Monday, January 28, 2008

Snow in Eureka

Just a quick post with some videos from yesterday. Sorry for the way they look - when I uploaded the videos from my camera, the blog software promptly re-formatted them to a low-resolution, blurry mess. However, I think they are still good enough so that you can kind of see what's going on. Please feel free to ignore the commentary on the second video - I was on the phone with my mom at the time.

We had quite a wintry mix in Eureka today. It started off around 50 degrees this morning with lots of rain (over an inch and a half total on the day). By mid-afternoon, the temperature was in the mid- to upper-30s and we saw rain, a rain and snow mix, and some light snow flurries (with little or no rain falling). Then just before midnight, we had a heavy shower for a couple minutes that nearly covered the ground with small hail (see photos at the end of the post). We do have the possibility of more snow overnight (although it is 35 degrees right now), but I doubt there will much accumulation, if any. Too bad. Still, it's been a fun day!




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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Riverwalk

No, I'm not talking about the San Antonio riverwalk (which I think is overrated, by the way). I'm talking about the scenic walk my mom and I took yesterday down by the American River and Lake Natoma in Folsom. You can click any of the photos below for a slightly larger version.

Check out these birds' nests attached to the side of a cliff: Lone kayak:
Interesting rock formation:
Advancing cirrus clouds made for a nice one-sided sundog display:

The three main bridges in Folsom are pictured below.
a) In the foreground, the newest bridge called Lake Natoma Crossing. It was built in 2000.
b) The next one back is called Rainbow Bridge (for obvious reasons!). It has stood there since 1919.
c) The furthest bridge back (the tall one behind Rainbow Bridge) is a historic truss bridge which I think is nameless. It was originally built in this spot in 1893 and then was moved to a different part of the river in 1918. In 2000, the bridge was brought back to its original location in Folsom. Originally used for pedestrians, cattle, and small vehicles, the old bridge is now strictly for walking and biking.

See this page for more info: http://www.myfolsom.com/3bridges.shtml Looking downstream from the same location as the previous photo: This is an interesting story, especially considering my past. We found about 7 roosters just hanging out in the parking lot near a group campground. We have no idea why they were there by themselves, but they did make for some interesting photo subjects:

Squirrel on a log:
Hope you enjoyed the nice Northern California scenery. Sorry for the history lesson in there -- as a proud former Folsom resident, I think these historical tidbits of the town are important to share!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Big Pacific Surf

Check out these pictures of the surf yesterday. The buoy 3 miles off the coast of this spot showed a peak wave height of 29 feet yesterday morning. The waves washed up some pretty hefty debris, too.

Debris washed up by the waves:

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