That storm is battering us big time down here in Santa Cruz Co., but it looks like it’s much worse up around San Francisco (the news says gusts of 72 MPH at Angel Island!). Everybody hanging in OK up there?
So far the only problems we’ve had have been power flickers, but I’m sure there will be some slides before morning…the ground was so dry, and now it’s saturated…and I can just about guarantee the power isn’t going to hang in there much longer.
Redwolf
Yes, we are fine. Power flickered a few times, but no real damage. But I’m just a newbie here, maybe for you city folk it is a big storm. For me, I wouldn’t have even blinked an eye at this storm in the mountains. Is this why you all have SUV’s in the city?
Jack Murphy
I’m far more afraid of the big storm ahead, the Bush agenda, than the wind and rain. From this, there is no escape. My bones ache indeed!
[ This Message was edited by: MurphyStout on 2002-11-08 03:07 ]
I don’t live in the city…I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Redwolf
P.S. I don’t own an SUV either
P.P.S. I survived Hurricane Fran, and still think this is a pretty danged big storm. 72 MPH winds are nothing to sneeze at.
[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2002-11-08 01:20 ]
I wasn’t speaking to you Redwolf, I was speaking to the people with whom I share the roadways. And I was just at your mountains last weekend, a truly beautiful area. I don’t mean to scoff but I was trying to make a point about these morons in the city with SUV’s. Don’t mind me.
Jack Murphy the ass!
Ah…gotcha. You do have to wonder about those SUVs, don’t you? I swear, half the parents at my daughter’s school drive them, even though most of them don’t have more than two kids and would never dream of taking their pretty land yacht off-road.
Our mountains are lovely, aren’t they? They may shake every now and then, and occasionally fall on us during an El Nino year, but I love them madl…you couldn’t pry me out of here with a crowbar! 
Redwolf
Got real windy but new house didnt leak!! Thanks for concern Red and say hi to Bart and Larry!
On 2002-11-08 01:17, MurphyStout wrote:
I’m far more afraid of the big storm ahead, the Bush agenda, than the wind and rain. From this, there is no escape. By bones ache indeed!
California college kids and their politicking! Ain’t it a sight!
[/quote]
On 2002-11-08 02:45, Walden wrote:
California college kids and their politicking! Ain’t it a sight!
[/quote]
Jaded conservatives and their kneejerk reactions! Isn’t it a sight!
[ This Message was edited by: MurphyStout on 2002-11-08 03:40 ]
What’s this flag, Walden ?
On 2002-11-08 01:35, Redwolf wrote:
Ah…gotcha. You do have to wonder about those SUVs, don’t you? I swear, half the parents at my daughter’s school drive them, even though most of them don’t have more than two kids and would never dream of taking their pretty land yacht off-road.Our mountains are lovely, aren’t they? They may shake every now and then, and occasionally fall on us during an El Nino year, but I love them madl…you couldn’t pry me out of here with a crowbar! >
Redwolf
What exactly is an SUV? Wouldn’t be what we call a four wheel drive would it?-jeeps on truck wheels that obscure visibility and kill everyone in the cars they inevitably run into?
Isn’t every year an El Nino year? When we get floods and wild storms, you get drought and bushfires. When we get drought and bush fires (like now), you get floods and storms (like now.) And if you ask for an explanation of these weird weather patterns people look knowing and say, El Nino.
There are two bushfires on the escarpment nearby just as I write. It isn’t summer yet. This place is normally humid and sub tropical but the grass is parched already. We’re OK right now but it’s very worrying. I hope you folks in California are OK.
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-11-08 06:41 ]
On 2002-11-08 06:39, Wombat wrote:
What exactly is an SUV?
Hi Wombat! SUV= Sports Utility Vehicle And yes, they are basically what you described. Lovely gas-guzzlers that they are! Now, my best friend needs a big thing like that as she lives in some pretty rugged mountain territory in New Mexico and has five children… but the majority of the people I see driving them down I-75 here in GA have probably never set one wheel on a dirt road, like Redwolf said. 
