During Tonight’s Lunar Eclipse, the Moon will turn into “A Reddish Ball”
We hesitate to ever recommend getting out of bed in the wee hours of a cold winter night to go outside and look up at the sky.
But everything we hear and read about the total eclipse of the moon that’s going to be visible across all of North America starting around 1:30 a.m. ET (and lasting until about 5 a.m. ET) suggests it’s going to be one of those celestial events that are worth checking out.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather & Snowpack Report. Update. 12/20/10. 14:00
Weather
The very moist airmass is still funneling copious amounts of moisture into the western mountains of Colorado and should continue through mid week, so expect heavy snowfall above 9,000 feet and rain/snow mix at lower elevations because of the warm temps associated with this Pacific storm system. A surface cold front is moving into the area today from the north and could change this especially on the north side of the San Juans. High winds and the potential for good snowfall are still anticipated.
Currently in Silverton: Snowing S-1 (1/2″/hr); HN24 - a dense 4.5″/.625″ !; Winds SW 20′s Gusty; Temp a warm 33F.
Current on Passes: Most snow is occurring south of RMP. Molas Coal Bank plows reporting increasing precip rates with 8″ overnight (this may not include a late afternoon reading of 3.5″, so total may be up to 11+ inches. RMP reports light snow with about 4″ accumulation (with an afternoon reading we may be up to 7″-8″). RMP north to the Gorge seeing only very light snow and light accumulations. SH
Snowpack
The Avalanche Danger has gone to HIGH above TL in the lee areas of SW winds N-NW-E. All other aspects are rated as CONSIDERABLE. All of these ratings will only go higher with additional wind/snow.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Report. 12/19/10 19:00
Weather
The NWS in Grand Junction put out a bold forecast this afternoon “SIMPLE FORECAST MESSAGE TODAY…SNOWFALL IN THE HIGH COUNTRY WILL BECOME PHENOMENAL WITH EXTREME SNOW TOTALS PERHAPS 6 FEET……”
Because of the large low pressure center off the BC coast pulling in the impressive moisture plume from the Pacific maybe the NWS forecast isn’t so bold.. This storm looks juicy and sustained, possibly lasting through Tuesday into Wednesday. RMP has already done well today and when the storm starts to kick in later tomorrow (Sunday) all bets are off. I would imagine the highway forecasters will be earning their $ pulling an “all-nighter” and if we see sustained precip rates of 2″ or more per hour there will be a natural avalanche cycle that will surely close Hwy 550 and other mountain passes.
NWS “DEEP ONSHORE FLOW FROM THE PACIFIC WILL POUND THE WRN SLOPE ROCKIES WITH INTENSE AND CONTINUOUS SNOW…NEARLY HAVING THE SAME CHARACTERISTICS OF SIERRA CEMENT.”
The southern San Juan will be favored with the Sunday night through Monday storm with models calling for between 2-6 feet of snow. So much for La Nina.
Snowpack
After yesterday and today’s snow and wind the Avalanche Danger has gone to CONSIDERABLE above TL on N-NE-E facing slopes and MODERATE below TL on all aspects. With the impending storm, anticipate rising avalanche danger with copious snow amounts and good storm winds.
WEATHER UPDATE 12/19/10 12:00
SH
Pondering a Polar Predator in Retreat
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/pondering-a-polar-predator-in-retreat/
I mean consider how this species, a newcomer by evolutionary time scales, had become finely tuned to sustaining itself on seals hunted on sea ice, had been ravaged by uncontrolled hunting, had started recovering as such hunting was controlled, but now — along the warmest edges of its habitat — is in retreat as its main food supply is diminished at least partly by global warming from accumulating greenhouse gases.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Report. 12/17/10. 12:00
Weather
We’ll see a brief clearing early today with increasing clouds and potential “significant” snow for the mountains of Colorado beginning late today and through the weekend but more likely into mid-week (Tuesday/Wednesday). The impressive moisture fetch is stretched west of Hawaii and will stream onto the continent on zonal flow with a slight SW flavor in the beginning.
The NWS is calling it “a impressive moisture surge pushing into the Great Basin this morning.” and “this surge will also bring a significant increase of snowpack to the below average southern mountains.”
I’m not blowing the horn, but by the time the faucet gets shut off, the mountains favored by zonal flow (western San Juans and others) could see some big snow fall. The jet, good orographic lift and the large moisture plume all will conspire for a good series of storms with Sunday and Monday looking to have the most potential. Stay tuned…
Snowpack
As anyone who’s been out there knows, the snowpack is bony because of little snow and recent wind events. The overall Avalanche Danger is LOW below TL and still holding at MODERATE near & above TL. This will soon be changing with the coming storm period beginning tonight and possibly lasting into Wednesday.
