Early fall and winter?

[windyscotty]

We are noticing changes that seem to be way too early such as rabbit brush blooming at 7000 feet. Allergies have set in strong much earlier than usual due to the early bloom and persistent fire smoke in the Owens Valley. Although it is up to 100 degrees every day, the nights seem cooler than previous summers. Downright nice as a matter of fact and we can turn off the coolers at 7 pm.

I wonder if this indicates an early fall, and therefore, an early winter. I know you are all dying to get back on the slopes. It is possible that you could be back up there in a couple of months.

[Snowave]

it's been in the 40's the last few nights here in the socal mtns... and we had several nights in July in the upper 30's. I attribute it more to the extremely dry air than anything else. RH's have been mostly in the single digits since last Tuesday.

When it's that dry, it warms up and cools off dramatically.... and you get major temperature fluctuations.. +40 in a day.

[TksHiRd]

nice analysis there smokey! just yesterday, down hErE, I had commented that the morning had a fall-ish feel to it...

[Sierra Lady]

^ Bite your tongue.

[Snowave]

yeah, i'm not quite ready for winter yet.. give me at least another month or so of warm-ish weather and then we can talk about fall/winter and cooler weather.

[SurfnSnowboard]

I was wondering the same thing after seeing one of the charts that cheapski posted where she mentioned that an unusually strong low for this time of year was forecast.

With a return of La Niña we could see another cold winter for the west coast although it's just as likely to be cold and dry. A repeat of last winter is pretty unrealistic but who knows...

[cheapski]

Drier humidity isnt causing the cooler than normal weather up in the Bay Area. The cooler days and nights are really more of a symptom of the mid Summer that hasnt come, sort of like last year with the constant succession of lows coming by the upper West coast. Now if the question is will they be lowering their track further south earlier than normal who knows.

That AR last December really knocked us for six. Wouldnt it be interesting if conditions set up for a repeat.

[TheSnowman]

I pray we do not see a repeat of the AR event, that was a rough week in my area.

[Snowave]

One thing is for sure... these cool nights are making for some excellent sleeping.

[Biker395]

nice analysis there smokey! just yesterday, down hErE, I had commented that the morning had a fall-ish feel to it...

Me too. I was riding in the Santa Monicas this Saturday. I don't know how to describe it exactly ... the lower angle of the Sun? The briskness in the air? The smell of the air? Something about it ... it was the first hint of fall. There were even some trees changing color at the top of Fernwood-Pacific.

Strange.

And if you're up early enough to look, Orion is on the dawn horizon.

[TksHiRd]

I'm going with sun angle... sensitive like a plant, we are.

[SurfnSnowboard]

Today is fairly cool for midish August. I'm attributing it to the fairly cool ocean water temps off of the coast. Pretty chilly water for August actually...

[2NAKLLR]

^Yeah that last bout of wind at the coast we had last week dropped water temps as much as 15+F. We were at 75 in spots inshore. We're just now scraping back to mid 60F levels, and with such deep marine layer in the bight, there isn't much sun to heat it back up too quickly.

[cheapski]

I was wondering the same thing after seeing one of the charts that cheapski posted where she mentioned that an unusually strong low for this time of year was forecast.

Speaking of which, this will bring high mountain snows if it verifies.

[MountainNut]

nice analysis there smokey! just yesterday, down hErE, I had commented that the morning had a fall-ish feel to it...

You too, huh? That's exactly what I thought when I stepped outside yesterday morning. Felt like a (cool/dry/windy) Fall Santa Ana morning.. 55F degrees!