How is the rain on the Playa this winter? Rain=Crust=Good!

brcprincess · Post by **brcprincess** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:06 am

I've been wondering how the rain is going up at the Playa this winter? I recall we had a shit crust last year due to low rainfall, making it difficult to ride our bikes.

Any word on the rainfall this year? How it is looking?

Post by **Sham** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:49 am

http://206.158.7.4/weather/gerlach.htm
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weathe ... n=USNV0033

My understanding is that this has been a fairly wet winter so far. Much of the playa is soaking wet muck. I can envision the nice smooth, shiny cracked surface that we are going to have this year. It will be a nice change from the dustbowl conditions of last year. I nearly dumped my passengers off the top of my art car driving over the dunes.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:20 am

Can someone in the Reno area confirm this weather? We've been have heatwave and drought to the west of it all, and our rain = Sierra Snowpack. I'd love it if the playa were smoothed out, but I'm not convinced by these rumors.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:22 am

W are according to the snow pack experts...at only 3/4 of where we SHOULD be for Jan. 09

and as far as rain...good luck. Its going to probably be another dune yr!

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:23 am

btw, Fishter's we should probably set you up with some Big'ol knobby's for yer 4x4 chair!

chiefdanfox · Post by **chiefdanfox** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:58 am

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/hydrology/m ... greatbasin

Post by **Elderberry** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:01 pm

Yikes! If I'm reading that chart correctly, it doesn't look like the playa is going to be any better for bikes this year--maybe even worse.

Maybe it's time to start looking into a four-wheeler.

JK

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:45 pm

It's not just the winter wetness that matters, it needs to rain in the spring too.

The heat and cloudcover throughout the year adds to the factor by drying it out more or not.

Cross your fingers...............

ebenflow · Post by **ebenflow** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:00 pm

Praying for a Spring flood on the playa!

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:26 pm

Freezing weather when the playa is wet late in winter tends to fluff up the surface.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:41 pm

pinemom wrote:btw, Fishter's we should probably set you up with some Big'ol knobby's for yer 4x4 chair!

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=26065

I think smooth and wide works best out there, unless you're racing.

Maybe we can send a bunch of folks out there with buckets to keep it all wet.

Thecatman · Post by **Thecatman** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:47 pm

December 29, 2008 Nevada Appeal (Carson City's local newspaper) weather page: Precipitation to date 5.50". Normal precipitation 10.33". Snow to date 11". Normal snow to date 5.2". Normal snow month to date 3.7". Fast forward to January 16, 2009 weather page. Precipitation to date 0.31". Normal 0.87". Snow to date 11". Normal snow year to date 10.6". Normal snow month to date 3.2". I live east of Carson City and yesterday it was 16 in the morning and was 56 in the afternoon in Reno. First time I turned the AC on in the truck at work. We got our first measureable snow (1.5") of this season on October 11, 2008.

Thecatman · Post by **Thecatman** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:59 pm

The high pressure dominating the region is supposed to weaken allowing weak, un-settled weather to come over the Sierra Nevada Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week, possibly bringing some snow to the higher elevations (over 7,000') with a chance of rain showers in the valleys, possibly mixing with snow.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:18 am

The link for wide bike tires didn't work.
Don't know why.
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=26065

falk · Post by **falk** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:25 am

Shambala wrote:My understanding is that this has been a fairly wet winter so far. Much of the playa is soaking wet muck.

Remember, it has to stay wet past the last of the freezes, or frost heaves will break up the crust.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:36 am

great topic! For those in the know, which months are the most crucial in terms of precipitation paving the way for a smoother, harder playa surface in September? Sounds as though it may be the late spring rains?

Post by **Elderberry** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:38 am

falk wrote:
Shambala wrote:My understanding is that this has been a fairly wet winter so far. Much of the playa is soaking wet muck.
Remember, it has to stay wet past the last of the freezes, or frost heaves will break up the crust.

Interesting.

JK

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:07 pm

hey,
maybe we can hire a secret gov. cloud seeding plane to make sure it's wet enough?...................

