Dust Storm in Nevada

When I got up this morning, I could barely see the nearby East Range and couldn't see the Eugene Mountains at all for all the thick dust. I eventually went out to get some coffee, and ended up searching for locations to get a few photos. The dust had cleared a little, though. The above shot shows the partly hidden East Range (and doesn't show the completely hidden Eugene Mountains). The closer part of the East Range is about 9 miles away; the Eugene Mountains are 24 miles away.

Here's a shot looking more or less east toward the Sonoma Range, which at only 8 miles distance look pretty hazy.

Off to the north, things weren't quite as hazy, although you can still see a white haze.

After getting coffee, I looked at the weather satellite photos for the Pacific Southwest, which clearly showed a large dust storm, probably a haboob, moving northward and eastward from the Fallon and Carson Sink area, beginning around 8:00pm last night, continuing as late as 11:00pm. By the time I remembered to grab a screen shot of the satellite photos, it was late this afternoon, so I couldn't capture the beginning.

These screen shots are from about 8:00pm PST last night. I've added the outline of the front of the dust plume in the second shot.

Twelve (or Ten?) Months of LFD (2017)

I'm doing the year-end meme wherein I compile the first sentence of the first post of every month. Meme rules are as follows, as per DrugMonkey (2014):

Post the link and first sentence from the first blog entry for each month of the past year.

I also add the first photo from the same first post. Previous takes on this Twelve Month meme at LFD were posted for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Aaand...here's the year 2017 for LFD:

January:

It's been icy cold in the far northlands, with temperatures hovering not too far above zero for several days.

February:

It was a late fall day, and I stopped along Route 447 to see if I could get close to some of the brilliantly colored trees along the Truckee River a few miles north of Wadsworth.

March:

I planned to have this descriptive section as part of the last post—the one about being packed and ready to leave town—but this "little bit" grew and grew, and eventually it had to find its own home.

April:

I was looking back through some photos and realized I had some of the Roan Cliffs from the spring of 2006.

May:

What is this?!!1?1!?

It all started when I was trying to find out what rock formations and rock types I was seeing while making the long trip to work and back out near Elko.

June:

I'm moving slowly on this mini-series about the Humboldt River while working essentially 12-hour days and while (hopefully) recovering from some long-lasting bug I caught on the road or out in Elko more than two months ago.

July:

Returning once again to my spring mini-series about all the rivers and lakes that are at higher levels than I've seen in quite awhile (most recent post), I decided this time to show a few pics of the Truckee River, which I drive by quite frequently.

August: Nothing.

September:

It's been a busy summer, such that I really haven't had time to get much blogging done—and I had so many good posts planned!

October:

This is a classic road song with "road" right there in the title, courtesy once again of MOH.

November: Nada.

December: (this post).

I'm doing the year-end meme wherein I compile the first sentence of the first post of every month.

High Water Across the West: The Humboldt River in Carlin Canyon — With the Carlin Canyon Unconformity!

Well, there we have it: the Carlin Canyon unconformity with the Humboldt River running nearly bankfull on April 11th of this year.

Looking downstream, back toward the tunnels, we're actually still looking at the unconformity, but it's cropping out poorly on the slope below the tilted limestone beds of the Pennsylvanian-Permian Strathearn Formation.

I went ahead and cropped the best photo I took so we could zoom in on the unconformity in it's classic exposure, and then drew a line right along the contact.

The Strathearn lies unconformably over the near-vertical (to locally overturned) Mississippian-Pennsylvanian Diamond Peak Formation, which is sometimes mapped as the equivalent Tonka Formation in this area.

Zoom in on this feature with a GigaPan by Ron Schott. And if you click the Google Earth link below his GigaPan, you can view the feature *and* the GigaPan in Google Earth!

High Water Across the West: Honey Lake

I've recently had the opportunity to travel across part of the Great Basin of eastern California and northern and central Nevada, and have noticed a lot of high water, almost everywhere. Honey Lake, which has been dry to only partly filled during the last several years, is once again a lake. The first two photos are from the 11th of April; the last three are from the 25th.

The lake is beyond full for what has been typical for several years, with bushes drowned around the edges and fences under water. In fact, you can see a bit of a fence or gate in the picture above, near shore, a little right of center. Most of the fenceline is completely under water.

Here's a relatively broad view of the lake taken on April 25th.

I cropped the previous photo so it would closely match the first photo from the 11th.

And this photo matches the second photo from the 11th. If you look closely at the two matching sets, you can see that the water was slightly higher on the 11th, and had gone down a teensy bit by the 25th.

I have several years of pictures of Honey Lake: there are these comparison photos from 2007 through 2011, these few photos from May and June of 2015, and one photo from early March, 2016. Even more photos can be found by searching the blog for "honey" (along with a few from nearby Pyramid Lake). Most of my photos through the years have been taken from the Honey Lake Rest Area).

A Little Report on Our January Storms

Intellicast radar image from 23Jan2017, approx 6:10 am, PST.

Our latest atmospheric river is passing through the area and will probably be gone by tomorrow (for more detail about the atmospheric rivers we've been subject to so far this January, see Garry Hayes' excellent live blogging of the storms here).

