The weather at Clear Lake has been interesting this week — not the total washout that we feared, although Tuesday was mostly rainy. The worst of the storm seems to have passed, but with a few threatening clouds lingering we’ll have to wait and see what the next couple of days brings. In the meantime, the views here in Nice, […]
On a bright Mendocino afternoon in between rainstorms we set out to explore another potential fishing spot, this one along Hwy 1 north of Jughandle (near Fort Bragg). The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue — but it was so windy and cold we could barely walk along the cliff top. According to my hiking guide book […]
As we prepared to head home from the coast last Saturday, it was already raining intermittently, with a brief hailstorm earlier in the morning just to keep things interesting. The very real possibility of running into snow in the mountains between Fort Bragg and Willitts was definitely on our minds; we had no chains, and I was glad it was […]
Northern California has seen plenty of stormy weather thus far this winter — lashing rain, roaring winds, and overnight freeze warnings. Today the sun is shining, so as I try to take advantage of the warmer temperatures and get outdoors, here’s a quick look back at some recent storm-related images from my neighborhood.
Along with the Big Guy, I was a roadside spectator for all but a couple of editions of the annual bike race known as the Amgen Tour of California between in the first edition in February 2006 and its final run in May 2019. I first shared these images from February 2009 soon after the event; Stage 1 took the riders from Davis to Lake Berryessa, then across the Vaca Mountains to Napa County, eventually crossing the finish line in Santa Rosa — a total of 115.9 miles. Two days before the race, Friday, the Big Guy and I drove from Sacramento to Napa to scope everything out and pick a good place to watch. We drove past the first of two King of the Mountains checkpoints, near the Monticello Dam at Lake Berryessa. After accidentally taking the wrong road, we passed through Angwin and came over Howell Mountain, the location of the second KOM, driving in the opposite direction of the race route, then down into Pope Valley. We didn’t drive the race route along the western shore of Berryessa, but we did see some pretty sites on our way back to Route 128. On Sunday, we knew exactly where we wanted to go. And despite the crazy weather we bundled up and made the trip back over to Napa. Narrow bridge near Pope Valley Somerston Vineyards Not part of the peloton! Actually, on race day the wind didn’t […]
One recent experience I won’t forget for awhile happened on the first leg of our return trip to Northern California from the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. It was the end of July, and Texas, much like California, had been in a drought for some time. The weather during our stay was relentlessly hot and fairly muggy. So when we […]
Here in Northern California, we’ve had quite a lot of snowfall in the Sierra Nevada this week. It might just be enough to merit an additional snow survey later this month, but I’m not sure how much impact it’s going to have on the overall poor outlook for our current year. In this 2011 episode of Visiting, Huell takes a […]
Near Anchor Bay, Mendocino County, November 2021.
Even though our recent trip to Clear Lake was only three days long, we experienced so many different kinds of weather it made for a very memorable time. The day we arrived was windy, with dark clouds threatening — not exactly ideal for a fishing trip. It rained off and on all night, and we woke to yet more black […]