This is my one of my dry riverbeds. (The other one is in the front garden.)
I proudly carried each and every rock and placed them with loving intention.
It’s not so dry now! Yesterday’s relentless rain had other ideas.
Rainy Rocky Vibes
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Tag Archives: rain
First Full Moon of 2023 and BIG Surf!
Tonight, this full wolf moon occurs with the sun in Capricorn opposite the moon in Cancer. The full moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfilling intentions set during the new moon.
The Pineapple Express, atmospheric river rain event here in California is over for now, although more wet weather is forecasted for next week.
There was talk of waves of up to sixteen feet for today, so I went down to the beach but here in Carlsbad, they were only about six to eight feet.
This morning:
A lifeguard told me there had been no rescues here, but further south in Cardiff, waves were definitely in the twelve foot range, with high surf expected again next week with the next storm.
It was super crowded; lots of people not only with cameras for pics and video, but to take advantage of the healing power of a little vitamin sea and abundant sunshine!
A Stormy Start to 2023
SoCal didn’t receive as much rain as they did up north, but we still had an impressive amount of sky water during our recent storm.
Northern California saw a historic nearly six inches of rain while we had two inches over the weekend with more forecasted this week. That’s a LOT in a short period of time, due to a phenomenon called an atmospheric river.
An atmospheric river is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Other names for this phenomenon are tropical plume, tropical connection, moisture plume, water vapor surge, and cloud band. Wikipedia
During a brief dry period, we checked out the big windy waves. Fresh air feels so purifying and cleansing. A walk on the beach is a great way to start a new year!
Sand, sun, clouds, waves, even some blue sky.
And just like that, it began to rain again.
Check out this video…it was super windy, too!
An Uphill Climb
We had rain, hardly enough to do anything but wet the street and sidewalk. After, the sky was painted with spectacular clouds and bonus moon sightings!
At the lagoon.
After the lagoon, walking up the hill, homeward bound.
#WordlessWednesday
Before the Rain | After: Petrichor
This is what it looked like before a brief thunderstorm delighted all of us in SoCal.
It sounded as if someone was throwing around trash cans on the side of the house so I went out to look, and realized it was thunder! That’s an example of how novel an experience a thunder and lightening storm is for us.
We haven’t had rain in such a long time and it smells fresh right now, exactly the definition of the word petrichor.
Petrichor is the term coined in 1964 by Australian scientists to describe the unique, earthy smell associated with rain. It’s said to be caused by the water from rain, along with certain compounds like ozone, geosmin, and plant oils.
(https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/students/highschool/chemistryclubs/infographics/petrichor-the-smell-of-rain.pdf)
It looks like a bit more rain might visit us in the next few days. We’re excited to fill up our rain barrels and receive the bounty of Mother Nature.
The Sky Above
According to the weather report, showers are likely, mainly after 11pm. Today will be mostly cloudy with a 60% chance of precipitation. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch are possible.
That doesn’t sound like very much rain but it will be welcomed in this very dry March.
I looked up to see a sky full of clouds that look like something my grandma would have crocheted, a dresser scarf or table doily, two things nobody really decorates with anymore. I have layers of them in the cedar chest, nestled between sheets of perfumed tissue paper.
Stay Safe, Yellow Butterfly
Gale force winds, tree limbs down in the garden, neighbor’s pool toys are in my yard, umbrellas broken, lights flickering, and so much RAIN I can’t go outside because it’s dangerous.
This is a perfect time to share a photo gallery of this sweet little yellow butterfly who flirted with me on Sunday afternoon.
I can’t figure out if it’s a Sleepy Orange or Southern Dogface or California Dogface, Little Yellow, Southwestern Cloudless Sulphur, or Jamaican Yellow.
Whew!
I didn’t know there were so many yellow butterflies that look quite similar! (iNaturalist Butterflies of San Diego County).
Anyway, here’s a bit of sunshine on a rainy day. I hope all butterflies and birds and coyotes and bobcats stay safe and dry.
Skyward: Tail(s) of a Mare
Mares’ tails are my FAVORITE cloud formation.
(This led me down a grammar path: one tail as opposed to plural tails; hopefully I’m using proper syntax and punctuation.)
They’re a type of cirrus cloud known as cirrus uncinus. The name is derived from Latin and means “curly hooks”.
An old weather proverb goes, “Mares’ tails and mackerel scales make lofty ships to carry low sails.”
Cirrus uncinus clouds and patchy altocumulus clouds often mean that rain is on its way.
A mackerel sky is a common term for clouds made up of rows of cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds displaying an undulating, rippling pattern similar in appearance to fish scales. This is caused by high altitude atmospheric waves and can also signal changeable weather.
National Weather Service forecasted our region to receive about two inches of heavy rain along the coast, so everyone should prepare for the inevitable flooding and mudslides in the fireburned areas.
I wonder if the full Wolf Moon will affect the storm’s intensity or the total amounts of rainfall. I bet it will.
As above, so below.
Search for a rainbow
We’re lucky here in SoCal to have had a couple days of cleansing rain and it’s supposed to continue all day, but there was a break in the storm so I took the opportunity to go for a walk in search of a rainbow.
I didn’t see one, but I’m not disappointed because the sky and the clouds were magnificent.
I’ve been listening to different versions of this song, Feeling Good. Which one do you like best?
Sammy or Simone? I can’t choose.
Rain and sun, wet and dry, shadow and light
The opposite of rain is sun. It rained all week here in SoCal, heavily at times. We received an official total of 6.20 inches of rain. That’s a LOT of rain for a mostly desert climate.
At times, it seemed as if it would never end. That’s the way a lot of things feel. Sometimes, you can endure so much pain and sadness that it seems as if it will never go away, that you’ll never be happy again.
I think it’s like going through a tunnel. When you enter, the light becomes dark and you are so immersed in it that everywhere you look, everywhere you turn–is darkness. It’s so dark you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. Every once in a while, someone might light a candle and you feel a momentary sharp stabbing pain to remind you of what it used to be like, but then the flame’s snuffed out and you’re thrust back into complete and total darkness. Which way is the exit? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel or will I simply stay here in limbo, in pitch-black inky hopeless melancholy? What’s the point of anything?
That was a heavy detour; my mind devolved and digressed and rambled through a rabbit hole of despondency. So there’s that familiar dark night of the soul too, that black spiraling tunnel of anguish.
Maybe I hit replay too many times on Kesha’s Praying. (see link below).
All I really set out to do with this post was share some pics of how much rain we had and how flooded my gardens were, in contrast to one day later, when we enjoyed a shiny sunny blue sky.
When author Alex Banayan interviewed Maya Angelou, it is alleged that she told him to write this sentence on his notepad and to never forget it. “Every storm runs out of rain.”
I hope so. I really do.
Here ya go:
Thursday’s rain…my arroyo seco, dry river bed, wasn’t so dry anymore!
Saturday’s sun and the birds are singing:
Kesha Praying
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 