Bringing sunshine back to California simply by leaving.............

We took advantage of a mostly rain free day to take the ferry from Sausalito to San Francisco.    

We flew out of Oakland around mid-day on Monday, January 16.  We left the Silver Bullet at the airport but only for a few hours.  The Bullet is now in the capable hands of Cindy and Drew (Beth's sister and brother in law).  Drew recently retired and they are enjoying some time on the west coast.  They are staying where we stayed in Sonoma and next week will be heading south to Pacific Grove, which is on the Monterey Peninsula.  We'll be heading back that direction on the day they head back to Florida.  If you're confused, don't worry, I get confused about it sometimes myself.  Thankfully so far, we've always been able to figure out where the Bullet is located.

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, California ended 2022 and kicked off 2023 with a whole lot of rain.  It started raining on December 27 and rained steadily until.........you guessed it, the morning of January 16.  There were occasional periods where it wasn't raining, but we estimated it was raining about 70% of the time, and when it wasn't raining it was mostly cloudy and looking like the rain could restart at any moment.

It was wet and chilly outside, but the chess match indoors was hot and intense! 

We enjoyed visiting Point Reyes National Seashore.  The overnight rains the night before had produced several mudslides and downed quite a few trees.  The road to the lighthouse was closed but we were able to get to the Chimney Rock trailhead.  This is short trail to an overlook where Elephant Seals gather at this time of year.

Drakes Bay from the Chimney Rock Trail

One of several gathering places for Elephant Seals

Bull Elk enjoying a little break in the rain.

California had been experiencing a drought for a number of years, with much of the state being classified as being in "extreme" or "exceptional".  The good news is that there has been significant improvement in the drought conditions.  Reservoirs have been refilled and once brown fields are green again.  The bad news is that so much rain over a relatively short period produced lots of flooding, mudslides and rockslides.  California is an exceptionally beautiful and diverse state.  It's also a state that tends to experience all kinds of challenges such as droughts, floods, mudslides, rockslides, massive fires and earthquakes.  I'm not sure we can take credit for ending the drought by being there or making the rain stop by leaving, but since our departure it's been nothing but sunny blue skies!

The drought map on the left is from early December, 2022.  The map on the right is from January 17.  

This is the spillway at the Nicasio Reservoir.  According to some locals we talked to, it had been years since water had flowed over the spillway.  Folks were stopping to take a look and capture the moment in pictures, so of course we stopped!

The day before we left we enjoyed one final visit with the kids at Petaluma's Leghorn Park.......

..........you think we had enough "family time" over the past month?

We'll be back in Florida for about a month.  Enjoying walks on the beach, visiting Beth's mom (NaNa) and a whole lot more.  Keep an eye on the California weather on February 13.   If the rains return, maybe it is us!

NaNa loves all of her outings, especially if it involves Ice Cream!

Sunrise over the City Pier on the east side of Anna Maria Island.....

...........the sun setting in the Gulf of Mexico from the west side of Anna Maria Island

Pineapple Express, Atmospheric River, Bomb Cyclone............weather terms we've come familiar with this week.

Hydrologic Outlook-Californian for "Rain Forecast"

We've said goodbye to 2022 and ushered in the new year while witnessing a little history in the making out here in California.  In the process, we've also been educated on some weather terms that we had only remotely heard of, but never experienced until now.

The entire state of California has been in an historical multi-year drought, with some parts of the state even classified as being in "extreme" drought conditions.  Many of the state's large reservoirs have reached critical low levels of around 25% capacity, which have resulted in water restrictions, burn bans and threatened much of the state's huge agricultural production     Thanks to the Pineapple Express creating an Atmospheric River that's resulted in one Bomb Cyclone after another this past week (and into the foreseeable future), the entire state of California is making tremendous strides towards ending the drought.  Unfortunately, too much of a good thing can cause some issues, and there has been flooding, mudslides, downed trees and power outages in many locations.

The Bomb Cyclone did cause Emma's outdoor birthday party to be canceled.  We did have a small but enthusiastic celebration at a local indoor trampoline park and lunch at McDonalds.  Emma loved modeling her fancy "dress up" shoes and gloves.

It was my birthday too.  James and I have a picture together every year but one.

Courtney Obergfell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service explained it this way.  The Pineapple Express is a narrow band of moisture that originates in the tropics, which for California would be the Hawaiian Islands, hence the "pineapple" reference.  It then forms a river like flow over the Pacific Ocean flowing westward towards the mainland, in this case California as well as the Pacific Northwest.

When there is a sudden and intense drop in air pressure in the presence of all this moisture...........bam........you've got yourself a bomb cyclone.  Which in this case has resulted in a whole bunch of rain that started over a week ago and shows no sign of letting up over the next few days.

As native Floridians we've watched the development of hurricanes in the Atlantic.  They develop slowly, give you several days to prepare, can be incredibly intense and then they're gone.  While living in Texas we marveled at how rapidly thunderstorms would form that could produce large hail, tornados and heavy downpours.  However, the Pineapple Express, Atmospheric River and Bomb Cyclones are totally different.  There's been some high wind, a few heavy downpours but mainly it's just been rain, rain and more rain.  

Since last Tuesday (December 27) there has probably been something falling from the sky about 60-70% of the time.  When it's not raining, with the exception of New Years Day, it's looked like it could start back raining at any minute!

We did take advantage of the New Years Day blue skies by visiting a couple of our favorite coastal locations.  Doran Beach and.........

............Bodega Head.

For us there is a lot of good news in all of this.  First and foremost, the state of California is getting some much-needed rain and drought relief.  We've spent enough time in this area that we've done most of the "touristy" stuff.  We've had lots of time to enjoy Sarah, Joey, James and Emma (and Ben before he left).  We've gotten a good education and can now speak a little more intelligently about the Pineapple Express, Atmospheric Rivers and Bomb Cyclones!