It was just three days ago, and this current ongoing storm or set of storms had just dumped an additional 8 inches in our area, which is at about 4560 ft (1890 m) in what is essentially the northern Sierra. The snow was wet and heavy, and had fallen on a base that included wet slush in places and thick snow drifts in others. I thought I'd better head out back to knock the weighty stuff off our fairly young fruit trees.

The gate to the back yard was frozen shut, so I went through our gazebo.

Small fir and pine trees weighed down by ice and snow.

A large cable spool.

As I tramped around in the back, shaking trunks and branches to knock snow off the thin limbs, I post-holed into the snow over the tops of my pack boots, to a depth of about 17 inches. Later measurements of this snow showed that the backyard was covered with about 24 inches.

After my backyard expedition was over, I wandered around taking a few pictures.

Snow on a rickety-looking ladder in our construction area.

A mini-avalanche on the roof from snow falling off a pine tree.

The road in front, not yet plowed, with tire and ski tracks.

Pine branches with snow.

Pine tree with needles plastered with ice and snow.

More plastering.

As I walked around, the temperatures were starting to rise, and large clumps of snow and ice started cascading off the trees. I became fascinated by this process and managed to get a number of action pictures.

The falling clumps drove me under some of our scaffolding structures.

Mostly protected from the falling snow, I felt a little more secure in getting photos without having myself and the camera caught by the falls.

Here I'm still under the scaffolding, looking up at a few large clumps of ice and snow that remain near the top of this pine tree, the same one that created the tiny avalanche above.

Finally, my patience in standing and waiting with camera poised was rewarded with a sizable fall.

One clump remains at the very tip-top of the tree, but it was time to go in to warm up hands and have a cup of coffee.

El Niño Near Long Valley Creek, Lassen County, CA

I've got a few more pictures from that rainy May day, the 21st, when MOH and I were on what was really the first leg of a trip to Colorado and back.

A downpour over unnamed hills just off the north end of the Bald Mountain Range and just south of Beckwourth Pass. Photo taken May 21st, 12:44 pm.

Looking up Dinwiddie Arm (of Long Valley Creek?) into the area of Roberts and Coulee Canyons. Mount Ina Coolbrith, with summit at 8051 ft (2454 m), is the long sloping mountain in the mist; Little Haskell Peak, at 6135 ft (1870 m), is the dark hill on the far left.

More hills in the foreground, more peaks of the Bald Mountain Range in the background, as the downpour continues.

Note in these pictures how green everything already was! It's been a green spring because of the unusually rainy May, though I haven't noticed any particularly unusual areas of high wildflower density. It is starting to brown up now, with the halogeton and tansy mustard being the last to fade to brown, although bushes such as sagebrush, rabbit brush, and fourwing saltbush are still plenty green.

These particular photos are all from Long Valley in Lassen County, and they were taken from the south-bound lanes of Highway 395 between Hallelujah Junction, CA, and Border Town, NV.

Related Posts:
El Niño at Honey Lake
The Beginning of an El Niño Trip: North-Central and Western Nevada

El Niño at Honey Lake

After our brief stay at The Nugget during the first part of our journey last month, we made a brief foray north on Highway 395, then quickly retreated southward along the same road. When we stopped at the Honey Lake Rest Area, it was raining hard in a localized but intense shower.

Looking across the partly muddy Honey Lake toward the Skedaddle and Amedee Mountains; May 21st, 11:56 pm.

Well, no that looks like a bit of hail!

As a bit of reference, the next photo was taken two weeks later when things had greened up and clouds were still prevalent (they are currently mostly out of the picture--it's summer!). That's the same mountains, same tree, different phone pole.

Photo taken June 4th, 2:38 pm.

The nearshore part of the lake in its northwesternmost lobe is considerably greener than usual in these pictures. Beyond the nearshore green swath, which grades into a brown, muddy-looking patch, a dark line and another green patch marks an area where water has been standing off and on this past year.

Photo taken June 4th, 2:37 pm.

A seagull poses for its picture, May 21st, 12:02 pm..

The Beginning of an El Niño Trip: North-Central and Western Nevada

An El Niño has supposedly set in (starting when, exactly, I'm not sure). And if precipitation continues to be anything like it has been during the last several weeks, I hope it's here for the the long haul, that is, into the winter.

Rain shower in the northern part of the East Range near Winnemucca, NV, looking SW. Photo taken May 17th, 12:03 pm. The highest, roundish mass on the left is probably Dun Glen Peak.

Rain showers in the Eugene Mountains to the east of the East Range, looking west. Photo taken May 17th, 12:10 pm.

The low hills of the southern Pah Rah Range, as seen from the JA Nugget, looking NE. Photo taken May 17th, 4:35 pm.

March 2015 ENSO discussion: El Niño is here
NOAA, March 5th.

Scientists Suggest a Strong El Nino Is Possible. Why Should You Care?
The Weather Channel, May 14th.

El Nino Delivers Drought-Busting but Flooding Rain to Texas; California May be Next
AccuWeather.com, May 19th.

With El Niño likely, what climate impacts are favored for this summer?
NOAA, May 28th.