Weather Alert for California

We got snow night before last and again last night. I'll try to get a photo later on. Just a nice dusting in the hills.

Ok, I am not liking this cold, I'm already wanting spring but I feel for you Lali! You need to come out of that beautiful valley a little further south! ^_^
My daughter and kids live up by Shasta, she posted lovely photos of their house with it's first snow. From what I heard, she ain't seen nothing yet!

I was 'digging' winter up until this last week. We had temps in the high 60's low 70's all month long. My impatiens & semp begonias were in full bloom, roses too. Fooled them! They're complete mush now. (not the roses but they're not so glorious now!)

I blew the fuses in the breaker box trying to run too many space heaters in my greenhouses! At least things survived inside - temps are running about 45º (brrr!)
Sue, we're looking at property in Sebastopol but they're not much warmer than us.

Here is Mt. St. Helena from our driveway.

Drove to Santa Rosa and tried to capture this rainbow but hard to do with power poles and no safe place to pull off the road. (which was closed today due to ice and accidents!)

KaperC, that accident sounds awful! Glad no one was seriously hurt!

Ok, then lets all go further south!!
I'm at around 55° right now but it's still a bone chiller outside.

Here is my DD's house in the town of McCloud by Shasta City, she took this yesterday.

and her street. I hear they can expect it up to their windows.

No thanks.

But the kids are lovin' it, Natalie and Kona

Snow's always SO PRETTY in the photos, where I don't have to shovel it or drive in it....LOL!

EXACTLY! ☼

I agree! The news kept talking this morning (teasers) about snow in SOUTHERN California, but they never said where! DH took "the kids" to Magic Mountain this morning and said it was gorgeous. So what happens? After 3 rides they closed the park "due to weather." Huh?

It was lovely here, though I was inside most of the day - I've got a horrible cold.

You guys keep warm up there!

I'm tired of the cold--I had to walk between buildings at work a few times today and nearly froze to death! It would not have surprised me at all to see some snow falling instead of rain but I guess it wasn't quite that cold! I guess the cold weather is good practice though, I have to go to Cleveland next week to see the family for the holidays and I'm sure it'll be worse there!

DSS is taking great delight listening to us talk about the cold - he's in T-shirts and threatening to wear shorts! Cheeky brat. :-)

What a story, Kaper. I am so glad that family is alright! I remember when my car was hit. I was in such shock. A good Samaritan helped me too. Called my husband also while the ambulance came. You were a Godsend!

I just got in from covering all my tropicals. I cannot believe how many I have. Plus my hoophouse is now stuffed. You cannot even walk on my front porch. My husband is not too happy because his hummingbird feeder is halfway down and it will be almost impossible to reach it to refill it. And he can no longer watch all the hummers from the couch anymore. All you see are plants right up to the windows.

It is supposed to get down to 32 or 31 tonight depending on the weather site. I think my plants will still be OK but I covered things anyway. If it rains I am in big trouble. I used sheets, frost cover, blankets and sheets. Whatever I had. I left all my $200 variegated clivia out on the back porch, which I am rethinking as I type. LOL I may run out there and bring them in. I would be so unhappy if they all got frosted.

Sue, I would think it is warmer where the grandkids are now than when they lived in Canada. They must be used to all that cold. The pictures are so pretty. I may drive to Mount Diablo this week just to see the snow. I am hoping Tom will take a day off to play in the snow.

Doss, how cold does it get in Stanford?

I think we should all move in with Kaper for the winter! I love San Diego! And she is in zone 10 B. Think of all the tropicals we can grow. How hot does it get there in the summer, Kaper?

Singing Wolf, I will have to look where Menifee is. Here is a pic of a garden around here who covers their succulents all winter long like this. It helps they have a staff. LOL

Kell, where they lived just north of Vancouver was a zone 8. They were right on the coast, a few blocks from the beach, which of course, makes for a bit warmer weather than inland and higher elevations. They are now more like a zone 7-8

Kell--you might want to rethink Mt. Diablo, I saw on the news tonight how they weren't letting people drive up to the top, they make you park at the ranger station that's 4 miles from the top and if you want to see the snow you have to walk uphill at least a couple of miles to get to where there's snow. They were showing pics of snow in the Santa Cruz mountains that looked a little more accessible so you might try there instead!

Well forget that then, Liz. I would have a heart attack walking uphill.

Oh Sue, I so remember lots of snow pics of your family in Canada. Am I imaging them? I so want to go visit Vancouver!

Looking out, my brug trees have leaves that look a bit wilted but not brown so perhaps frosted a bit. The sun is shining but Weather Underground says it is still 34 degrees out there. What is the frost temp? 32?

I am off to lunch with a friend soon so I need to go take off all my sheets/towels/blankets and survey the damage. I hope last night was the only frosty night. Last year I had none and the year before only 1.

I hope everyone else got thru OK!

Vancouver is wonderful! They're in a banana belt due to the Japanese Current and there are some great arboretums there. I think I could live there quite easily.

