Rainy-Sunday Serenade With A ‘Bomb Cyclone’ Booster

October 24, 2021

Sprinkling a bit this late-afternoon Sunday here in California’s Central Valley as we await the oncoming gush of rain off maybe the biggest set of storms to hit the state in years — some forecasts call for up to 10 inches in various areas with the north supposedly getting the full blast.
Here in the Valley reportedly 1.5-to-2-inches of rain is expected, when it comes, and like all-weather systems, could be more or could be less, depending on location.
The Bay Area has already seen about 2-inches of rain with some higher elevations in the area may be up to seven inches, and it’s not going to stop any time soon: “The rain probably won’t have fully stopped until Monday evening.”

And this isn’t a dance in a wet park:

“A powerful west coast storm is likely to produce areas of heavy rain with life-threatening flash flooding, especially on burn scars, high winds, and significant waves along the coast,” the National Weather Service reported Sunday, adding that “some areas that normally do not experience flash flooding will flood”.

Drenching rain and strong winds accompanied the arrival of an “atmospheric river” — a long and wide plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific Ocean that was predicted to move south over the next few days.
The weather service’s Sacramento office warned of “potentially historic rain”.

Forecasters predict the record-breaking rainfall and strong winds will continue into Tuesday, wreaking havoc across the northern part of the state, especially in areas close to where fires burned over the last two years.

Indoor activities for the next so-many hours and hope the power doesn’t go off, or tree limbs come down around our apartment, and we just have to wait it out — while waiting, how about some rain-infected music to spice up the landscape as it shifts from desert to flood zone?

None of this “Singing In The Rain” shit for California, especially with some candy-ass umbrella:

Reality more in tune with the times:

Ingredients for this scenario via LiveScience this morning:

The term “bomb cyclone” refers to the rapid intensification process — “bombogenesis” — that forms it.
Such storms occur when pressure in the central region of the storm descend by at least 24 millibars (an atmospheric pressure measurement) in 24 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The bomb cyclone has merged with a Category 5 “atmospheric river” — giant flowing trains of moist air in the sky.
Atmospheric rivers, like hurricanes and tornadoes, are rated based on their potential for damage; a Category 5 is the strongest, or “most hazardous,” bringing the chance for gusty winds, flooding, debris flow and mudslides, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Sacramento issued numerous warnings on Sunday (Oct. 24) concerning extreme rainfall, flooding and debris flows.
In some regions, rainfall may reach into the double digits in inches.

Maybe scary, however, and freaky, our rainstorms aren’t sad and gut-clenching depressing — for instance, like poor-old Brook Benton’s flying-high misery of a “Rany Night In Georgia,” which is so bad, feels like it’s raining way-out here in California, and maybe all over the freaking world:

No ‘Taxicabs and buses passin’ through the night‘ with us — instead, flooded streets:

Infrastructure gone to shit — per The Weather Channel this afternoon:

Evacuations were ordered, roads were closed and hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity Sunday night as a powerful storm roared across parts of California and the Pacific Northwest.

The weather brought the threat of potentially deadly landslides and flooding.

The risk is particularly high in terrain left barren by wildfires, which is vulnerable to flooding and an especially dangerous and fast-moving type of landslide that scientists call “debris flows.”
…
Residents in one Santa Rosa neighborhood were told to leave due to flooding.
Firefighters went door to door in water rescue gear and an apartment complex was evacuated, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Resident Todd Everett, 61, told the newspaper a usually “sleepy neighborhood creek” turned into “a roaring river.”
Everett said he and his family moved to the area 3 years ago from Chicago.
“We escaped the blizzards of Chicago only to face the monstrous rains in the middle of the drought,” he said.

Hard to imagine, but just days ago with a dry-drought mouth, we sang this — The Temptations and “I Wish It Would Rain” and wish fulfilled::

Now here we are in sliding rockville:

Impact of all this howling shit — from The New York Times a short time ago:

The convergence of storms comes at a challenging time for California, which has been besieged by wildfires and drought, the result of extreme weather brought on by climate change.

It quickly became apparent on Sunday morning that the storm would unleash all sorts of damage, from floods to power line fires and landslides. Images of a devastating landslide on Highway 70 in Plumas County showed a deluge of rocks and vegetation that had barreled down from a mountainside and blocked the highway.

The state authorities warned that areas with burn scars, where vegetation was at least partially destroyed by a fire, could see debris flows of rushing mud, rocks or vegetation that may sound, as they phrased it, like a freight train.

And a Gene Kelly backlash — Led Zeppelin and “Fool in the Rain” with no sissy umbrella:

And finally, in the context of the NWS forecasts, rain through tomorrow — The Carpenters and “Rainy Days and Monday” with perfect timing:

Alas, not yet wet, but once again here we are…

(Illustration out front from the UN’s International Children’s Painting Competition, and found here).

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