Andrea ~*~
On 2002-11-08 09:00, aderyn wrote:
On 2002-11-08 06:39, Wombat wrote:
What exactly is an SUV?but the majority of the people I see driving them down I-75 here in GA have probably never set one wheel on a dirt road, like Redwolf said. >
Andrea ~*~
Thanks Andrea. That remark of Redwolf’s was actually the give away. And guess what—it’s just the same here. Now I actually live in a long, thin city with sea on one side and rugged escarpment on the other. (An urban strip in a very wild and beautiful environment.) I get out into the bush quite often but drive an ordinary car and just take my chances when I venture off road. We also refer sarcastically to those objects as yuppie tanks.
El Ninos happen roughly every seven years (with some variation). While it’s always rainy here in the winter, during an El Nino year, the storms are tremendous…bringing buckets of rain, lots of wind, and hammering us for days at a time (when you read about all those California mud slides, it’s almost always an El Nino year). Usually the following year will bring “La Nina,” which gives us the opposite problem: drought.
If I understand correctly, the reaction is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, so when we’re getting the El Nino rains, you’re having drought and vice versa.
Redwolf
Wow! Check this out! Santa Cruz is known for it’s great surf breaks, but it’s not every day we have 40 foot swells!
What’s even more amazing is, some people will almost certainly be out there trying to surf them. I’ll never forget the year we had a tsunami warning and people actually headed down to the beach with their boards!
Redwolf
I’m ok, but I’m staying over at a friend’s house for a few days, and the computer is messed up. I can post here, but can’t send email for some reason. So, good morning to those of you I normally send an email greeting to!
On 2002-11-08 10:33, Redwolf wrote:
El Ninos happen roughly every seven years (with some variation). While it’s always rainy here in the winter, during an El Nino year, the storms are tremendous…bringing buckets of rain, lots of wind, and hammering us for days at a time (when you read about all those California mud slides, it’s almost always an El Nino year). Usually the following year will bring “La Nina,” which gives us the opposite problem: drought.If I understand correctly, the reaction is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, so when we’re getting the El Nino rains, you’re having drought and vice versa.
Redwolf
I’ve heard the ‘every seven years’ theory too. But I’ve also heard recently that the cycles are happening much more frequently now. They certainly seem to be. No year seems to be a normal year. You’re right about the drought here/flood there phenomenon. Prepare for a wet winter if our weather is a reliable guide. And you’re also right that it’s La Nina we’re in now.
On 2002-11-08 03:44, Zubivka wrote:
What’s this flag, Walden ?
It is the flag of the Cherokee Nation. The seven segments of the star represent the seven Cherokee clans.
El Nino is hot air over hot water basicly coming off the South American coast around the Equator and stretching across the Pacific towards Asia and Aus. (El Nina is a simular cold condition) There’s a good site that explains some of the stuff and its effects at the U.S](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino-home.html#%3EU.S). National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s El Nino site. There’s a nice chart there El](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html%3EEl) Nino, Normal, El Nina conditions and their effects on water movement, wind, and storms, etc.
They are reoccuring conditions; but, aren’t regular as in every seven years. The cycle can run every other year to every 10 years and has varied, the average is about every 6-8 years.
Stormy weathers still I nice time to sit inside and …
Some of us in the city don’t even have a car, much less an SUV.
Wombat: I kinda think “El Nino” is spanish for “I don’t know how to predict the weather”.
Lots of water and wind in the city. Fire engines have been running constantly day and night since the storm started. The cats are really freaked.
No leaks yet. Knock on wood.
Well, the theory about eastern Australia counterbalancing California is being confirmed right now. I saw helicopters dropping water on fires on the mountains overlooking Wollongong today. Altogether, we had 90 fires in the state of New South Wales today. And summer is still a fortnight away.
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-11-09 04:22 ]