California gets hammered by Pineapple Express - 164 [or 165] mph winds

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The Lake Tahoe area recently experienced extreme wind gusts, with reports of 155 mph and even 165 mph in some locations, raising concerns about safety and infrastructure. Sustained winds reached 124 mph, and heavy snowfall is expected, with predictions of up to twelve feet in higher elevations. The discussion highlights the potential dangers of such weather, including mudslides and the impact on wind farms, which typically do not operate in winds above 50 mph. Participants shared personal anecdotes about the weather's effects and expressed concerns for outdoor activities, emphasizing the importance of safety and preparation when hiking in severe conditions. The conversation also touched on the broader implications of climate change and the unique challenges posed by extreme weather events in the region.
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The Lake Tahoe area had wind gusts hitting 155 mph, and I saw that one area had 165 mph gusts. That is nuts! How would you like to be surrounded by 150-foot trees in 155 mph winds?!

12/19/2010 1233 PM

2 miles W of alpine meadowsne meadowsprings vvil, Placer County.

Non-thunderstorm wind gust m155 mph, reported by mesonet.


155 mile per hour wind gust measured near the Sierra
crest. Winds sustained at 124 miles per hour.
http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/069.html
 
Physics news on Phys.org


Some areas will get up to twelve feet of snow.

Merry Christmas!
 


I'm building an ark.
 


Math Is Hard said:
I'm building an ark.
I hope jelly has her waterwings.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN1VcgRrEM8
 
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At least it must be drowning the fleas on the lawn!
 


Math Is Hard said:
At least it must be drowning the fleas on the lawn!
I read it only takes 1/2 inch to get rid of fleas.
 


Jelly and I are staying warm and cozy watching The Bishop's Wife tonight :)
 


Math Is Hard said:
Jelly and I are staying warm and cozy watching The Bishop's Wife tonight :)

That brings back fond memories of the many nights that I spent with the Bishop's wife.

Do you know how much rain have you had and how much is coming? I was mainly following the reports for Northern California. I know there is a lot of concern about mudslides in some areas.
 
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I wonder how well the wind farms handle these kinds of winds. I would think that sustained 125MPH winds can generate some serious electricity, if the windmills don't disintegrate...
 
  • #10


Climate change at its finest. :approve:
IMP said:
I wonder how well the wind farms handle these kinds of winds. I would think that sustained 125MPH winds can generate some serious electricity, if the windmills don't disintegrate...

Wind turbines generally don't operate with wind speeds above 50mph.
 
  • #11


My mom won't fly, but we are expecting her house to land here in the city any time now. Can't wait to see my mom. :!)
 
  • #12


Lacy33 said:
My mom won't fly, but we are expecting her house to land here in the city any time now. Can't wait to see my mom. :!)

:smile:
 
  • #13


You do realize that, thanks to Judd Apatow, there are probably some stoners out there (in Cali... imagine that) who haven't stopped giggling since they heard the words, "Pineapple Express," for the first time on the news.
 
  • #14


nismaratwork said:
You do realize that, thanks to Judd Apatow, there are probably some stoners out there (in Cali... imagine that) who haven't stopped giggling since they heard the words, "Pineapple Express," for the first time on the news.

I had to do a quick Google

"Pineapple Express...a stoner action movie"
wiki

Now THAT'S funny!
 
  • #15


:rolleyes: I've scheduled some solo mountain time up in the High Sierra, starting this weekend. Keeping fingers crossed that conditions improve!
 
  • #16


Ivan Seeking said:
I had to do a quick Google

"Pineapple Express...a stoner action movie"
wiki

Now THAT'S funny!

...so he says... really you're smoking a bone right now and watching Cheech & Chong... tell it Tsu! :wink:
 
  • #17


Gokul43201 said:
:rolleyes: I've scheduled some solo mountain time up in the High Sierra, starting this weekend. Keeping fingers crossed that conditions improve!

Yeah... um... I like your posts, please don't die on a mountain?
 
  • #18


Math Is Hard said:
Jelly and I are staying warm and cozy watching The Bishop's Wife tonight :)
Aww, did you watch it all? Did you like it?
 
  • #19


I was raised on Tahoe's west shore (Homewood area). There are very few homes located along the ridges, which are the only places that the winds reach speeds above 90 mph. My father owned a glass business, and we did a few window replacements in people's homes out in Rubicon. The windows were extremely expensive and very heavy due to the wind rating requirements.

