My new favorite website is displayed directly under this Appleworks page. It’s a live webcam from Ahwanee Meadow, aimed directly at Half Dome in Yosemite. Although this webcam image is in color, there is no color displayed right now. There is the white, snowy meadow just below the pine forest at the base of the granite monument. The top of Half Dome itself is completely obscured by a thick blanket of grayish clouds. It will be snowing at the top shortly I’m sure. The temperature there is 38 degrees at Yosemite Village. It’s much colder farther up the mountain, 27 degrees and snowing according to the webcam broadcasting images from there. This is a photo I took from the Ahwahnee Meadow area last Spring. Click here to see the same view from that live webcam.
I never really used to care about the weather forecast growing up in Southern California. The San Fernando Valley is really a moderate desert, not too hot or too cold. The temperate climate of the L.A. basin rarely gets very extreme in either direction. Winters can get a bit rainy as the Pacific Ocean is right over the Santa Monica Mountains from where I grew up. Summers are mild, but can get hot on occasion. We were raised in a house with a swimming pool. The Mojave Desert proper is just a half hour drive or so east.But, living up here in the Central Valley of Northern California, I’ve just become more aware of what mother nature has in store for us. San Francisco is just 70 miles west of here. Lake Tahoe is 150 miles northeast. The Sierra Nevada itself...only a hour or so east. So, I’m more aware of the weather forecast now. Not that the forecast is ever very accurate. The T.V. weather people around here tend to predict rain and snow much more than it actually happens. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose.
They closed Highways 80 and 50 last night for a few hours during the worst of that storm. Those are the roads leading to Tahoe and Reno, up and over the summit. Truckers, and skiers, and commuters either turned back toward Sacramento, or spent the night in their vehicles on the side of the road. Cal Trans managed to get those thoroughfares open again in short order...life went on through the mountain passes. The storm that is passing over us here in the valley this afternoon will reach the mountains by tonight. The ski resorts are elated about the new snow, although none of them were able to open yesterday because of the severity of the snow storm...white-out conditions, road closures, etc.
So, I’m checking the extended forecast for Yosemite Village the next few days. They’re expecting a few days of rain down in the valley, snow on the peaks. Next week, it is supposed to clear up, giving way to cloudy skies with high temperatures in the mid-60’s in Yosemite. It’s open to vehicle traffic all year, except during severe storms. Loretta and I will plan a day trip there on Monday. We haven’t been there since last Spring.
In the meantime, I check the live webcams for Yosemite most every day now. It’s very surreal looking at real time, live images from Ansel Adam’s stomping ground. I can’t imagine what he must have had to endure getting his photographs in the 1920’s. Our journey in the Grand Cherokee will be much easier...and faster.
It’s raining now. This brief period of blue skies and high, billowy clouds has ended for the time being. Our little Boxer, Lucy, and our long and lanky Greyhound, Sammy are sleeping on our bed just a few feet away. They don’t care about the weather today...or what it will be like on Monday in Yosemite. All our dogs do require a bit more persuasion to go outside when it’s too cold, or too wet, or too hot outside. That’s just the way we raised them. They’re spoiled. Just like we are.
If I had to choose between Winter and Summer...I would probably choose Winter here in the San Joaquin Valley. It’s much easier to get warm when it’s cold outside, then to get cool when it’s sweltering. When we finally make a move back to the coast, Monterey or San Francisco our locales of choice...Summers will be preferred. It’s always mild, and mostly sunny near the Northern California coast that time of year.
That reminds me, I should give a look to that Monterey Bay Aquarium webcam as well. They have them everywhere!
