Its supposed to rain tomorrow between 9:00 am and noon.
Got assigned a big job at the meeting today. We are about 2/3ds done with it today so tomorrow (probably during the rain) we will have to finish it. It is an outdoor sport that has to be done before the other people can do their job. Both of us are pooped and feel like it was one of the wild animals around here that did a job on us .
Been down here for a few days now. Rain, rain, 30 seconds of the sun start to burn through the clouds but then the clouds formed up thick again. Then heavy clouds but w/no rain, rain, rain, HEAVY RAIN, rain, etc.! 100% rain today then down to 90% rain tomorrow. Rain for the rest of the week is forecast.
We almost got into a wreck when just coming out of the Elk preserve area and just reaching the top of the hill a doe suddenly come out from the side of the road and sprinted in front of us. I missed her by less than 10 feet before she suddenly hooked to the left across the oncoming lane and into the woods. Geeez!, that was close!
I was telling someone about it and one of the guys standing there started telling us about one of the Sheriffs' had to impound an Elk from a new to the area family. Apparently they had hit the Elk on the road by the reserve and were loading the corpse into their car. No... not legal and he had a hard time convincing them that they could not take the Elk. I understand that there is a new law coming up making it legal to do that but you need to be sure what I was told is true.
The road between Elkton and Scottsdale still has two temporary stop lights in place to make the one open lane to work for two directions (bridge rebuilds) so be careful, especially if it is raining or fog/low clouds are in the mix.
The weather guessers are forecasting that the rain will continue until at least next Wednesday. I think I saw a fish swimming across the road yesterday . One can see medium high clouds through the breaks in the low clouds under them. Rain, rain, rain! We did see one quad on the dunes as we went into town yesterday, the sand has to be very "heavy" (wet!) with all the rain that has fallen lately. I think the trains are wearing "noodles" to keep their heads above the water.
A series of storms came through last night and more are expected today. Thunder boomers that sounded almost like a train coming down the tracks but the rumble lasted longer than one would expect. No light could be seen so they were probably sheet lightening not forked lightening. Its weird to see sheet lightning when it is snowing out!
At about 5:30 am we had what we think is a micro burst come through just as one windy time was dropping and broke a large limb off one of the 89+ foot Spruce trees and landed on the roof. Scared the pudding out of us! We get the microbursts every so often and there is damage done very quickly.
It is getting light out now so we can now see a bit of the branch and it is over 10' long. We are worried about it landing butt first or end first as the butt end could dig into the roofing material.
Another front is coming in from the WSW and it is very dark grey and the wind is coming up again. North of us one can see the same front coming in.
More thunder and lighting is expected today so if you are going to come down check the weather. With all the rain lately the sand has to be very heavy.
We got the falling limb mess here cleaned up. The branch that fell was somewhere between 15 and 20 feet long. Not sure if there is damage but if there is its not obvious.
We did take a trip into town and on the way we took a detour through the Horsfall camp ground. No campers but when we went around the loop we did get about 20 feet from a Doe and her two yearlings feeding in the campground. We then went to the end of the road: the dunes are pretty much underwater most of the way to the end of the road. At the end parking lot two of the group went up and looked at the shipwreck that has been there since the early 1900s. They said that you could see the top 3' of so of what is left of the ship.
The small weather fronts kept coming through which range from light rain to "where the heck are we" as the wipers would not keep up. Just as we got back it started to hail.
We also noticed that while we were gone one of the neighbors had one of those tall trees like we have fall. Not sure if it was wind, too much water had fallen or a combination of the two. At least is wasn't one of ours for us to clean up.
Left the coast this am. Was off and on misty and rainy until just before Elkton then things got clear, but overcast heading North. Saw quite a few elk deep in the protected area by Reedsport. They were laying in the tall grass enjoying the rain sprinkles.
Check the weather before you head down as there is a series of weather fronts come in including a "pineapple express"; e.g., a warm weather front.
Got up at 4:00 am to get a head start on the traffic through Seattle yesterday AM. It was our turn to make the 400 mile trip do the maintenance. On the road just after 5:00 am and made it safely though the Seattle to Olympic traffic jam. Just below Chehalis and to Kelso we ran into freezing rain and just missed a light snow which was still along the roadway. The temps were in the mid to low 30s.
Got through Portland by staying on I-5 as it was less plugged than 405 was; the temps were rising. The two bridge repairs are still in progress and the stop lights are working; this was just before getting to Scottsburg. We got to the coast just before noon; the sun was burning off the last of the onshore flow so the blue sky was a very light hazy blue. On HWY 101 there is a 24-hour flagger and several hundred feet of road work going on. This is just as you get to the bottom of the hill just before Tuggman state park so be careful as the flagger is not easily seen as he/she blends in with the dark tree lined background.
We saw several campers with trailer heading home and when we got to the dunes there were several quads out tearing the place up but then they soon disappeared.
Sun was out and is supposed to today also but the onshore hasn't burned off yet. Tomorrow, the last I saw, is supposed to cloud up the Wednesday rain again through Sunday then clear up again.
Woke up this am and it looked like it was going to rain so we got out early and got with it.
Heard some big engine noise out on the dunes then that went away but later on it was quads with loud exhausts tearing things up. Couldn't tell if the big engine noise was V8 and/or other things but they did sound powerful. Got quiet for a while then is it starting back up again.
The sun is out but the clouds are coming in. More white than gray but that is to come. The forecast is now sun, clouds and rain for the next two days then rain over the weekend.
Unless you are looking for a cheap sand blast job I would not come to the dunes this weekend.
A strong wind warning for SW WA coast to the lower Cascade mountains and the OR coast starting tomorrow evening and through Saturday afternoon has been issued. Strong winds means up to 30 mph plus they are saying that depending on where you will be wind speeds up to 58 (-ish) mph can happen (-ish means +/- in this case).
Even at 30 mph you might be dodging broken tree branches and the "above" can mean trees down and this is a heavily tree'd area even on parts of the dunes. Also, in some places flowing water off hills can happen.
The storm may be changing directions so it may not be as bad as the WEATHER WARNING was saying but it still could change... or not change and still be having wind gusts in the 55 to 65 mph range Friday night through Saturday AM.
The storm came in later than expected and higher up the coast which storms often do (Ma Nature thinks she has a sense of humor ). We got into the high winds just south of Salem and then the heavy rain further up north. All the way to Seattle and above. I am sure the east coast and Mid-west have been getting the worse of it but it was a fight driving most of the way home with the I-205 bridge going across the Columbia River from OR to WA being about the worst of it by far).
After getting home I heard that this storm front ran as low as southern CA and as far north as into Canada. The weather this year is so weird that our flowers and trees are more than a month behind normal in flowering and budding.
The storm kinda skated by us this weekend. Warren and I were at the SNORE race at Ridgecrest, which is east of the Sierras, a little south of Mt Whitney. Windy (gusting into the 50s or so), but not as bad as the same race weekend as last year. Cool as well, but got warm enough that I wore shorts all weekend. We could see rainbows Saturday along the Sierras and out over the edge of the desert during the race. Up into the low 80s this afternoon (Monday) though and pretty calm.
Richard
Lake LA, Mojave Desert, SoCal
Speed Kills! but then...So does OLD AGE!!
Tech Inspection: SCCA / SCORE / HDRA / ARVRA / A.R.T.S. OffRoad Race Tech - MDR, MORE, Glen Helen BajaCup
Retired Fabricator
'58 Baja with 955K Miles and counting
that has to be done before the other people can do their job. Both of us are pooped and feel like it was one of the wild animals around here that did a job on us 
