Why Can't The Weather Guy Get It Right? Wait....That's Me

On Thursday I said the storm off the coast would bring windy conditions but no rain. I woke up this morning to a little rain. Oh well.

I was hearing rumors about rain yesterday but hoping I would out-predict them. The fun of weather forcasting is getting it wrong once in awhile.

Below is radar of the rain moving onshore this morning. It shouldn't rain all day though. Happy Sunday!

Flat White

I gave the bike a paint job. White frame and primer gray forks. Ready to ride.

Models Say Gail...Who?

Looks like San Diego is going to be a little windy this weekend....along with some waves. The grib below show a lot of wind from the north on Saturday. See the pink arrows near the socal coast? They have multiple barbs and are pointing south. Wind will blow from north to south.

The map below is a 48 hour 500 mb chart from NOAA. This is a copy of the same file broadcasted to ships via shortwave radio. Basically the chart shows what the jet stream in the upper atmosphere will be doing on Saturday. The thick line shows the "trough" moving from east to west. Notice how the lines are uniform and relatively straight...the upper atmosphere is moving...wind but no rain. The "H 591" represents a high that is helping to keeping so cal sunny and warm.

The chart below is the 48 hour surface chart from NOAA. Basically this is a hand drawn version of the automated color computer model above. This chart shows the weather on the surface of the earth. You can see the same high mentioned above. You can also see a wind arrow with multiple barbs near socal. The cool thing about NOAA charts is that a human includes symbols to help us understand whats going on. In this case they wrote the word "gail" near socal.


What does "gail" mean? You could nerd out and read this but to make life easy I copy/pasted an exerpt below...

Gail refers to an extratropical low or an area of sustained surface winds (averaged over a ten minute period, momentary gusts may be higher) of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph).

A gail is half way beween what weather forcasters call a developing storm and a storm. So what do the surf forcast websites say about this? Below is an excerpt from WetSand:


"Models today show a much more impressive wind swell fetch forming off the California coast by the weekend. This is from a low that is just now kicking up some 20' seas in the Gulf of Alaska. This will throw some minor NW ground swell our way, but the dominant portion of swell is looking to come from wind swell that'd get kicked up by this system once the low positions itself closer to our area this weekend."

When surf forecaster refers to models, they are talking about the grib files and charts displayed above. My goal is to develop accurate surf forecasts on my own by using the same models they use. It takes longer than just reading a surf forcast but who said a hobby should be about saving time?

On Vacation But Not Far From Home!

We enjoyed a relaxing weekend. I refinished one of the benches in the backyard while Michelle took her new Audi A3 to the carwash. The next day we trimmed the plants on the side of the house and gave everything a good water. After that I cleaned up some of our potted plants...including the one with the Rose Bowl grass growing in it. Jack chilled out in the shade while we worked. Afterwards we relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. Jack moved to the bench for a nap in sun. Got some good surf this weekend. I surfed twice on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to summer. People frequently ask me what my vacation plans for summer are....I tell them "nowhere but here".

Tough Day

It was a tough day both in the office and chasing birds. Jack and I crashed out on the couch after work. Zzzzzz....

Minty Fresh

Washed and waxed the jeep today. Looking and running good!

Big In Dubai

Googling Kenworth found me the 953. This model Kenworth is used for hauling over-sized loads in remote areas such as mines and oil fields. This truck is owned by a company called Sapcor which specializes in moving heavy equipment in the middle ease. Pretty cool.

At The Smog Shop...Again

OK...we are at round two at the smog shop. The pumpkin has a new carb (and is leaking oil but that is a different story). They put it on the dyno and did the stress test. The results??? It passed!

While warming it up on the freeway the jeep developed a "click click click". Always something....gotta love old cars.

I really love the jeep!!!

Alive Again

Back from the shop with a new carb...we are good to go. Will try to smog it tomorrow.

In The Shop...

Its been almost two years since the last time the Jeep was in the shop because it wouldn't run right. This time it has to do with not passing the smog test. Apparently the Jeep runs clean at idle and 25 mph, but not at 15 mph....how that can happen on an engine with a carburetor.... I don't know. So it is in the shop again. Every time this happens, I consider the option of converting it to fuel injection. There are various kits out there that remove the vacuum tube and carburetor and replace them with an injection system from an early nineties GM truck. It's a little pricey but who knows.....I love the orange Jeep and don't want to see it go :(

Below is a photo of the fuel injection system and the Orange Pumpkin in Anza Borrego.

25 Characters And Counting...

Still working on the Morse code project. I'm up to 25 characters (including two numbers and three punctuation marks). Keep it going!!!

I added a cool flag I found online too.....the flag is from a group from the Philippines who fought against Spain for independence in 1897.