Post by **Sham** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:20 pm

ygmir wrote:hey,
maybe we can hire a secret gov. cloud seeding plane to make sure it's wet enough?...................

If anyone can do it, Obama can. I'll give him a call Wednesday, after he settles in.

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:22 pm

I'd think he'd just have to raise his shield and magic helmet..........

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:27 pm

We want as dry a spring as possible for extra dust. What the hell is wrong with these folks that don't want the dust? More dust=More fun!

Post by **Elderberry** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 3:29 pm

It's not the dust, it's the dunes that dump you off your bike--especially at night when they sneak up on you.

JK

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:30 pm

If it's not better than last year, I will sell my ticket. The playa was a fucking nightmare on a wheelchair.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:22 am

Even driving a big mutant vehicle was tough in those goddamm waves - er, dunes. It was definitely small craft advisory conditions.

Post by **Elderberry** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:59 am

theCryptofishist wrote:If it's not better than last year, I will sell my ticket. The playa was a fucking nightmare on a wheelchair.

Man, my heart goes out to you. I saw a guy last year in a wheel-chair for the first time--I couldn't help but admire his determination.

I copied this link down from another post somewhere here. It's about large bike tires, which I think I might be buying--or if worse comes to worse and the rims don't fit on my bike, I might have to buy the whole bike--but it's expensive and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the playa will be nicer.

But, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see that the wide rims/tires were actually first designed for wheel chairs. Maybe this might be something you would want to consider. I think retrofitting a chair would be easier than a bicycle. (though I could easily be wrong on that).
http://www.wildfirecycles.com/fatbikes.html

JK

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:09 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:If it's not better than last year, I will sell my ticket. The playa was a fucking nightmare on a wheelchair.

I did fine and I was wheelchair bound for most of the week. Did you try those wide flat tires I recommended? Maybe you should try them because they worked great for me this past year. I'm out of the chair for the most part now so I put the tires on ebay and can't send em to ya

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:22 pm

Last year I had a nightmare invalid rental chair that was falling apart and didn't have an easy way to change out the tires. This year I'll have the Quickee, so my options will improve. The power chair...well, maybe the Pride website and Buffy the Wheelchair Fitter can come up with something.

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:31 pm

Crypto and Toolmaker,
Have either of you tried to transition from a chair to a golf cart?
I modified a golf cart to hand controls and would like to further modify it to be easy to transition to and from it to a chair. Would overhead grab handles help? What modifications would you suggest to make it easier or doable?

So far I am planning a simple swing crane to move the chair to the back of the cart for travel and then be able to return it to the side for dismount.
A seat belt.
Making the driver side seat side arm fold down and lock upright.

Any suggestions?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:46 pm

I understand that tweaking mountain bikes will often allow the bigger wheels and maxing out tires for the rims helps too.
Maybe longtail technology will make it easier to fit the wider tires?
Xtracycle has made all their technical expertise open source.

ATTENTION BICYCLE GENIUSES!
This is open source even for commercial use.
Really an amazing thing for Xtracycle to do.
And their bolt on longtails and other accessories seem to show some real innovation.
I think Surly is coming out with a longtail made for the wide tires too.
http://www.xtracycle.com/longtailtech/i ... /Main_Page

Xtracycle LongTail Standard - Open Source information

The bicycle industry is entering a new age of bike design. Changing culture and rising costs of resources are getting more people onto bikes, many of which are used for commuting, hauling groceries, or good old off-road fun. Xtracycle has been building the Free Radical kit for about 10 years, with other manufacturers such as Surly jumping on the bandwagon to create one-piece frames. Smaller fabricators are making their own bikes, and the demand for an open-source standard is increasing.

Xtracycle has therefore decided to put the basics of their Longtail design up for anyone to use. While we want to ensure the compatability of parts, weâ€™re not charging money for the right to use our technology. We only ask that makers conform to a certain set of criteria, so that customers can be assured that everything will work well together.

Wide Wheelchair and Bike Rims
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=26065

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:03 am

My chair is already large and awkward and unmanuverable enough. There's no way I could get a golfcart into the portalettes.