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OT: Major West Coast winter storm where some will see over 150 inches of snow

Tango Two

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Aug 21, 2001
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Now this is a storm:

141280326_3807893235920901_6417982288897700886_o.jpg
 
Champaign powder in Steamboat Springs Col.

84 inches in Syracuse back in the day. Mary Anne had to climb out of her second story bedroom window to shovel out the first floor doorways. But its chicken feed compared to Oswego up on the lake which got 103 inches.
 
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Now this is a storm:

141280326_3807893235920901_6417982288897700886_o.jpg

Just noticed this and posted about it in the minor snow thread, since this storm in Cali may possibly become our snowstorm for Sun-Mon. Anyway, this storm is simply going to be incredible for CA and eventually inland of there. Here's the guidance from the NWS-WPC talking about the snow and the rain, as there will very likely be flooding rains and landslides at the lower elevations, especially from LA northward through the rest of CA.

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/hpcdiscussions.php?disc=pmdspd

Short Range Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 157 PM EST Tue Jan 26 2021 Valid 00Z Wed Jan 27 2021 - 00Z Fri Jan 29 2021

Meanwhile, a strong frontal system will push onshore California by tonight and will usher in gusty winds, heavy rain for coastal and lower elevation areas, and mountain snow throughout the day on Wednesday. Snow levels across northern California are forecast to start as low as 500 to 2500 feet, before slowly rising Wednesday. Higher up in elevation, whiteout conditions due to extremely heavy snowfall rates are possible across the Sierra Nevada. Several feet of snow (as much as 10 feet) will add up through Thursday night, with road closures and travel delays very likely. Winter Storm Warnings and Blizzard Warnings have been issued for this area. At the same time, several inches of rainfall are expected across parts of central and southern California, WPC has identified a Moderate Risk area for excessive rainfall and debris flows from nearby burn scars on Wednesday. A Flash Flood Watch has been posted as well. Over the next three days, as much as 10 to 15 inches of rain could fall along the central California coast roughly between Monterey and Santa Barbara. This amount of rain in a 72-hour period is very rare for this region, with an annual exceedance probability of only 2 percent.
 
Let's start up a gofundme page to raise money to fly #s out there.

lol, I was lucky enough about 30 years ago to be skiing for a week in Tahoe with my dad (we went for about 3-4 years in a row, before he hurt his knee and stopped skiing) and on our first night there we got 3 feet of powder at our lodge on Lake Tahoe and they got 6-8 feet on the slopes. First time I ever skiied serious powder - was the most fun I ever had skiing, especially going off-trail in the back bowls (was probably dangerous, but I didn't think about that back then). The thing we loved about Tahoe was that even if the snow wasn't great, there were good bars, restaurants and casinos nearby.
 
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What they really could use is another reservoir or two to save this water (their last one was completed in 1979 and population has grown by 15 million since then), but that will never happen under their current form of government.
I've often wondered why they aren't capturing the water from events like this.... All this precipitation yet they'll be complaining about a drought by late summer.
 
I've often wondered why they aren't capturing the water from events like this.... All this precipitation yet they'll be complaining about a drought by late summer.

Newsom certainly can't figure it out, but the issues in CA go back much further

The winds in certain areas will reach 100mph from this storm

A true blizzard, scary for the people that live in the remote and higher elevations
 
I've often wondered why they aren't capturing the water from events like this.... All this precipitation yet they'll be complaining about a drought by late summer.
They do...it is called snowmelt and reservoirs...they have many. It isn’t natures fault CA has 40M people and a very thirsty agricultural sector.
 
They do...it is called snowmelt and reservoirs...they have many. It isn’t natures fault CA has 40M people and a very thirsty agricultural sector.
Yeah, but as @krup said above, they haven't built a new reservoir iin over 40 years, so to respond to the huge population growth/demand and the agricultural demand growth, they either need to capture more of the water that's available or reduce consumption (or consider other sources/technologies, like desalination, which some countries are doing quite successfully). Water supply/demand and water rights and storage/delivery technologies are a looming disaster for CA and other parts of the west.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...oundwater-now-state-hopes-refill-its-aquifers
 
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They do...it is called snowmelt and reservoirs...they have many. It isn’t natures fault CA has 40M people and a very thirsty agricultural sector.
I've heard that they've done some serious damage due to the fact that they've lowered the water table so much over the previous decades.
 
I'd kill to be able to experience a storm like this or even a long duration lake effect event on the tug hill plateau.
 