SNOW TOTAL UPDATE December 18, 2010 11:30
HN24/H2O Snow totals since the 16th-HN/H2O
Monument 4.5″/0.2″ 9” /0.55”
RMP 8″/0.35″ 16.5” /0.8”
Molas 7.5″/0.4″ 13.5” /0.75”
Coal Bank 9.5″/0.5″ 19” /1.1”
MG
Mark Twain’s Riverboat Ramblings
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/books/review/Keillor-t.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
Samuel L. Clemens was a cheerful promoter of himself, and even after he’d retired from the lecture circuit, the old man liked to dress up as Mark Twain in a fresh white suit and take a Sunday morning stroll up Fifth Avenue just as churches were letting out and see the heads turn and hear his name murmured, the crowds of Presbyterians and Episcopalians standing awe-struck as the most beloved mustache in America passed by, tipping his silk hat to the ladies. Mr. Twain’s autobiography was meant to be a last stroll around the block, and to build up suspense and improve sales, Sam told everybody that he was writing one and that it contained material so explosive it would need to be embargoed for a hundred years. That century has passed now and here it is, Volume 1 of “The Complete Authentic Unexpurgated Edition, Nothing Has Been Omitted, Not Even Scandalous Passages Likely to Cause Grown Men to Gasp and Women to Collapse in Tear
True Romance – ‘So You’re Sicilian huh?’
I love that the majority of the people posting comments miss the entire *bleeping* point of the scene, which is that Hopper’s character was DELIBERATELY MESSING with Walken’s character…because 1) he knew he was gonna die anyway and 2) he wanted to mock his belief that he was a human lie detector. It has nothing to do with race or “facts,” per se, but more to do with him giving Walken’s character the finger with his words. Comment.
Great use of lighting (low) to create one of the “classic scenes” in film.. Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper really captured something.. JR
QUOTE OF THE CENTURY. ‘Cool Hand Luke’
“What we got here is… failure to communicate.” Captain, Road Prison 36.
Long Wait May Be Over For Science Guidelines
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/17/132123816/long-wait-may-be-over-for-science-guidelines
Long-awaited guidelines ordered by President Obama last year to prevent government research from being altered or suppressed for political purposes so the integrity of government scientists can be protected could be released as early as Friday.
The New Literary Stars of Spain and Latin America-”Listen”
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/17/132115006/the-new-literary-stars-of-spain-and-latin-america
The prestigious literary magazine Granta, based in London, has been anointing the best new writers for decades, often predicting some of the world’s biggest names (they discovered a new writer on the scene named Salman Rushdie, for example). But for the winter issue this year, the editors turned away from Britain and America and to Spain and Latin America, choosing to dedicate an issue to the best new writing emerging from the Spanish-speaking world.
A Grolar Bear? The Perils of Shrinking Arctic Ice
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/a-grolar-bear-the-perils-of-shrinking-arctic-ice/
Shrinking ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean could be promoting breeding between different species, creating hybrid whales and bears, according to a paper published on Thursday in the journal Nature.
As global temperatures rise, scientists have noted that sea ice in the Arctic is getting thinner. They expect that by midcentury, a passage through the ice sheet will be available for at least one month each summer.
Post-Katrina, Music Still Thrives In New Orleans
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129495400
Hurricane Katrina dealt musicians in New Orleans a temporary blow, but DJ David Kunian — host of The Kitchen Sink at New Orleans community radio station WWOZ — says not only is the music back on track, but that 2010 has been a banner year.
READ MORE
Five Years On, New Orleans Musicians Still Struggling Aug. 27, 2010
John Hiatt And Robert Earl Keen On World Cafe
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126143232
Now in its third year, the Cayamo Cruise is basically a concert at sea: a weeklong cruise through the Caribbean with a crew of musicians on board to provide entertainment. WXPN was there for this year’s cruise in February to capture some of the nautical performances, including those by John Hiatt and Robert Earl Keen.
THE 10th ANNUAL YEAR IN IDEAS
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/19/magazine/ideas2010.html
For the 10th consecutive December, the magazine has chosen to look back on the past year through a distinctive prism: ideas.
Our digest of short entries refracts the light beam of human inspiration, breaking it up into its constituent colors — innovations and insights from a spectrum of fields, including economics, biology, engineering, medicine, literature, sports, music and, of course, raw-meat clothing. Happy thinking!
The Coen Brothers Talk True Grit
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/12/the-coen-brothers-talk-true-grit.html
Since the release of its electrifying trailers, True Grit has been one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year. The Coen brothers long ago ascended from enfants quirkee of indie cinema to preeminent filmmakers of their generation, and their take on a Western promised an intriguing cinematic proposition—as well as an instant Oscar contender. Given their penchant for existential endings (see: No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man), you might have expected the Brothers Coen to subvert the genre, like they subvert everything else, and turn in another disquisition on the cosmic arbitrariness of life. Instead, just when you expect a curveball, they throw a 99-M.P.H. fastball right over the plate. Judging from their reactions, critics and bloggers expecting No Country for Old Men 2: Old Timey Edition were slightly flummoxed after the first screenings.True Grit turned out to be a beautiful and soul-satisfying old-fashioned adventure story, one that lulls you in with laughter and goofy charm before it sneaks up and smacks you upside the head with its potent, poetic lyricism.