We did get a few feet of snow at lake level (about 6,200 ft.), but not 12 feet. The 12' predictions were probably for elevations above 7,000 feet.
 
  • #20


nismaratwork said:
...so he says... really you're smoking a bone right now and watching Cheech & Chong... tell it Tsu! :wink:

I smoke meat but never thought of smoking the bone. It's too hard to light.
 
  • #21


nismaratwork said:
Yeah... um... I like your posts, please don't die on a mountain?
I'm generally pretty good at turning back when conditions warrant that.

I'm a strong believer in Ed Viesturs' motto: getting to the summit is optional; getting back down is mandatory!
 
  • #22


Gokul43201 said:
I'm generally pretty good at turning back when conditions warrant that.

I'm a strong believer in Ed Viesturs' motto: getting to the summit is optional; getting back down is mandatory!

Going alone? Let people know your schedule, and watch for falling rocks...I didn't see "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_Hours" " but, dang :eek:!
 
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  • #23


Gokul43201 said:
I'm generally pretty good at turning back when conditions warrant that.

I'm a strong believer in Ed Viesturs' motto: getting to the summit is optional; getting back down is mandatory!

The biggest problem we see in the NW is people getting caught in a bad storm with no time to get out. The weather can change very quickly.

When I was in college, we lost a grad student from the physics dept. that way. I don't think they ever found the bodies.
 
  • #24


lisab said:
Going alone?
So far, it seems that way. My potential climbing partner couldn't make it.

Let people know your schedule,
Yup, standard procedure.

and watch for falling rocks...
More avalanche danger than rockslide danger where I'm headed, but I'll naturally be monitoring avalanche conditions.

I didn't see "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_Hours" " but, dang :eek:!
I've seen the preview but not the movie itself. I hope to watch it eventually though. Good for lessons on what to do when in trouble, and what not to do if you don't like getting into trouble.
 
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  • #25


Gokul43201 said:
So far, it seems that way. My potential climbing partner couldn't make it.

That is very surprising to me. You should NEVER do something like this by yourself.
 
  • #26


Evo said:
Aww, did you watch it all? Did you like it?

I did! I loved it! I would have found Cary Grant more believable as a devil than an angel, though! :devil:
 
  • #27


Ivan Seeking said:
That is very surprising to me. You should NEVER do something like this by yourself.
I'm still looking for a partner, but if I don't find one I'll have to settle for a much less ambitious trip, along a more popular route with zero technical difficulty, and which will likely have other folks on it anyway. And I won't do it if conditions are poor.
 
  • #28


Ivan Seeking said:
Do you know how much rain have you had and how much is coming? I was mainly following the reports for Northern California. I know there is a lot of concern about mudslides in some areas.

The rain has been been moderately light, but steady. It never stops. We've gotten 6 or 7 inches in my area:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/heavy-rainfall-recorded-across-la-area.html

We are supposed to get a break on Thursday, but I think more is coming next weekend. I've heard that some debris slid down over PCH near the Ventura/Los Angeles county line, but it has now been cleaned up. I'm sure there is more of that to come.
 
  • #29


Gokul43201 said:
I'm generally pretty good at turning back when conditions warrant that.

I'm a strong believer in Ed Viesturs' motto: getting to the summit is optional; getting back down is mandatory!

A very wise stance to take in regards to a recreational activity, I'm glad you'll be around and not drinking rainwater for the next week. :wink:

Ivan: Mmmm Hmmm... I saw that before you edited your post, you'd actually coughed. Honest!
 
  • #30


Gokul43201 said:
I'm still looking for a partner, but if I don't find one I'll have to settle for a much less ambitious trip, along a more popular route with zero technical difficulty, and which will likely have other folks on it anyway. And I won't do it if conditions are poor.

Ah. I was going to say that I did some really crazy stuff, but even I always stuck to the buddy system. Of course in my case, my buddy nearly killed me, but that's beside the point. :biggrin:
 
  • #31


Dembadon said:
I was raised on Tahoe's west shore (Homewood area). There are very few homes located along the ridges, which are the only places that the winds reach speeds above 90 mph. My father owned a glass business, and we did a few window replacements in people's homes out in Rubicon. The windows were extremely expensive and very heavy due to the wind rating requirements.

