6324

The sierras got another multi day round of snow this week. It closed down the highways for days. I took what was supposed to be a short trip to the bay area to see friends and family before the storms hit. I finally got back yesterday after i80 opened. I passed the backup of trucks going westbound into CA to the inspection point and scales before Donner pass. It was miles long.

I have never seen so much snow. Another two or three feet fell at my foothill elevation. It blew and drifted into piles from knee deep to waist deep in my road, which had been previosly cleared. I only managed to carve out a walking path from the street last night, which the local wildlife evidently appreciated.

Road_20230303_05519_1

6325

As I was posting that, the coyote came back.

Road_20230303_80502_1

6326

That’s a hefty and pretty healthy-looking coyote there. Nice to see you helping the local fauna!

6327

Where’s the road runner?

6328

There are roadrunners here too, but I’ve only seen one once. Tons of quail though. There’s a magpie family that nests in my trees so I’ve got Heckle and Jekyl.

So after spending a few hours clearing the coyote path there to be wide enough for a car, another wave of the storm hit today. Maybe 6" of snow fell but the winds were crazy so the actual new snow depth is between 3 and 30 inches in the drifts. Here’s me again clearing that same path that was down to the bare pavement yesterday.

Road_20230305_155956-1_1

This winter is crazy.

6329

And it looks like you’ve hit that depth of snow where the snowblower starts to struggle and takes drastically longer to clear properly.

6330

I’m glad I don’t live in San Bernardino County, it sounds like folks stuck up on the side of the mountain are facing dire conditions.

https://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/2625438.html

6331

That sounds fucking nuts.

6332

Yeah that’s a lot of snow.

Roads look like they are getting better, at least in the main town area?

6333

It just won’t stop snowing. Got another 4-5 inches since yesterday morning. Should get another inch or so tomorrow, then it warms up a bit and will be endless days of rain snow mix here. It will probably dump another foot in the mountains.

6334

Rain on top of snow can be a great thing, because rain melts snow FAST. I’ve seen 8-10 inches accumulated snow on the ground disappear in just a few hours due to rain. Of course there’s an ice issue if temps drop below freezing again overnight, but I’ll take ice over being snowed in.

6335

Can cause flooding too.

6336

Allegedly there will be a break in the snow this afternoon through tomorrow morning, then a huge atmospheric river is coming.

So much snow.

California is going to get some serious rain and flooding with this storm too. Landslides are possible as the ground in a lot of places is saturated.

6337

This map from the other day illustrates it well.

6338

Well, I hope somebody out west learned their lesson about wishing for drought relief from a monkey’s paw.

In all seriousness, though, damn! California can’t seem to catch a break right now.

6339

You want glaciers? This is how you get glaciers (or at least would if winter temperatures were much lower).

6340

Already snowing pretty good in Portland metro area, though not really sticking.

6341

Big fluffy flakes though, I expect it will start to stick soon.

6342

And it’s done. No sticking they I’ve seen.

6343

The first wave of the current atmospheric river is now hitting here and It’s snowing and raining simultaneously.