Hurricane Hilary

[MechAg94]

I hope the flooding hasn't hit people too hard.  I saw some video from Las Vegas.  Has that been common everywhere?

Hurricane activity on my end has been quiet all summer, but now there are storms lined up across the Atlantic.  Thankfully, most are not headed this way.  Just one storm system moving across the Gulf of Mexico right now. 

[WLJ]

I was in CA on a business trip once and a 3.1 centered about 8 miles from my hotel woke me up in the middle of the night - at first, I thought there was an intruder in my room that stumbled against my bed. Locals talked about it, but it wasn't a big deal.

A 5.1 would be considerably more noticeable, and would probably get the attention of long time CA residents. I'd expect little or no damage in a state like CA.

Low fives are definitely noticeable. Depending on the waveform and length, it might be a shoulder shrug or it might be a "better step into the doorframe" quake.

I was exaggerating somewhat.

[WLJ]

 

Hurricane Hilary made landfall today in California, quickly destroying tens of thousands of emails upon her arrival.

"My house is fine, but my email server -- annihilated," said San Diego resident Jim McKay. "Nature is so weird like that."

Hilary Makes Landfall, Destroying Over 30,000 Emails
https://babylonbee.com/news/hilary-makes-landfall-destroys-over-30000-emails

[WLJ]

More

Californians Hoping Hurricane Will Wash All Poop Off Sidewalks
https://babylonbee.com/news/californians-hoping-hurricane-will-wash-all-poop-off-sidewalks

[AZRedhawk44]

We're getting a lovely little rain shower here in Mesa.

I'm hoping for considerable precipitation from the Sierra Nevadas to the Colorado Plateau, something that adds a few thousand acre-feet to each of the big reservoirs on the Colorado River.  Supposedly Palm Springs drains to the Salton Sea, which makes that water pretty useless to my understanding.  Death Valley probably can't drain anywhere, being lower than everywhere.  It is sandy though, so the water should get down into aquifers in the area.

[JTHunter]

Well, I had to google. No hurricane Monica anytime soon. Much disappointment because we know that one blows.

Be careful.
That was the name of my now-deceased ex-wife.   

[WLJ]

Well, I had to google. No hurricane Monica anytime soon. Much disappointment because we know that one blows.

Be careful.
That was the name of my now-deceased ex-wife.   

Monica as in Monica Lewinsky

[BobR]

We had a nice steady rain most of the night. A few flooded roads which they expect to add to today as debris flows down from Mt. Charleston into the valley. The retention basin in our community did what it was supposed to do so it is a small pond this morning. In a day or so I will have to go look at it because it doubles as a walking area and snake habitat for our subdivision.

bob

eta: It seems I had a Home Depot bucket out on the patio in a nice location to catch rain. It measures right at 3". That is a very good amount of rain for us. Not quite a years worth of rain (4.83") but close enough.

[Ben]

I've got 1.6" so far at my place. Might get a little more, but it looks like it's slowing down. Started at around 0400. There were a couple of good downpours that pretty quickly showed me where on the driveway and shop area I need to do some grading. 

Otherwise, it's been a slow, steady rain with very little wind. Great for the fields. I won't have to irrigate for a couple of weeks now. My friend in Santa Barbara told me they only got like 0.15". SE Oregon and SW Idaho seem to have been right in the storm track. Over in Boise I don't think they've even got a half inch yet.

[WLJ]

Weak Hurricane Hilary Performance Blamed On Russian Interference
https://babylonbee.com/news/weak-hurricane-hilary-performance-blamed-on-russian-interference

[JTHunter]

Monica as in Monica Lewinsky

  I know that.  I just had to let you know.   

[230RN]

Wasn't she the one who coined the phrase "Presidential kneepads?"

                          Something like this?

                       

[HankB]

Tropical storm or disturbance is hitting Texas now. Looks like it will give South Texas plenty of rain, probably missing the Austin area entirely.

So our drought continues to worsen. 

[WLJ]

Tropical storm or disturbance is hitting Texas now. Looks like it will give South Texas plenty of rain, probably missing the Austin area entirely.

So our drought continues to worsen. 

Looks stormy on the Starbase live feed

[WLJ]

Following Hurricane, California's Homeless Begin The Hard Work Of Re-Pooping All The Sidewalks
https://babylonbee.com/news/following-hurricane-californias-homeless-population-gets-down-to-the-thankless-task-of-re-pooping-all-the-sidewalks

[HankB]

Tropical storm or disturbance is hitting Texas now. Looks like it will give South Texas plenty of rain, probably missing the Austin area entirely.

So our drought continues to worsen. 

OK, I was wrong . . . we DID get rain today - just barely enough to wet the driveway, too little to measure with the rain gauge. At least it kicked the dewpoint up a few points into the mid '70s.

[Ben]

OMG Climate Change!

I thought this NBC story was interesting. They were talking about Hillary's unusual track that brought anomalous rain to the intermountain West. On the one hand, they're always talking about how drought is going to kill us all and destroy farmland, but of course they put a negative spin on this rain with the "historic rain will become more common" line.

I don't know about anywhere else, but Idaho handled it all just fine, and walking the pastures on patrol this morning, they are all looking like they do in Spring just before the cows come in. Usually this time of year my cow guy is pulling 5-15 cows out for a month because the pastures can't keep up with them. This month, he may be bringing extra cows in. The farmers here are kinda hoping for this "historic rain" to be a more common occurrence. 

I mean, I guess Nevada got hit pretty good, but it seems to be mostly in the South, and even then (BobR can correct me) it seems the news was overblowing some stuff. I saw several Youtube videos of "flooded roads" around Death Valley, and we're talking like inches rather than feet. One of the Youtubers was filming himself driving across the "unpassable" road in his SUV while he was talking about it. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/four-states-broke-rainfall-records-tropical-storm-hilary-rcna101234

[BobR]

^^^

It is easy to overstate the effect of rain in the desert, then again because the ground does not soak it up like normal soil just a few inches can be pretty sporty. Add into that most populated areas in Southern Nevada are in a valley so everything likes to come to town. Death Valley is even worse. They have roads wash out with nearly every good rain. I haven't heard how it went over there this time other than the fact quite a few roads were impassable due to washouts, overflow and debris.

Here is Pahrump we had a mere 3" of rain, but Mount Charleston and the surrounding hill got upwards of 7.5 inches and that rain only has one place to go, downhill. We had a few roads with water and debris closed down but actually it wasn't too bad. A few low spots around town flooded. North of us toward Tonopah a road now has a piece gone.

This article has 4 pictures.

From what I understand Las Vegas got nothing more than a normal monsoon rain.

https://pvtimes.com/news/aftermath-of-hillary-pahrump-dodges-storms-bullet-124053/


bob

eta: Some Death Valley pictures.   https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/devastation-in-death-valley-as-photos-show-flood-damage-park-to-reopen-in-stages-over-weeks-ahead/ar-AA1fGV2x?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=4107b435f0a2409394249ae337b0060a&ei=4