Yes, we've had a few storms in the Sierra this year, and another one or more is on the way. But we really do need a long wet winter this year. Last year was way below normal, and things are just plain dry.


Take a look at this photo of Donnell Reservoir on the Stanislaus River, and you'll see what we mean.





Dean Martin was right. So was Bing Crosby. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Looks like a bunch of storms coming thru the next few days, at least up north here.
Duane

As usual, we need a few good years to recover completely.

I was looking at the Sentinal Dome web cam in Yosemite today. There is snow on the trees. I think the elevation is about 7,000 feet. This web-cam gets some fantastic photos.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

Took my puppy on her first walk in rain this morning. She kept looking up at the sky with a bewildred look. Next storm is supposed to be the bigger. We go less than an inch of rain.

I remember my Hysson's first exposure to rain. He was born in June in Santa Rosa, CA so of course had never experienced rain when I picked him up in early October. It was also a very dry fall in western Oregon, so he didn't experience rain until mid-November. I wish I'd had my camera handy to record the baffled and disgusted expression on his face when I let him out in the back yard the first rainy morning.

He still acts rather disgusted (what I call his "California dog" expression) in the first rain of fall, but he gets over it a lot faster!

The weather folks say the storms we're getting here in the PNW right now (more wind than rain) are going to dump most of their rain on California. I hope it helps!

I just had roadbase dumped on one end of our private dirtroad, I'm sure the neighgbors appreciate that. Just after the last good rain, so it is a mud wallow. Whoops! The gravel plant did not communicate with me very well when I called two weeks previous.
Duane

We are experiencing a nice, steady, slow rainy week. We are all sucking up the moisture - just lovely!

Hiking the JMT this September it was interesting to see that the ferry wasn't running on lake Edison due to low reservoir water level. I presume this related to the low rain/snow levels in 2012. Talking to various PCT thru-hikers I met on trails earlier in the year I knew they had a really easy time in the Sierras due to amazingly low snow levels, but having the VVR ferry not even running in Sept brought this home in a more tangible way somehow.

Best wishes for replenishing your water stores. Here in western WA we're getting plenty of rain in a very typically dismal November pattern! :-)

Nothing much yet for the southern Sierra, which had a brutally dry 2011-12 winter (something like 20% of normal IIRC). Yesterday's storm alert went like this:


If I see anything different today, I'll let you northern Ca folks know. Based on this, find those hatches and batten away, it's going to be a wild ride.

Cheers (glug),

Sounds like in the area I live in is gonna get hit hard. Have not had my property flooded for 10-12 years now. No chickens or dog to evacuate this time. I live on a creek, I'll have to move a few things to higher ground like some scrap roofing and fencing.
Duane

Stay dry!

Cheers,

p.s. Today's forecast.
A series of storms are hitting California, 1-2 inches having falling on Northern California areas since yesterday. The precipitation is expected to cover most of California but heavier in northern two thirds of the State, with the heaviest in the North Coast, Shasta, and North Sierra areas where many locations are forecast to receive above 4-6 inches of precipitation in the next three days. The Feather Basin is expected to receive about 14 inches of precipitation in the next 10 days, with most intense daily total of 3.9 inches on Saturday – Sunday. The snow levels are expected to be around 7,500 - 9,000 ft.

I'm camping with my son this weekend! Looks to be interesting to say the least!

BL
Real men (and women and others) hike around the lake. When you see a sign on a tree tilted up 45 degrees that says John Muir Trail, you're at the intersection.

Daisy
Get yer puppy an easy coat, like a fake sheepskin lined bomber jacket with a plastic waterproof shell. Get one that velcros at the neck and has a belly strap, they are easy for both of you to put on. It keeps the rain off their backs and some have a hood if your dog will tolerate it. Glad you're getting out with the puppy. I want a used battery powered scooter to drive up and down the street with my labra-pit to get her some exercise.

Rain
Its raining pretty good over here in the east Cascades right now and snowing up higher. They say our water comes from artesian wells coming up out of the lava and that it takes a thousand years for our water to get from the glaciers 30 miles from here, to our tap

Jim- if you were to tag a water molecule with tracer, it may take 1000 yrs for that molecule to get to your well. However, if your well water is confined (under pressure) water added to the recharge area that is linked to the aquifer in which your well is perforated, then you will theoretically get immediate raise in your well water levels due to the added water levels (pressure) in the reacharge area. This assumes that there are no changes in conditions between the recharge area and your well (such as some intervening wells increasing their pumping). Fractured aquifers, such as in eastern Oregon can have some odd ball connections, or lack of connections between localized aquifers. Here in California where the aquifers in the Central Valley are directly linked to the Sierra by thick sandy aquifers, wells that are drilled below the surface aquifer, will also have raising water levles,even though no actualy rainwater from the surface above the wells percolates down to deeper aquifers that are separated from the shallow aquifer by thick layers of clay.

Here is to hoping that your well is connected so that you do not have to wait 1000 years to get advantage of this year's wet winter!