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[Natural Disasters] Talk About Your Heavy Weather Here

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Posts

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Yeah atmospheric flow shit is way above my pay grade.

    I can do currents and water and rain and snow, but that stuff?

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    edited January 2019
    In an attempt to understand, my brain told me to think of the pressure gradients in the atmosphere as land and the water vapor in the air as, well, water on the ground. Is that even close to a useful way to think of that?

    Veevee on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Hey so, does this mean California is getting water soon or?

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    Veevee wrote: »
    In an attempt to understand, my brain told me to think of the pressure gradients in the atmosphere as land and the water vapor in the air as, well, water on the ground. Is that even close to a useful way to think of that?

    You know, I would have thought so, but then one time Chimera explained that a high pressure ridge was blocking a hurricane from moving west. Which makes absolutely no sense if you just think about high pressure moving to low pressure, so it seems like its not that simple.
    Henroid wrote: »
    Hey so, does this mean California is getting water soon or?

    It's weather forecasting, so who knows, but probably.

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    I worry that all the rain forecast for next week will mean big mudslides in the burn areas here in SoCal. The ones from this past weekend ended up not being too bad but there was still some minor property damage and it took 2 days to clear the PCH.

    Also I guess I should replace my rear tires this weekend. I replaced the fronts a couple weeks ago but the backs had some tread on them from a missed rotation. Thinking I'm going to need more tread than that for an "atmospheric river."

  • SkeithSkeith Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    Yeah atmospheric flow shit is way above my pay grade.

    I can do currents and water and rain and snow, but that stuff?

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Let's light the @Chimera signal and see if she's got any wisdom for us.

    aTBDrQE.jpg
  • IncenjucarIncenjucar VChatter Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    Hey so, does this mean California is getting water soon or?

    Knowing California, there will probably be horrible floods and mudslides somewhere.

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    Weather.com has an article up about the systems moving into central and southern California this coming week (starting with rain tonight for SoCal). Their projection is at least 3 inches of rain over most of coastal central and southern California, with windward parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties getting at least 5 inches of rain. While most of the state will get some precipitation next week, their heaviest rainfall predictions are along the coast from roughly Big Sur to San Clemente, inland in some areas as far as Lancaster/Palmdale and San Bernardino.

    "Several feet" of snow projected for the Sierra Nevadas.

  • SkeithSkeith Registered User regular
    Sounds like Highway 1 will be closing for several months, again, if past events are any indication.

    aTBDrQE.jpg
  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    As a sidenote, folks may want to root for the precipitation to be on the high end instead of the low end, because there's a universal consensus across all models (which basically never happens) that following it, we're going back into the "warm California with a persistent ridge blocking moisture" situation of the past couple years. So we may be having shorts weather in February again.

  • honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    PG&E is filing for bankruptcy in the wake of the California wildfires

    https://washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/14/pge-file-bankruptcy-following-devastating-california-wildfires/?utm_term=.3201fbbc7668
    The California wildfires, which have killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes, have led to a surge in insurance claims. PG&E estimates that it could be held liable for more than $30 billion, according to the SEC filing, which does not include potential punitive damages, fines or damages tied to future claims.
    The company said that financial alternatives to bankruptcy would not serve the best interests of PG&E and its shareholders

  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    honovere wrote: »
    PG&E is filing for bankruptcy in the wake of the California wildfires

    https://washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/14/pge-file-bankruptcy-following-devastating-california-wildfires/?utm_term=.3201fbbc7668
    The California wildfires, which have killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes, have led to a surge in insurance claims. PG&E estimates that it could be held liable for more than $30 billion, according to the SEC filing, which does not include potential punitive damages, fines or damages tied to future claims.
    The company said that financial alternatives to bankruptcy would not serve the best interests of PG&E and its shareholders

    So.... that means all the people dicked by this, particularly the people that were underinsured, are completely hosed, right?

    "Hey, sorry your house burned down, but to run salt into that wound, the company arguably responsible for it is declaring bankrupt, and you get Wonka nothing'd."

