops blocking rains from reaching our state. We get either the warm rains from the Pineapple Express or the cold rains of the Alaska Express, coming down from the Gulf of Alaska. We have another two or three months or so to go in our rainy season.
Rainfall is very different between arid southern California and rainier, greener Northern California. We average 39 inches in Sonoma County as compared to only 12 inches in LA. Our new neighbors have been preparing us with tales of rainfall totals of up to 80 inches. We have received over 20 inches since October 1. https://cesonoma.ucanr.edu/about/weather/?weather=station&station=83
As I was driving back home from LA in early January, the sky turned utterly black over Oakland and the Bay, then the skies opened and the deluge began. The winds blew about 50 mph, and the rain came down in sheets. The news reports said it blew 100 mph on the tops of the local Sonoma mountains. The lights went out throughout our community due to a tree or trees felled by the wind and rains.
So far, our roofs have held, and none of our trees have blown down, thanks to the arborists who took down all the dangerous ones two months ago.
The local creeks have not yet overflowed, but they expect some limited flooding along the nearby Russian River and tributaries over this week. The river is expected to crest at 32 feet early Tuesday morning. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/live-updates-some-sonoma-county-schools-closed-roads-flooded-due-to-storm/ There is a lot of standing water in the farmer’s fields and in the Laguna de Santa Rosa, where I saw a couple of kayakers last week in what had been open fields two weeks earlier. When the local roads flood, people like us may not be able to readily get to town until the waters recede.
We have experienced five deaths due to the storms in Sonoma County. One little two-year-old in the nearby town of Occidental lost his life last week when two big redwood trees fell on the trailer home where he and his parents were living. One woman lost her life when her car was swept away. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/latest-sonoma-county-storm-death-underscores-danger-of-flooded-roads-for-mo/ Two men lost their lives due to carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas generator in the house.
Some have been with no power for more than a week due to storm damage of trees falling on transmission lines. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-county-swamped-by-widespread-minor-flooding-as-power-failures-drag/ Last week, we lost power for a bit less than 24 hours when trees had fallen on the transmission lines. This meant no power throughout the region for lights, fridge, heat, internet and most importantly our well water. We ate by candles and oil lanterns; the propane gas tank worked so we could cook our food, and the wood stove heated our home. We now have a small, gas powered generator to keep the fridge and some lights working when the next big storm rolls in and knocks out the power lines.
My typical rain gear from So Cal doesn’t do the job up here because it was designed to be light and breathable in the warmer So Cal. I pulled out an old pair of lightweight Helly Hansen rain trousers and jacket; they worked somewhat, and I dug out some old boots from I don’t know how long ago, but they were still water repellent. A full yellow rain suit won’t breathe, but they sure would keep out the cold rain when you need to be outside. Our new puppy loves being toweled down after doing her business in the rains.
We had a major deluge last Saturday night (10 days ago) accompanied by a huge sound and light display; this was followed by another epic drenching on Sunday night. But we kept power so the house was warm and watertight. got another big one, then another whopper coning in over this past weekend. We lost power for about an hour in that one; it came and dropped lots of rain, then moved on; we expect a smaller one on Wednesday and then that should be it for a while as the Pacific High will be moving back in place.
That’s the rain story from our home for now.