We did get a few feet of snow at lake level (about 6,200 ft.), but not 12 feet. The 12' predictions were probably for elevations above 7,000 feet.

It looks like the worst of it is hitting about 200 miles SE of Tahoe.

It's all courtesy of the "Pineapple Express," a potent stream of moisture originating near the Hawaiian Islands that streams across the Pacific Ocean until it slams into mountains along the West Coast of the U.S. There, it's already dumped over 15 feet of snow on Mammoth Mountain, Calif., and it's not done yet.

Mammoth residents and guests have been stranded by not only deep snow, but howling winds as well that severed phone service to Sugar Bowl Resort near Truckee, Calif. At Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort in Twin Bridges, Calif., those winds toppled a tree that fell upon a chairlift cable on Sunday, knocking five riders to the ground. Other ski areas have remained closed, waiting out the storm for a powder day that promises over six feet of new snow surrounding the Lake Tahoe basin...
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/Ne...ly-Christmas-Presents-to-Western-Ski-Resorts/
 
  • #32


I believe CNN reported the peak gust of 165 mph, but I'm still not seeing another source for that, so maybe that wasn't a reliable report. Does anyone else see the 165 mph reference? I do find several sources for the reported 155 mph, as was originally linked.

I may need to change the title.
 
  • #33


Wait... wait just a second...Ivan... you smoke meats? You cure/smoke your own meats? Have you talked about this in the food thread, because I'd like to hear about it.

Anyway, this is a pretty amazing weather event... 155 or 165, it's still one monstrous wind-speed. The kicker is that now they flood, mud-slides follow, then heat, then fires, which leads to more erosion, which leads to more mud... you get the idea.
 
  • #34


nismaratwork said:
Ivan... you smoke meats? You cure/smoke your own meats? Have you talked about this in the food thread, because I'd like to hear about it.

Not really. I made jerky a few times but that's about it. However, meat smokers are a common item around here. With all of the hunting and fishing, there are smoked meats of all kinds. Smoked Salmon is probably the most popular. [not smoked, but we recently had some bear pepperoni!]
 
  • #35


Gokul, your weekend isn't looking very promising. Many areas are surely too dangerous for hiking and will be for some time.

This is ridiculous! Some areas are supposed to get another 10 inches of rain over a period of about 24 hours. I saw that one mountain area was claiming over 200 inches of snow with lots more on the way. One person stated that they may get as much rain this year as they've had in the last ten.
 
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  • #36


Ivan Seeking said:
Not really. I made jerky a few times but that's about it. However, meat smokers are a common item around here. With all of the hunting and fishing, there are smoked meats of all kinds. Smoked Salmon is probably the most popular. [not smoked, but we recently had some bear pepperoni!]

Bear... pepperoni?! Ivan, you lead a very interesting life, I must say!
 
  • #37


nismaratwork said:
Bear... pepperoni?! Ivan, you lead a very interesting life, I must say!

It just goes with the locale. It sure beats spending my life on the LA freeways. :biggrin:

I didn't really care for it that much, btw, but it was interesting to try.
 
  • #38


Ivan Seeking said:
It just goes with the locale. It sure beats spending my life on the LA freeways. :biggrin:

Ooooh, LA freeways... I'd rather eat a gun, never mind bear pepperoni!
 
  • #39


My uncle had a beautiful home on a low-lying floodplain, in Huntington Beach, which may be experiencing siginficant tidal surge as I type this. Warnings are up all over that part of the State, for coastal communities. A few years ago I suggested that if the GW advocates are right, he could be a sitting duck. His house was only a few feet above sea level and a quarter-mile from the water, so he was in a prime location to take a big hit from a freak storm. While making it clear that no one can say for sure, I did suggest that he may want to consider getting out before something happens. Something like this would likely wipe him out very late in life. For other reasons they sold their house and moved North this year, but if his old house takes a hit, I'm going to look like a genius. :biggrin:

They lived there for over 35 years. But when that home was built along with hundreds of others, the laws were relaxed for the sake of profit. Those homes never should have been built. For that reason he couldn't get flood insurance at an affordable price.
 
