More weather 01-21-10

When I came out of my appointment about 3pm the wind was really whipping the trees around, but it was not raining. There were two helicopters hanging in the sky (one is just barely visible over the 2nd palm from the right) - how do they do that? I can only guess they were news choppers because they both left about the same time. There are colorful pennants on wires over the used car lot, but they are flying sideways so don't show in the picture.
As I drove into my garage the rain started pounding down, though the sun was shining to the west.

I wondered if my neighbor realized that all that water was overshooting his downspout and cascading right into the back of his pickup! Since he was at work there was nothing I could do.

Tuesday when I came home it was too dark to see out in the backyard, but Wednesday morning I looked out and saw that we had a lake that had drained away, leaving a high water mark on the retaining wall. Looks like it was between five and six inches deep.

Today, after the downpour stopped, I checked out back again and the backlog wasn't quite so deep. I do worry sometimes about how much this wall can take - when it was built I thought they were digging for China! The building inspector came twice and insisted that the foundation needed to be deeper - perhaps he knew what he was talking about. You can tell how steeply the slope drops off on the other side.

This was also Wednesday looking over the slope and flood control channel into the park. I fear that all this water will be too late to save the coastal redwood trees which have been so stressed from three years of drought. There are some deodors mixed in, but they seem a bit more drought resistant - not much, though.
The storms will continue today but the weekend should give us a few days for the water to soak in, then another storm front approaches. One interesting fact learned from the TV weatherman is that SCalifornia has more tornadoes than any other area west of the Rocky Mountains. I experienced one more than twenty-five years ago when we lived in Fullerton and it left me with a very healthy fear. Guess I'd rather have an earthquake - they are, at least, familiar!