El Nino, La Nina, La Nada...
Meteorologists can't bet one way or the other this year because there is no warm-water El Niño or cold-water La Niña in the Pacific Ocean. El Niño can mean more rain; La Niña can mean less.
This year, the ocean is La Nada -- the unofficial term that means the ocean's water temperature is normal, offering no clues for forecasters and little encouragement for farmers or reservoir operators.
There is one climate hint called the Madden/Julian Oscillation -- a powerful tropical wave of wind that circles the globe in 30 to 60 days. The wave is occurring right now and helped bring the first significant rain and snow to the state this weekend.
La Nada? The weekend storm dumped more than 1.5 inches at our basecamp at 1,500 feet.
Saturday was just a precursor of things to come. There were pockets of intermittent downpours all throughout the morning. As Pam and her mom were preparing dinner for my brother-in-law's 49th birthday, I was outside clearing out the lava rocks in preparation of making that part of the yard a Zen garden. The rain seemed to have stop. So much of the expectation of getting some desperately needed rain.
Late Saturday night there was steady activity of precipitation. Maybe, just maybe this is it...the first major storm to hit since the lightning strikes in June.
Sunday morning was a deluge. We were going to go running in the light rain, but just as we got dressed ready to run, the rain came down hard. Poor Sampson, who was outside under the back patio, was crying to be let in due to the noise of the rain coming down on the roof. He wasn't a very happy kitty.
Late Sunday afternoon, the sun broke through and off in the distance in the surrounding peaks near Bass Lake, the snow is visible.
The snowshoes are out.
