Rain and cold this late Tuesday afternoon on California’s north coast — after earlier appearing to be disappearing, our current storm system made a chilled, wet re-appearance a little while ago, popping moisture pellets off the back patio. And quick-snap, winter’s first inhospitable tickle.
Just rain so far in my neck of the shoreline, but supposedly snow-levels could drop to 1,500 feet, and create hazardous driving conditions in some eastward places.

According to a bulletin this afternoon from the NWS we now could get some hail showers tonight, though considered ‘small’ in size, still makes it shitty on the road. The weather service counseled motorists mainly just to use some way-common sense — including sage advice on a most-critical maneuver/anti-maneuver while driving on an icy highway, which I’ve always consider frightfully-vital, but easier-said-than-done: ‘…try to avoid overcorrecting…’

(Illustration found here).

Any observant asshole could apply that to a shitload of stuff. In icy weather, keep your shit together.

In approaching our drought, we need the rain, but we really do need the snow to help replenish our reservoirs, especially up here in northern California. We’re supposedly to get some decent snow fall this week — from the LA Times yesterday afternoon:

Nearly 20 inches of snow could fall on the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite National Park to north of Lake Tahoe this week.
Drivers could find blocked and buried mountain passes this Thanksgiving holiday, authorities warned.
…
In an indirect way, this storm and the one that preceded it two weeks ago are symptoms of the upcoming El Niño, experts say.
Though these storms originated in the Gulf of Alaska, the fact they reached Northern California with so much snow indicates El Niño’s water-warming influence has reduced the high pressure system that usually deflects them, said Bill Patzert, climatologist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.
This is the earliest the ski resorts have been opened in many years…. They rarely open before Thanksgiving,” he said.
The snow’s effect on the state’s drought is negligible this early in the year, experts say.
Snowpack isn’t calculated until January at the earliest and it’s the powder that melts through the spring and feeds the state’s reservoirs that will make the difference.

Over-correct the reservoirs…