Any snow pics I had of Canada were taken when visiting friends inland, about a 4 hr drive from Vancouver. Vancouver does get it but not that much and it doesn't usually last long.
I have a bit of frost on the front lawn right now but not that bad. Nothing looks damaged except maybe my 2 bananas don't look too happy and I don't cover anything, just moved my succulent pots under the patio cover and along the eaves of the house. I found that more extreme damage is more likely to happen here with several extended frosty nights like what we had 2 years ago.

This message was edited Dec 17, 2008 9:47 AM

According to my outdoor thermometer, it didn't really get that much colder than usual last night--I've already had 4-5 nights in the last couple weeks where it was reading 29-30 as the lowest overnight temp, and today it was showing 28. I was expecting worse since my temps are usually several degrees lower than what they forecast, but last night was right on!

Wow! Two days of rainy weather keeps us indoors. I get a touch of a fever from going out in the rain in weather and you all get real chatty! : )
Bless your heart KC. Due to our location, and the speed at which people drive, I'm often the first responder to accidents. I've been lobbying for years to make our section of road safer. It is good you were there to help the family who were in the accident. Lets just face it, most people are good people but figure that they can't do anything to help. Some are just inconsiderate, unthinking drivers. The ones that scare me most, are the parents speeding with kids in their cars to pick up their other kids. I know that you risked your own life to help them, which is why you were admonished by the cops. In good conscience though, what else could you have done. You get a MY HERO Award from ME!
What an exciting start to your DS and his girlfriends' visit to our part of the world. Let's hope the rest of their visit is memorable for other reasons! Shorts! My goodness, he has been living in Britain for how long? : )
Doss, I haven't been able to make it down to garden center due to the fever, but my make shift box covers will work until I can do better.
Kell, I'm thinking of stealing your succulent cover idea. I wish I had a magic staff, LOL! Or any staff for that matter to help get my plants covered. Am bribing kids with brownies to help out. LOL!
Kell, Menifee is located about halfway between Riverside and Escondido along the 215 Fwy Corridor. You may know where Sun City, CA is, well we were here before them, and have recently become the newest city is CA. Sun City is now officially a part of Menifee. Used to be known as the land of Wheat and Honey by the local farmers here abouts.
We sent all the helper's home, too wet for selling Christmas trees when it is pouring rain. We sit in a natural drainage, and if it doesn't freeze, Sweetwater Creek will be running.
The outside temp. was 41 degrees. Temp currently inside green house is 43, high yesterday of 55, and low last night of 45 degrees. Hear that it could snow between 1-2000 feet. If it does, I'll grab the camera and share.
The beauty of a wood stove is that it works even when the power goes out. Once you've got the stove hot, it works by radiant heat, and requires less wood. I am comfortable with the electric fireplace too. Gave up on the furnace last year when I discovered my boys were leaving their bedroom windows open because the house was too hot. DH about blew his top when he got the propane bill. : (
I figure the electric fireplace will pay for itself in two months or less. : )
Instead of using space heaters (worried about the condensation from the pool), my EB#1 believes that using a can of sterno will help heat the greenhouse. I'll have to get him to set it up since he is using ammonia to knock back the algae on the inside walls, and I can't breathe around that stuff. He is having fun dinking around in the greenhouse. I think he already has cabin fever. He helped me with the plumeria, and a couple of other things too.
Vancouver has lovely Botanic Gardens and a Butterfly House. Oh if only I could get a Vanilla Orchid. They have one at the B. fly house that has vines as big around as my leg. Lovely!
Everyone be safe and careful on the roads.
WIB,
SW

Funny weather related story: Daughter called today, my grandson did a Dumb and Dumber. Stuck his tongue on a metal pole and got stuck. Schoolmate was 'helpful' and pulled him off. Tongue is now raw & black and blue and it hurts to eat.
Kids!

"Kids!" is right! Poor little guy though. Ouch!!!!

I'm glad that you are staying toasty SW no matter how you do it.

It doesn't look as if we are going to get a freeze in my neighborhood this time round which I'm very grateful for. But it does look as if we are going to have a few wet weeks.

700,000 vehicles a day cross I-5 over the mountains between Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California, Tejon Pass. There has been 1 foot of snow over the area and all travel between LA and Bakersfield is stalled, expected to be at least overnight.

Highway 58, an oft-used bypass around the area is similarly closed, which it seems is unusual. The only way south to LA is over 101, the coastal route . . . a long drive-around {ugh}.

At 6 pm it's already down to 40 degrees in Fresno. Not sure if there is another freeze warning tonight, but with clear skies all day and our temp now, it seems likely. Brrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrr rrrr!

Am thinking about investing in one of those Amish heaters I've seen on TV. Gotta do some research.

Linda and The MopTops

My brother just sent me some nice pictures, he hiked up to Mt. Diablo this morning. I want to post a few along with his comments, I hope you enjoy them.


"Mt. Diablo at sunrise. I started my walk at the junction where the road was closed, I took the Summit Trail for about 2 miles to the peak, with an elevation gain of 1,750 feet"

"The Summit, elevation 3,849 ft. above sea level"