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  • #40


Have been seeing a few news clips about CA. I guess I won't complain about this snow. :rolleyes:
 
  • #41


Ivan Seeking said:
My uncle had a beautiful home on a low-lying floodplain, in Huntington Beach, which may be experiencing siginficant tidal surge as I type this. Warnings are up all over that part of the State, for coastal communities. A few years ago I suggested that if the GW advocates are right, he could be a sitting duck. His house was only a few feet above sea level and a quarter-mile from the water, so he was in a prime location to take a big hit from a freak storm. While making it clear that no one can say for sure, I did suggest that he may want to consider getting out before something happens. Something like this would likely wipe him out very late in life. For other reasons they sold their house and moved North this year, but if his old house takes a hit, I'm going to look like a genius. :biggrin:

They lived there for over 35 years. But when that home was built along with hundreds of others, the laws were relaxed for the sake of profit. Those homes never should have been built. For that reason he couldn't get flood insurance at an affordable price.

If you called it that well, even if it's just luck, you should get a cut of the sale of that house, retroactively. :wink:

turbo-1: Yeah, at least on this coast we're not swimming to work.
 
  • #43


Oh... someone corrected a tiiiiitle... :biggrin:

I'm still impressed.
 
  • #44


Out of the mountains! There was an impressive amount of (unfortunately very soft, powdery) snow in the Sierras, especially on leeward slopes. I had to abandon my primary target after finding myself slogging through 5 foot deep snowdrifts, and with a fresh snowstorm approaching Tuesday night I wasn't going to be off the ridge in time, if I kept going. But I had a great time nevertheless - sharpened some skills, recalibrated my sense of snow consolidation, and helped three relatively underprepared people summit a 9000 ft peak on Tuesday and get down safely.
 
  • #45


Gokul43201 said:
Out of the mountains! There was an impressive amount of (unfortunately very soft, powdery) snow in the Sierras, especially on leeward slopes. I had to abandon my primary target after finding myself slogging through 5 foot deep snowdrifts, and with a fresh snowstorm approaching Tuesday night I wasn't going to be off the ridge in time, if I kept going. But I had a great time nevertheless - sharpened some skills, recalibrated my sense of snow consolidation, and helped three relatively underprepared people summit a 9000 ft peak on Tuesday and get down safely.
Sounds fun. :eek:

Glad you had a good time, and more importantly made it back safely.
 
  • #46


Gokul43201 said:
Out of the mountains! There was an impressive amount of (unfortunately very soft, powdery) snow in the Sierras, especially on leeward slopes. I had to abandon my primary target after finding myself slogging through 5 foot deep snowdrifts, and with a fresh snowstorm approaching Tuesday night I wasn't going to be off the ridge in time, if I kept going. But I had a great time nevertheless - sharpened some skills, recalibrated my sense of snow consolidation, and helped three relatively underprepared people summit a 9000 ft peak on Tuesday and get down safely.

Wow. Just... climbers are charmingly, happily, and functionally INSANE! :

5 FEET and another storm... oh my god... I wouldn't go out in the STREET in that! That said, those are three very lucky people for your being there... definitely a 'good crazy', like firefighters.
 
  • #47


Ivan Seeking said:
I believe CNN reported the peak gust of 165 mph, but I'm still not seeing another source for that, so maybe that wasn't a reliable report. Does anyone else see the 165 mph reference? I do find several sources for the reported 155 mph, as was originally linked.

I may need to change the title.

Mammoth Lakes reported gusts up to 165 on the mountain. This according to a local paper that week.
 
  • #48


Phrak said:
Mammoth Lakes reported gusts up to 165 on the mountain. This according to a local paper that week.

:smile:


Did you see how quickly that title went back to 165? I think you made a certain Ivan happy. :wink:
 
  • #49


nismaratwork said:
:smile:


Did you see how quickly that title went back to 165? I think you made a certain Ivan happy. :wink:

It gets better. I was only reading the paper in passing anyway, and it's long gone as fire starter. Apparently it was 164 mph.

http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20101222/COMMUNITY/101229965"
 
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  • #50


Phrak said:
It gets better. I was only reading the paper in passing anyway, and it's long gone as fire starter. Apparently it was 164 mph.

http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20101222/COMMUNITY/101229965"

Heh... come on, what are you trying to give us all whiplash? It's really windy...
 
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