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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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Jan 20, 2015 - 05:16am PT
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hell arrived in strawberry, late last night.
saved me a trip.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Jan 20, 2015 - 05:24am PT
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Yeah, again January seems to have the high pressure ridge over the central western US. Dry and warm here in UT as well. Was low 50s over the weekend, and the forecast is for mid 50s in a week. And no snow.
This is about the third year in a row like this. And it's a major cause of the inversions we get here in SLC.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Jan 20, 2015 - 06:22am PT
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Norwegian...All the people in hell want ice water...Save me some...and a Budwieser...
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John M
climber
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Jan 20, 2015 - 10:29am PT
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Badger Pass closed today.. I wonder if they will open glacier point road.
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Guernica
climber
dark places
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Jan 21, 2015 - 05:03pm PT
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^ interesting, and fair enough... what do a bunch of hipsters know about drought in california anyway??
Vice does have impressive production value though, kudos to your buddy in NY for that at least.
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Jan 21, 2015 - 05:31pm PT
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i appreciate vice's different perspective but only about 15% of their content is worth reading/viewing. They have very good headline writers. Then you click and realize it's a big tub of garbage.
T-shirts and shorts on this evenings hike. January has become about the best month for hiking for me.
Warm storm coming from the south. Things are getting even weirder.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jan 21, 2015 - 08:38pm PT
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So I walk my dog early every morning and late at night about 1/2 mile each time out in an open field. For years we've seen multiple deer most nights, we used to see coyotes every couple of weeks, often in a pack of 2 - 5. Oliver has tangled with two so far and bested them.
We'd see a fox every now and then and rarely a bobcat. Oliver treed a bobcat one morning. We've also seen one Mt Lion. Up close and personal at 11 PM right next to my drive!!
The wildlife up here near Castle Rock has been decimated over the past 3 years.
Haven't seen a coyote in at least a year. Haven't seen a bobcat in more like 2 years. We hadn't seen a fox for months until one two weeks ago in the morning. We can go several nights without seeing deer. 5 nights ago we saw 6. A record for the past 2 years. Haven't seen one since.
Oliver used to find gophers and moles to dig up every couple of weeks. He hasn't had reason to tear up the barely damp ground in over a year.
The weaker black oaks are dying.
It's pretty desperate.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Jan 21, 2015 - 11:42pm PT
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what is the employment situation like in Dos Palmas?
can i swim in the Delta Mendota canal without a permit?
is there life after death?
can you spell grandmother without using a G?
can you smile when your shorts are too tight?
does your girlfriend lick your face every morning?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 22, 2015 - 02:04am PT
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norwegian, everybody smokes in hell and nobody drinks.
look out below.
the drought is becoming a very dry topic...but that's probably just me.
i'd like another strawberry daiquiri, miss.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 22, 2015 - 05:35am PT
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Dress it up, make it seem commonplace and natural and a boon to mankind.
"The more you do anything that don't look like advertising the better advertising it is."--Will Rogers, speaking of selling the West
Mendota's got nice figs. That's about all.
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dirtbag
climber
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Jan 22, 2015 - 06:29am PT
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Excellent summary and analysis Dingus.
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CF
climber
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Jan 23, 2015 - 03:26pm PT
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It seems the drought is much worse this year than last especially since it is year 4.
Here is the base of Central Pillar at Middle Cathedral Rock yesterday 1/22/15. Normally you wouldnt go near here as there would be snow and ice fall and the area is very wet. This year the base is BONE dry with no water seeping out anywhere, the dirt is dust dry. I was told that wells in Yosemite Valley that usually artesian this time of year are not, scary.
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jonnyrig
climber
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Jan 23, 2015 - 03:40pm PT
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Gota be 60 plus degrees here in Reno today. Beautiful weather. Got some ski resorts shutting down... lack of snow. Meh. Probably be out climbing something obscure on Sunday.
Occurs to me that we've been pushing the farmers out of the really prime areas with more natural irrigation in order to pave it over, put in a suburb, and stock up the shelves in the local Whole Foods with stuff from places like Mendota, or wherever it is we've determined is just worthless enough to be left over for farm land. Wasn't San Jose a fertile area at one time? Now we just grow inter-city youth there, right...?
Also just watched this movie at the behest of a Diesel Technology text book. (odd, right?) Anyway, their point in the movie was that 2015 was the plateau year when we'd better decrease our emissions OR ELSE. So now the question is, what do I teach my kids?
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Flip Flop
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 08:04am PT
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 08:33am PT
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Last real snowfall in the Sierra was Dec. 21st. Its getting grim at the resorts, and the little snow in the backcountry is bulletproof.
Have never had to worry about rockfall at the resort before, but yesterday a 15 pound stone bounced past me at high speed on Sentinel. It was dislodged by a skier and flew 600' vertical before it stopped. Fortunately, no one was in the way.
Yesterday @Kirkwood:
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Jan 26, 2015 - 08:55am PT
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Not quite as bad here in Utah, but still a little strange.
Was up at Solitude yesterday, and it was pretty much T-shirt weather sitting on the deck for lunch. And the runs have a lot more poking through than I'd normally expect in January. Most of it's brush and not rocks, but still...
One year with this high pressure ridge is an outlier. Multiple years in a row like we've had, and it starts to look like something has actually changed in the weather patterns.
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cholo_franky
Social climber
W. Walker River
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Jan 26, 2015 - 10:22am PT
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From a decadal-centennial perspective the drought is not too bad right now. Give it 150 years. Then it may be the worst in roughly 2500 years. Had teh peoplz not stolen all the water, ecological things would be stressed but otherwise fine. As is, not good for teh critterz!
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bergbryce
climber
East Bay, CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 11:13am PT
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/\ That picture was in the powdiction post a couple weeks ago. Can you or someone else explain the significance? I see a row of dead trunks poking up in a river bed.
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cholo_franky
Social climber
W. Walker River
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Jan 26, 2015 - 11:33am PT
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Nice! Ya the powdiction dudes are some homies from grad school...photo should b credited to them.
You have identified the precise WTF? significance...trees growing in a river! Looking at how provides insight into the current water issues facing much of the west and many other dryland regions of the world.
Those trees grew when streamflow in the W Walker was so low that Jeffery Pines could grow for 100-150 years. This period was known as the medieval climate anomaly and was characterized by two periods of severe drought in the western Great Basin. The two periods were broken up by an interval of increased precipitation lasted maybe 80 years and caused the river to rise and kill the first set of trees. Drier times retruned and the next set grew before the climate became wetter. Annual precipitation totals estimated during the dry times of the walker trees are not unlike the last few years, but they lasted for 100+ years. The river channel flows over bedrock and is constrained by bedrock, alluvial, and glacial landforms so the argument that the river flowed elsewhere doesn't work. Scary shiz on how bad it could get. Rivers and lakes dry up completely or to mere puddles, no bueno holmes!
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