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
http://www.flixxy.com/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes.htm
In New Film, Spalding Gray Tells His Own Tale
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/14/132060862/In-New-Film-Spalding-Gray-Tells-His-Own-Tale
And Everything Is Going Fine, the new film from Steven Soderbergh, is a documentary about the late Spalding Gray. But it’s not a typical documentary — there are no “heads” talking about Gray. As Soderbergh puts it, Gray was the best talker of them all. So the film is just him: performances, interviews, home movies — all from the Gray archive.
Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks In Concert-World Cafe Live
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102934873
April 10, 2009 from WXPN - Singer-songwriter Dan Hicks is an American original: Since the early ’60s, he’s blended swing, jazz, folk and country music to create a sound he calls “folk jazz.” Click the link above to hear Hicks and his band The Hot Licks perform live in concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.
At 66, Hicks reconvened The Hot Licks to record the new album Tangled Tales, which features the swirling mix of genres that’s become the frontman’s trademark — and also includes guest appearances by the likes of David Grisman and Roy Rogers. The resulting concoction is knee-bobbingly rhythmic assortment of originals and covers.
Pablo Neruda and His Mailman, This Time Sung
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/arts/15iht-loomis15.html?ref=global-home
The world premiere of Mr. Catán’s new opera “Il Postino,” based on the 1994 film by Michael Radford, won positive reviews at the Los Angeles Opera in September, but critical reaction to its European premiere at the Theater an der Wien here last week was more varied. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called it “a triumph,“ but Die Presse found that the story, about the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and his unlikely mentoring of a young mailman, was “smothered in operatic sugar-icing.” The word “kitsch” cropped up in more than one review.
From Trenches to T-Shirts: The Ubiquity of Che, and more Iconic Cuba
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/
On the one hand, Che “merch” is just silly. But on the other, the ubiquity of his face is a testament to the power of a photograph. The Argentina-born Guevara, who was once an international symbol of revolution, has become both a pop culture icon and the mascot for an elusive idea of counterculture. And that famous portrait, according to Brian Wallis, chief curator at the International Center of Photography, “has become the most reproduced picture in the world at this point.”
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW True to ‘True Grit’
Charles Portis, a novelist from Arkansas who politely declines to promote himself or his work, is best known as the author of “True Grit.” Portis’s characters have a self-conscious manner, a homespun formality of speech, that comes from the effort to inhabit grandiose roles: lone avenger on a quest; nefarious outlaw; besieged moral exemplar. If that sounds like a description of Cormac McCarthy’s characters, the great difference is that Portis finds comedy in the aspiration to heroism, and his characters are forever plagued by a suspicion of their own ridiculousness. You can see why Joel and Ethan Coen, having adapted McCarthy’s grim “No Country for Old Men,” moved on to “True Grit,” which opens this month. For one thing, they like to make funny movies.
Why We Might Fight, 2011 Edition- “Something new to think about.” JR
Rare minerals. Food and water. Arable soil. Air-cleansing forests.
In the intellectual heart of the American military and policy-making world, these are emerging not just as environmental issues, but as the potential stuff of conflict in the 21st century.
Jr’s San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Report 12/14/10 10:00
Weather
Today will be warm with above seasonal temperatures, but with increasing clouds and breezy conditions as the day progresses. A very large upper low spinning off the BC coast is ejecting a cold front on the NW coast this morning that will be spreading into the Great Basin and move into western Colorado probably by mid-day Wednesday.
The northern & central Colorado mountains will be favored early and then as the system sags south, slows and hopefully stalls the northern San Juans will see rain/snow mix in the valley’s and snow flurries above 8,000′ by Wednesday/Wednesday night. Also the southern 1/2 of the San Juans could see a good shot (8-10″) from this first system with jet support as the flow turns southwest late Wed. night.
If the cold front stalls we will see precipitation throughout the day Thursday, winding down by Thursday evening. A partial clearing Thursday night and Friday with flat ridging then zonal flow develops with a moisture tap all the way past the Hawaiian islands that will bring a series short waves into the area with potential heavy snowfall through the weekend. However! Warm temperatures associated with the Pacific disturbances could also limit snow crystal formation and be a storm killer. It’s anybody’s guess, start reading the cocoa leaves.
Snowpack
The Avalanche Danger rests at MODERATE above TL on all aspects and LOW below TL on the sunny exposures SE-S-SW. But you know there are always pockets of surprises in all zones and aspects of various danger ratings if you are looking for them. Today any snow available for transport will be with increasing NW winds so the Danger could be increasing in the lee areas of the various wind directions. Of course there really is no prevailing wind direction in the mountains because of terrain features that create their own scene.
Ann Mellick reported: ”In the backcountry, a southeast to south facing path (Riley Boy/Imogene) just above treeline ran naturally Saturday morning. Cross-loaded snow filled it back in, and it ran again Sunday morning. There were no new reports of avalanche activity from Monday, but the conditions that produced the activity over the weekend are still present. Observers report that avalanches are not flushing out an icy crust near the ground when they run, and re-loading reruns could be a problem for much of the winter.”
With the next storm systems the Danger will be changing so stay tuned and as always BE Careful! Remember “experience”, according to a friend of mine “is a really a series of non-fatal errors.” Thank you Mike Friedman
Jerry Roberts
