When one thinks of San Francisco weather one generally does not think of snow, but the latest model runs are going for flakes falling around the city. For example, the European Center’s model accumulated snowfall forecast through 10 AM Friday has substantial snow on the hills around San Francisco, with snowflakes reaching the Airport…
Forecast temperatures for 4 PM Thursday are 15-25F below normal…How unusual is snow at the airport in San Francisco? As shown below, measurable snow only occurred there ONCE–in January 1962.
Huge snowfall totals are expected during the next week over California during the next five days (see forecast below). Yards of snow. And deep snow will even fall in the mountains of SOUTHERN California. Every California reservoir should be able to fill.
The ratio of snow to water varies depending on the temperature. If the air temp where the snow forms is very cold, the flakes can be very large–and the amount of water relatively low.
“Dangerous and potentially life-threatening snow related impacts are likely for mountain, desert, and foothill roadways in southern California,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said. "Multiple rounds of heavy snowfall coupled with strong winds will lead to blizzard conditions over some of the higher terrain and mountain passes…
Even the Hollywood sign appeared to be trying to muscle in on the action, with Jeff Zarrinnam of the Hollywood Sign Trust snapping a picture of a snowball he made at his nearby house…
Winter weather was also making life difficult in other parts of the West, with roads closed in Wyoming, and Oregon reporting near-record snow. “Portland experienced its second snowiest day ever recorded (on Thursday) with 10.8 inches of snow,” the NWS bureau in the city said.
Altitude matters. As the article says “higher terrain and mountain passes”. But the media doesn’t care about that. Just another entry in the daily media “severe weather” hysteria parade.
We, here in Sonoma, Napa Counties, have gotten quite a bit of snow this year, great to see, this article has a lot of pics and the tale of folks overextending their abilities… Power is out in some areas, so some struggles… Rain today in the valleys, but the vines are doing OK!
Hardly hysteria if the news outlets are forecasting unusually heavy snow in higher terrain and mountain passes, surely. Those are specific regions where heavy snow has indeed fallen … so that’s accurate reporting rather than a hysteria parade.
Many accidents in the higher elevations and in the night time temperatures… They closed I-80 to all traffic for a while, locally, few have real snow tires, and even then, black ice can sneak up on the unaware… Not all areas have snow clearing equipment, sand, etc… It’s attitude, not the altitude!
(1999) With my Chevy 3/4T 4x4, I’ve gone over Donner pass when I really should have waited or chained up, but because I was in a 4x4, they waved me through, but up top, near total whiteout, wind was nasty… I was following a semi, but had to speed up to keep up as his tal lights were fading out of sight… Roll the window down, watched the center divider to keep in track…
If you’ve driven I-80 through Wyoming and Nebraska you may have noticed the on ramps have gates. They just close the interstate in blizzard conditions.
Weco, I have driven in conditions like that plenty. West Michigan lake effect makes it common where I grew up. One time, maybe a dozen years ago, I was putzing along at about 45, on I-94, just far enough back to keep the taillights of the car ahead of me in sight, A big Mercedes blew past me in the inside lane. I looked at that Merc and though “he’s nuts”. I saw that Merc again, only a mile or two later. It had spun out and was sitting stationary, in the inside lane, pointing the wrong way. There is a concrete wall between the opposing lanes right there. I wondered if he rounded off the corners of his Merc on that wall as he spun?
Here is someone’s cell phone video of a chain reaction crash on 94, a bit farther west of where I saw that Merc have it’s moment, but still in the lake effect belt, west of Battle Creek. This video was shot in 2015. It’s routine. That is why I mock the media hysteria “150 MILLION PEOPLE IMPACTED BY WINTER WEATHER IN THE WINTER!!!”
Momentum happens, folks drive like they have traction, can’t do anything but wait for the crunch…
If that trucker I was following went off the edge, I’d have been right behind him/her… Spooky, and then survival becomes pretty important…
Inlaws moved over to the East side of the Siarras to Carson City, so we make more trips over I-80, but dodge the bad weather, going either way… Last trip, at Cristmas, we came home only a bit of slush up top, (Donner), but I keep a full double set of chains in the truck… No need to gamble…
drove back up north from GR on us131 this morning. Temps were in the 20’s, but there was freezing rain coming down. My buddy doing the driving said he could just feel the wheels wanting to spin out, so took our medicine and drove at 30mph on a 70mph highway. Of course, there were other users of the highway who couldn’t accept that freezing rain and other wintery weather meant that the smart move was to slow down. We crept past 3 overturned pickup trucks that were about 20 feet off of the road, the geniuses just couldn’t figure out that even if the signs say speed limit 70, conditions just might dictate slower speeds. Either very stupid, or very inexperienced with winter driving.
On several of my more interesting drives along 94 between Kalamazoo and metro Detroit, I always noticed plenty of cars spun out, into the ditch, but the only vehicles on their roof were SUVs. The cars were all right side up. But my coworkers always insisted they felt “safe” in their big, tall, SUVs.
Big tall rigs are great for rock crawling maybe, and I really like my F150, because I am up, can see a few cars ahead in normal driving, and the 4x4 comes in handy maneuvering our 28’ travel trailer intot he back yard or tough spots with the lower gear when in 4x4… But, I don’t even consider jacking it up, if aanything, lower it a bit…
It’s rare we get snow here in Sonoma County, no need to get over the mountain passes this time of year, other than playtime… But I feel lost in DW’s Civic, down there where I can’t see that far ahead…
I used to do a long, daily commute, Petaluma to Redwood City, many years ago… a couple cars ahead of me, in my little Mustang, so about 1970, their hood flew up, I kept an open sop, escape on my right, dodged over as the car that had been in front if my locked his brakes, poor guy behind me never had a chance, plowed right into him, and I slipped past it all, tangled the highway (101) up for hours… Never know what to expect…
Yes, that has been a selling point for SUVs for years. I remember the ads for the Scout II in the early 70s, with the woman at the wheel saying she can see over the other traffic.
That is the downside. Those big, tall, SUVs block the view of everyone else. If I am trying to make a right turn, and an SUV pulls up next to me, I can’t turn, because I can’t see if any traffic is coming from my left. If a car hits an SUV end-on, the SUV’s bumper overrides the car’s bumper, because SUVs are not subject to the same bumper height reg. The result is little damage to the SUV, while the car is close to totaled. SUV/pickup headlights are not subject to the same height reg as car headlights, so, at night, I am frequently blinded by the glare of SUV headlights coming toward me, or reflecting in my rear view mirror, because their headlights are at the same height as my eyes.
It is becoming a matter of self-preservation to drive an SUV, even if you don’t want the huge thing.
Indeed, the folks my age, like me have a lot of trouble with the really bright, sometimes blue-white headlights, and the overly bright LED tail lights of today’s vehicles.
That said, I have replaced my '06 F150’s headlight assemblies, they were pretty crusty/fogged, near useless… New setup is adjusted so the low beam is at about 3 feet, are not really bright, but the new High beams are really bright, to where they really can’t be used in any traffic, but out on the country roads, they really light 'em up… I could go even brighter, but have resisted. I don’t like night driving, the glare bugs me, too soon for cataract surgery, but one day, maybe…
Anyway the replacement headlights made a huge difference…