Yeah, but as @krup said above, they haven't built a new reservoir iin over 40 years, so to respond to the huge population growth/demand and the agricultural demand growth, they either need to capture more of the water that's available or reduce consumption (or consider other sources/technologies, like desalination, which some countries are doing quite successfully). Water supply/demand and water rights and storage/delivery technologies are a looming disaster for CA and other parts of the west.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...oundwater-now-state-hopes-refill-its-aquifers
This is a CA-inflicted problem, not Mother Nature’s. Mediterranean climates of the west coast and summer dry / winter wet climate ebb and flow has been known since the area was settled...if CA has done nothing about it, oh well!
 
This is a CA-inflicted problem, not Mother Nature’s. Mediterranean climates of the west coast and summer dry / winter wet climate ebb and flow has been known since the area was settled...if CA has done nothing about it, oh well!
Completely agree - this is what happens when we put 50MM people in the desert (CA/AZ/NV). The states need to step up, as do the Feds, since water rights are an interstate issue...
 
It's Chinatown Jake.
Water rights are not a federal issue. Only if there is an interstate compact (like the Colorado River, amybe the Delaware?). Different staes have different approaches to water rights (first in time, riparian). Snow falling in the Sierra and used in the California valleys is a state issue.

BTW I am partially to blame for the entire California drought. I eat a handful of almonds every day. One almond requires a gallon of water to produce! If I eat 5000 almonds in a year, my consumption requires 5000 gallons of water for irrigation, or .0153444 acre feet.
 
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Completely agree - this is what happens when we put 50MM people in the desert (CA/AZ/NV). The states need to step up, as do the Feds, since water rights are an interstate issue...
See above. And don't ever say "water rights are a federal issue" if you happen to be standing in the interior west and there are any ranchers nearby!!!!!
 
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What they really could use is another reservoir or two to save this water (their last one was completed in 1979 and population has grown by 15 million since then), but that will never happen under their current form of government.

Building dams has been out of favor in California (and the West) since not long after the Jimmy Carter days. Carter killed Big Dams back in the 70s.

The preferred method for additional water storage these days is aquifers - not in new surface reservoirs.
 
Yeah, but as @krup said above, they haven't built a new reservoir iin over 40 years, so to respond to the huge population growth/demand and the agricultural demand growth, they either need to capture more of the water that's available or reduce consumption (or consider other sources/technologies, like desalination, which some countries are doing quite successfully). Water supply/demand and water rights and storage/delivery technologies are a looming disaster for CA and other parts of the west.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...oundwater-now-state-hopes-refill-its-aquifers

This is a problem 150 years in the making. An excellent book on the topic of water in the west is Cadillac Desert.

Amazon product ASIN 0140178244
The issues are incredibly complex. As just one example. water used in agriculture can be highly polluted. I do think Desal is part of the solution - especially in places like LA and San Diego.
 
Oooooh time again for wishcasting, generalizations, exaggerations, rationalizations, more wishcasting, arguments, counter-arguments, e-fights and drama...

More entertaining than the article where the Chinese claim Covid anal swabs are better than nasal ones! 🥳🍸😎
 
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Oooooh time again for wishcasting, generalizations, exaggerations, rationalizations, more wishcasting, arguments, counter-arguments, e-fights and drama...

More entertaining than even the article where the Chinese claim Covid anal swabs are better than nasal ones! 🥳🍸😎
Well on your way to becoming one the board’s most notorious trolls. Hopefully you’re at least getting paid for it like some others.
 
Well on your way to becoming one the board’s most notorious trolls. Hopefully you’re at least getting paid for it like some others.
The worst part is he's a meteorologist, but won't even comment on these threads, which is a shame, as we could use some good input. Let's see if we can get @RUJohnny to post, though - he nailed the 12/16 storm.
 
Oh, I finally understand why a nor'easter is called that: because the storm moves northeasterly.. Am I right? I've always wondered about the name.
 
Oooooh time again for wishcasting, generalizations, exaggerations, rationalizations, more wishcasting, arguments, counter-arguments, e-fights and drama...

More entertaining than even the article where the Chinese claim Covid anal swabs are better than nasal ones! 🥳🍸😎
+1

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Like any potential major storm, the details are highly uncertain 4-5 days out, with outcomes being somewhat different across the models which is to be expected this far out.
So why don't we wait until there is legit info? Hmm. Still racing against Tango to start weather threads? LOL.
 
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