    Anyone want to take the under on how much the executives get in golden parachute/stock option dividends (stockholders are second in line after banks, right) on their way out the door?

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    They're not filing the "we're closing shop" bankruptcy, to be clear.

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    CEO resigned yesterday, also - posted about that in the CA politics thread.

  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    Bankruptcy prioritizes payments in order of ascribed by law.

    In general its:

    Business creditors
    Bond Holders
    General creditors
    Equity

    People who were insured probably get paid, they are business creditors(usually?!) Bond holders might get some of the money back. General creditors and equity holders are probably screwed.

    Bankruptcy will also increase the time that it takes to file and process a claim generally but probably decrease it over all.

    My guess is that they ask for the State to take over operations in exchange for paying the debt. Problem with this is that the State doesnt have a backstop of the federal government right now because the federal government is being run by a vindictive manchild

    wbBv3fj.png
  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    I thought PG&E were the utility company? Not an insurance company? My reference to insurance was for the people that aren't fully, or at all, insured. And therefore would have to sue PG&E for losses accrued, if it were found that PG&E were negligent.

    I'd be fucking furious if I were fully insured, and my insurance company rejected my claim on the basis that the utility company had declared bankruptcy.

  • HefflingHeffling No Pic EverRegistered User regular
    PG&E are the utility company. They are declaring bankruptcy because the estimated cost of the damages they are liable for greatly exceeds the total value of their company and the insurance it possessed. The people that will suffer the most from this bankruptcy are those that had insufficient or no insurance themselves.

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    I believe fire insurance is required in some of the fire prone parts of the state now, but I’m not sure how that’s enforced or if it’s applied in that area.

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    I do wonder if this leads to a fully public utility in the long run.

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    Update for the ongoing weather situation in SoCal:

    Interstate 5 is closed at Grapevine due to snow. State Road 33 (an alternate for I-5 ) is also closed for snow. State Route 58 is closed because of high winds that have tipped over multiple big rigs.



    Riverside County issued mandatory evacuation orders for areas affected by last summer's Holy Fire.

    Mudslides have closed all lanes of the Pacific Coast Highway between Malibu and Ventura County, along with a number of other canyon roads.




  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Nature has a sense of irony, all right.

  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    Nature has a sense of irony, all right.

    Seems like it.

    "You want rain? I'll give you fucking rain. Here, have all the rain. Why are you complaining?" - Mother Nature, known asshole.

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    Jragghen wrote: »
    And today's not the bad day.

    Yeah, Wednesday afternoon into Thursday is projected to be the heaviest rainfall. The rain is tapering off here in the greater LA area, it has moved on toward Victorville and then there's a strong system near Las Vegas and Kingman.

    Looks like most of the rain will clear out of the state around midnight, but another big system is coming right up and should start raining on San Fran and Santa Barbara around 2am and then expanding from there.

  • Captain InertiaCaptain Inertia Registered User regular
    Um should there be snow there?

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    Um should there be snow there?

    Yes, that photo is from near Tejon Pass (the grapevine), the pass tops out at ~4100ft so it isn't that uncommon for it to get snow, although it came down so quick that a fair number of people got caught in the closure and had to wait for 4 or 5 hours to get towed/plowed out.

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    For context, this might not necessarily seem like a lot of rain to some (although I think everyone can agree that 4.5" of rain in burn areas is bad news) but SoCal is not really set up for heavy rains. For example, Palmdale airport got 0.43" of rain yesterday and that set the record for most rain in a single day. The previous record of 0.39" was set in 1993.

