Category Archives: Weather

April 19, 2019 · 23:46

Pre-Dusk Clouds

It wasn’t really “afternoon” any more at 18:15 local, about forty-five minutes before sunset, but it wasn’t really “dusk” either – so let’s call it “pre-dusk,” shall we?

The clouds were beautiful and layered and interesting, but the sun was still really bright. How do I block it just a little so my picture isn’t ruined? Maybe stand right there in the shade of the trunk of that pine tree?

A little further out into the parking lot another option presents itself. The parking lot lights have these huge, smoky colored glass balls on top of the column. What if I stand right in the shadow of that? I like that one a lot!

Over by the car, not being blocked by the building any more, there looked to be some sort of mechanism at work in multiple dimensions and at multiple altitudes, breaking the clouds into rows and ripples. There’s a low-level band of them from center left to lower right, but another very high level group going at 90° to that from center left to center bottom.

Gravity waves, perhaps?

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Filed under Photography, Weather

April 9, 2019 · 23:13

The Winds, She Are A-Howlin’

49 MPH?

Sounds about right! And here’s what it sounded like…

Those wind chimes will be working overtime. I guess it will be a stress test on the workmanship in the new nest out on the patio that those house finches built.

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Filed under Castle Willett, Weather

April 5, 2019 · 23:17

Mottled Sky

I liked the texture on the underside of this cloud layer a few days ago – not quite mammatus clouds, but there’s a bit of that sort of structure, especially in the lower left above the palm trees.

Simple pleasures. Better when shared.

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Filed under Photography, Weather

March 14, 2019 · 23:53

Mare’s Tails

(Click on it to see it in all of its glory!)

These high, thin, wispy cirrus clouds are often called “Mare’s Tails.” They were particularly lovely tonight at sunset over Southern California.

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Filed under Panorama, Photography, Weather

March 8, 2019 · 23:57

Patterns & Trends

One of my jobs working my way through college all those decades ago was as  a night auditor at a hotel. It’s where I learned accounting, which is pretty much what I’ve done in one form or the other for the past forty years, so I guess some of it must have stuck. One of the things I learned as an auditor, where you’re sort of looking for things that are wrong or off-kilter, is to look at patterns and trends.

In other professions where folks are looking for problems, looking for failure points, looking for root causes of accidents, patterns and trends are a key indicator in the data to point the way to the truth. That assembly line used to fail once a month, then every other week, now every week? Your car used to never burn oil, then it started using a little, now you’re down a quart every month? Your airline used to lose x bags a month, then it was 2x bags a month, now it’s 3x?

Something is wrong!

So it is with some concern I note that I have twice this week just simply forgotten to post my daily something here. Yesterday I actually had the photos and a story and had downloaded them from my phone…and then I just forgot to finish and post.

Something is wrong! In the nearly six years that I’ve had this site up, I can just about count on one hand the number of days when I didn’t post, and in almost all of those cases there was a reason. Twice in five days to just forget?!

That’s annoying.

Pictures from the parking lot last night, after the storms.

There have been a LOT of storms. The average rainfall in Los Angeles through this point in the season is 11.61″. The average rainfall in Los Angeles for an entire year is 14.93″. As of Wednesday we were at 17.99″ already, it rained yesterday, there’s more rain coming late this weekend, and we still have many months to go in the season. (I think it goes November 1st through October 31st.)

Somewhere in those pictures should be a very, very thin crescent moon. I didn’t see it when I took the pictures but I did see it just a few minutes later when I got home. I’ve looked at the pictures and can’t see it – maybe it was hiding behind one of those clouds. Or maybe you can find it.

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Weather

March 5, 2019 · 20:48

Sky Boom

We’ve got a bit of weather moving through tonight – I love this! And with an iPhone with a pretty good video camera built in, I can share:

It also does pretty good frame captures:

There actually is the faintest trace of the bolt still visible in that last shot – click on it to blow up the image to full screen size to see it.

It’s still booming out there, but about fifteen minutes ago another cell passed right over us, it started pouring, and the temperature dropped about 15°F in about five minutes. I’ll watch from inside for now.

 

 

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Filed under Photography, Video, Weather

March 4, 2019 · 23:11

Frost Redux

For the first time since they started keeping records, there wasn’t a single day in February when it got to 70°F in downtown Los Angeles. The last day it reached 70°F was January 29th – current forecast says it won’t get there anytime soon. The forecast through March 13th doesn’t show it getting above 67°F.

If you think this somehow is a bit of evidence that disproves climate change, you’re an idiot.

 

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Weather

February 23, 2019 · 23:53

Who Says We Don’t Get Snow In Los Angeles

Part of it’s the definition of “Los Angeles” – for those not familiar with the area, the “Los Angeles Metro Area” is bigger than some US states. In addition, there’s a lot of variety in the geography of the area. “Los Angeles County” has everything from beaches (at sea level, obviously) to mountains that go up over 10,000 feet. Those mountain peaks get snow quite often in the winter, and there are multiple ski resorts up there within an 90 minute or so drive from downtown LA.

But in the actual city limits of “Los Angeles” it’s a bit odd to see actual snow. Most of the city limits are below 3,000 and we only get cold storms that dust those low peaks every few years. But they make for fantastic picture postcard photos.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Weather

February 22, 2019 · 23:10

After The Storm Again

Literally & figuratively, a picture from yesterday.

Disappointed to see some reflections from inside the office showing up in this image, but such is life.

The storm outside was cold – there was snow down to about 1,200′ in some areas, including the Malibu hills in Calabasas, about five miles to the right and behind us (southwest), as well as at our construction site in Santa Clarita.

The storm inside was hot – I haven’t been that angry or upset in a while.

But both passed, and now we can move on to the next, latest, and greatest crisis.

Like, I’m pretty sure that a polarizing filter on the lens would eliminate those reflections, but how do I get one for my iPhone?

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Filed under Photography, Weather

February 18, 2019 · 23:55

Clouds Over “China Doll”

I escaped from my office for a few minutes today during the audit – the clouds following the front were piled up high over China Doll.

Now, it’s almost midnight (AGAIN!) and it’s time to get back to the number crunching.

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Filed under CAF, Photography, Weather