Category Archives: Weather

April 3, 2025 · 23:01

Pop-Up Thunder Boomer

There was just about 0% chance of rain for the next ten days when I checked yesterday. Then I heard thunder.

It wasn’t close, and I never saw lightning, but I definitely heard thunder. And that looks like a thunderstorm, moving our way.

I double checked the weather app & forecast. No mention of rain or possibility of rain, let alone a big thunder boomer. But that Southwest 737 just to the left of the big tree, heading into Runway 8 at Burbank, was making damn sure he stayed a bit off to the right.

(Image from Weather Radar)

What does the weather radar app say? Well, lookee there! It seems the radar app wasn’t communicating with the weather app, or at least it wasn’t listening. Later we saw that there had been a flash flood alert issued for that area in red and orange.

Pity it had moved south toward Beverly Hills and dissipated before dark. It would have been nice to watch the lightning.

Highly unusual! Give ’em Hell, April! 10/10 for style points!

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Filed under Photography, Weather

March 25, 2025 · 23:40

Wispy

And thin. And complex once you start paying attention to the details.

Makes me want to be a bird. Maybe one of those hawks…

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Filed under Photography, Weather

March 12, 2025 · 22:52

At The Bottom Looking Up

There was a clear spot in today’s rain and clouds, and looking straight up it was just a bit like being in the eye of a hurricane.

There were at least four, maybe five or six distinct layers of clouds visible, each being blown by the winds in a different direction.

They also had very distinct structures in each layer, and the lighting made the higher altitude layers brilliantly bright white, while the lowest layers were grey and threatening.

It looked lovely. Then those low, grey ones on the edges moved back over and the rain returned.

I ran. At least, hustled a little bit.

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March 1, 2025 · 23:41

February’s Final Sunset

The new computer arrived today. The good news is that it was originally estimated to arrive March 12th. Eleven days early is GREAT, considering how fast the old computer was failing. The bad news is that I have to set up the new computer and install all of the programs and get them set up the way I like them – in the meantime it’s like I’m trying to work with oven mitts on, drunk, and with one arm tied behind my back.

Frustrating, to say the least.

Yesterday night I was playing with with time lapse function on the iPhone, watching the coastal clouds stream by during sunset. It turned out pretty nice. See?

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Filed under Sunsets, Video, Weather

February 28, 2025 · 23:37

February Ends On A New Low

It’s truly depressing how quickly our government is being dismantled and a century of hard-earned alliances and trust just tossed into the trash by the psychotic traitor in the White House and his cult. I knew it was coming – I just had no idea it was coming so incredibly fast.

Today’s embarrassing debacle in the Oval Office is a new low, even for this group of ignorant chucklefucks.

Maybe March will be better… (I’m putting my hopes in choelesterol and ketamine.)

In the meantime, the only advice I’ve got to share is to go outside, watch clouds, breathe, relax, and get your blood pressure back down.  The clouds here this morning were lovely!

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Filed under Photography, Politics, Weather

February 17, 2025 · 23:02

Sunset Prep & Execution

A half hour or so prior to sunset we were getting a high layer of clouds and I had hopes that it might lead to one of those really colorful & spectacular sunsets.

It did not.

It wasn’t grey and terrible, not exactly Suckasaurus Rex, but neither was it mind blowing and spectacular.

A little pink, some deep oranges right at the horizon, and Venus trying to shine through.

Beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

 

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather

February 13, 2025 · 23:33

Downpour

The previous 24 hours of mist and drizzle and light rain was just fine – we’ve been falling into a drought this year, way behind on the normal Year-To-Date rainfall totals in SoCal.

This afternoon’s hour-long downpour inspired hours of blaring warnings on every TV channel, with a mudslide and flash flood warning that extended until well after the rain had actually abated.

No problems here, but we’re at the top of a hill. If we start getting flooded, there’s a guy named Noah who gets to tell the rest of the story. Our biggest concern would be intersections and streets flooded out down below the hills, and we can avoid most of that by simply staying home.

On the other hand, up in the mountains, it was snow. I’ve been watching the bald eagle webcam and they were buried, sitting on their three eggs:

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Filed under Photography, Video, Weather

February 7, 2025 · 22:56

Returning Light

There were a bunch of weeks there in December and January where, if I was leaving the office about 17:45 and driving home, it was already pitch dark outside.

Yeah, I know what causes it, that whole “seasons,” and “axial tilt,” and “winter solstice” thing. Just sayin’, it was noticeably dark, early.

Tonight, leaving at 17:40 and driving west homeward, it really was noticeable that the sun was setting through the broken clouds, right in my eyes. The cyclic nature of that “axial tilt” thing had carried us past the solstice and we’re well on our way to the equinox next month.

The weather looks okay for the weekend, which will be nice for our Superb Owl party on Sunday, but there’s a lot more rain expected next week.

Good, we need it. I don’t want to get into another drought.

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Filed under Astronomy, Critters, Photography, Sunsets, Weather

February 5, 2025 · 23:45

Rain Stain

Drizzly & damp & cool. It never started raining hard enough to get the tree trunk in the back yard totally wet, but there was a dark water stain from where the water was draining down from the branches.

I’ve heard some folks are referring to these tiny moments of joy as “glimmers,” or “micro-joys.” It’s a little bit of a froufrou term, but I’m mellowing a lot in my old age.

These days we can all use as many glimmers as we can find. Look for yours!

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Filed under Critters, Photography, Weather

February 3, 2025 · 22:04

Sundog

Another “atmospheric river” is moving into Northern California and they’re expected to get clobbered this week – we’re going to catch the edge of it in SoCal, but it should still give us more than an inch of rain over three or four days. Let’s hope it’s gentle and doesn’t produce any mudslides or floods in the recently burned areas.

In advance of that storm, the sky was covered this afternoon with thin, high, wispy, icy clouds.

Looking toward the Sun as it was getting near the horizon, 22° of arc out, just above the roof and trees to the southwest, there was a rainbow-colored sundog.

Red on the sunward side, blue on the outside, there was probably another one on the opposite side of the Sun, but hidden by the house here.

There are some truly amazing images out there of extremely bright sundogs on opposite sides of the Sun, along with a 22° arc around the Sun. It’s all caused by the sunlight being scattered by the high altitude ice crystals, but watch out for fake and AI-generated images. It seems to be a favorite topic for fakes, probably because most folks don’t know what they really look like and get fooled.

When being awed by natural wonders, insist on the real thing!

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Filed under Astronomy, Critters, Photography, Weather