  • Captain InertiaCaptain Inertia Registered User regular
    Yeah parts of San Diego have no functional drainage off the roads so the relatively normal amount of rain (for most of the country) meant most roads covered in standing water

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    Well the weather event in SoCal is sort of winding down (although we'll still be getting potentially heavy rain through this afternoon). Last night into early this morning was the heaviest rainfall, here's the preliminary results for the 24 hour period beginning 4:30AM yesterday morning:



    Rose and Nordhoff Valleys in Ventura County got over 4.6" of rain in 24 hours, nearly an inch more than the next highest total at San Marcos Pass in Santa Barbara. In the Los Angeles metro area, around Sepulveda Pass was where the heaviest rains fell. Bel Air and the Getty Center both reported juuuust under 2" in 24hrs. Downtown got an inch.

    With all the rain came flooding and mudslides, so there are a lot of road closures:






    However I haven't seen reports of many fatalities, most of them limited to traffic accidents. Even a massive 19 car pile-up in Cajon Pass, caused by slick roads and very heavy fog, resulted in 35 injuries and no fatalities.

    jgeis on
  • dispatch.odispatch.o Registered User regular
    Butte County flood evacuation warning for Pulga. One location where the fires started. It's not that uncommon given where it's located. Still I can't help but think lack of a vegetation covering to keep soil from eroding will make the next few storms very impactful.

  • VishNubVishNub Registered User regular
    So if I'm counting right that's.... basically all of the malibu canyons closed to the public.

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    VishNub wrote: »
    So if I'm counting right that's.... basically all of the malibu canyons closed to the public.

    Here's every road closure, lane closure, and CHP incident (trees down, flooding, accidents, etc) on CalTrans map right now:

    rrz77rae9ogi.png

  • jgeisjgeis Registered User regular
    Good gravy, it looks like some workers responding to rock and mudslides got caught in a minor rockslide, but it still contained boulders large enough to partially crush one of their trailers. No injuries reported as I'm seeing:

  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    quote="jgeis;c-40670366"]Good gravy, it looks like some workers responding to rock and mudslides got caught in a minor rockslide, but it still contained boulders large enough to partially crush one of their trailers. No injuries reported as I'm seeing:



    That is always the scary part on working on landslides like that it's hard to tell how close you can safely get to it to do your inspections because you know the area is already destabilized and it's hard to tell how far away from the slide that instability goes.

    kaid on
  • Martini_PhilosopherMartini_Philosopher Registered User regular
    I'm not certain if there's a better place to post this but it being about hurricane disaster relief it seems to fit here.

    Trump tried to deny hurricane disaster funds to PR.

    The headline says it all. For reasons that no one fathoms, Trump tried to keep Puerto Rico from getting hurricane disaster funds. He claims to keep them from repaying debt but that's not how those funds work. Or how the law works. Or how anything related to any of that works. And with this, it's likely why he keeps ranting about doing the same for California.

    All opinions are my own and in no way reflect that of my employer.
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    I'm not certain if there's a better place to post this but it being about hurricane disaster relief it seems to fit here.

    Trump tried to deny hurricane disaster funds to PR.

    The headline says it all. For reasons that no one fathoms, Trump tried to keep Puerto Rico from getting hurricane disaster funds. He claims to keep them from repaying debt but that's not how those funds work. Or how the law works. Or how anything related to any of that works. And with this, it's likely why he keeps ranting about doing the same for California.

    Again, as Adam Serwer pointed out - "the cruelty is the point."

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    Australia, being Australia, adds infamously deadly fauna to historic flooding:
    Emergency workers and the army said they had received more than 1,000 calls for help. They've been using boats and helicopters to move people to higher ground.

    "Crocodiles may be seen crossing roads, and when flooding recedes, crocodiles can turn up in unusual places such as farm dams or waterholes," said Queensland's Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch.

    "Similarly, snakes are very good swimmers and they too may turn up unexpectedly."

    One local resident, Erin Hahn, shared pictures of a crocodile sitting in shallow water at the end of her father's drive. Another was photographed climbing a tree in the floodwater.

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    JFC Australia, you have tree-climbing crocodiles!?! I feel like the Australian ecology is just in a game of one-upmanship with itself.

    Twitch: Thawmus83
  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    Australia is proof Earth is a Death Planet.

This discussion has been closed.