Coldwater Hurricane

Posted on November 22, 2004 in Weather

The powerful winds have stopped whipping our faces. The gardeners are out with their leaf blowers, wood chippers, rakes, and brooms picking up the storm scatter. I went outside to take this picture and then examined the animated satellite imagery. Contrary to the usual pattern, the clouds are advancing towards me in this picture, having originated in the Gulf of California, worked their way over Arizona to Utah, and then crossed the Mojave Desert to leap over the Orange and back down the coast to Baja where the whole show started in the first place.

It looks like a coldwater hurricane.

The snow got down to the 3000 foot level. Perhaps tomorrow I will attempt to approach it via the Harding Trail.

You can compare the scene to this picture.