Playa Conditions for 2015

[Sham]

(note to self: don't forget your hiking boots this year)

[TT120]

Looks like it's going to be a good year for a fat tire bike.

[Melonblue]

Ow! Those bruises look harsh

Hope you heal quickly! Thank you for the pictures. It's helped me decide to bring my ankle wrapping tape. Looks like lots to trip over

[Captain Goddammit]

Looks like it's going to be a good year for a fat tire bike.

Or a Fat Tire Amber Ale!

[TT120]

Looks like it's going to be a good year for a fat tire bike.

Or a Fat Tire Amber Ale!

I'm pretty sure we can have BOTH!

[Token]

Thanks JK, real swell report!

[trilobyte]

Here's a pretty startling image.

Dateline: Gerlach, Nevada. July 7, 2015.



Remember, folks... it might get weird.

[Simon of the Playa]

"every crevice, every nook, every cranny"

[Molotov]

[Simon of the Playa]

seriously.

everywhere.jpg

retrocausality?

[DrYes]

Here's a pretty startling image.

Dateline: Gerlach, Nevada. July 7, 2015.



Remember, folks... it might get weird.

Goddam. That is amazing.

[TT120]

Is that a dust storm?

[Eric]

Is that a dust storm?

Either that or one of those ridges was an unknown volcano.

[TT120]

Is that a dust storm?

Either that or one of those ridges was an unknown volcano.

Holy shit!!! That's awesome!

[Jackass]

Here's a pretty startling image.

Dateline: Gerlach, Nevada. July 7, 2015.



Remember, folks... it might get weird.

Dude, it always gets weird...Now, let us eat dirt.

((BOOM))

[Simon of the Playa]

Now, let us eat dirt.

can i get an amen...

[^Rhino!]

That particular phenomenon, if any of you care, is called a 'Washoe Zephyr". This diurnal wind, somewhat akin to a thermal inversion, got its name popularized by none other than the grand sage of American Literature, Mark Twain, who tells us of the Washo Zephyr in his book, 'Roughing It""

"This was all we saw that day, for it was two o'clock, now, and according to custom the daily "Washoe Zephyr" set in; a soaring dust-drift about the size of the United States set up edgewise came with it, and the capital of Nevada Territory disappeared from view. Still, there were sights to be seen which were not wholly uninteresting to newcomers; for the vast dust-cloud was thickly freckled with things strange to the upper air - things living and dead, that flitted hither and thither, going and coming, appearing and disappearing among the rolling billows of dust - hats, chickens, and parasols sailing in the remote heavens; blankets, tin signs, sage-brush, and shingles a shade lower; door-mats and buffalo-robes lower still; shovels and coal-scuttles on the next grade; glass doors, cats, and little children on the next; disrupted lumber yards, light buggies, and wheelbarrows on the next; and down only thirty or forty feet above ground was a scurrying storm of emigrating roofs and vacant lots.

It was something to see that much. I could have seen more, if I could have kept the dust out of my eyes.

But, seriously, a Washoe wind is by no means a trifling matter. It blows flimsy houses down, lifts shingle roofs occasionally, rolls up tin ones like sheet music, now and then blows a stage-coach over and spills the passengers; and tradition says the reason there are so many bald people there is, that the wind blows the hair off their heads while they are looking skyward after their hats. Carson streets seldom look inactive on summer afternoons, because there are so many citizens skipping around their escaping hats, like chambermaids trying to head off a spider.

The "Washoe Zephyr" (Washoe is a pet nickname for Nevada) is a peculiarly Scriptural wind, in that no man knoweth "whence it cometh." That is to say, where it originates. It comes right over the mountains from the West, but when one crosses the ridge he does not find any of it on the other side! It probably is manufactured on the mountaintop for the occasion, and starts from there. It is a pretty regular wind, in the summer-time. Its office-hours are from two in the afternoon till two the next morning; and anybody venturing abroad during those twelve hours needs to allow for the wind or he will bring up a mile or two to leeward of the point he is aiming at. And yet the first complaint a Washoe visitor to San Francisco makes, is that the sea-winds blow so, there! There is a good deal of human nature in that. "

Twain (real name Samuel L. Clemens) went to Nevada accompanying his brother, Orion (pronounced Oh-REE-Un) in 1861, accompanying him as Orion had been named the first territorial Secretary of State for Nevada.

Clemens became Mark Twain and became world famous for his literature, Orion never aspired to public office again. Nonetheless, Nevada became a state in 1864 (during the Civil War) after transmitting its soon to be State Constitution to Washington, D.C., in the longest and still most expensive telegraph message ever, at over $4000.

They still have Washoe Zephyrs in Nevada.

[trilobyte]

Yep, that's a big dustup coming over a mountain, as seen from Gerlach.

It's almost impossible to see something like that while you're at Burning Man, because when you're in the desert the dust storms kick up all around you. That's an exhilarating shot, to be sure. I should probably go through my goggles and check to see if they're all still good, need work, or I need to retire something in favor of something better.

[Elderberry]

Loved reading the explanation ^Rhino!

[skippy3k]

That Twain dude could really write.

[lucky420]

Here's a pretty startling image.

Dateline: Gerlach, Nevada. July 7, 2015.



Remember, folks... it might get weird.

Dude, it always gets weird...Now, let us eat dirt.

((BOOM))

I was there! Was in Gerlach for a health fair, hellavu storm coming back to REno...

[Simon of the Playa]

http://highway8a.blogspot.com/2014/07/e ... stern.html

[^Rhino!]

That's also an interesting post, Simon, and I'm interested to see that the National Weather Service called it a "haboob". Never heard that one before. Thank you for posting.

I was also happy to see the comparison of the dust cloud with a pyroclastic flow. After all, a pyroclastic flow is just volcanic dust with superheated gases.

People got their thinking hats on. Carry on!

[Dr. Pyro]

Wait a darn second. I see that picture. How do we know the dust isn't retreating?

[Molotov]

That's OK-when the volcano blows and releases its pyroclastic flow, a little dust will be the least of our problems.

[maladroit]

If I'm going to be instantly fossilized doing whatever I'm doing at the moment, I'd rather they find me doing something interesting at Burning Man rather than working at my computer. Even in the porta potties, maybe my stony corpse will be found laughing again at "IM A SNAKE" and fangs drawn on the little urinal thingy.

[ygmir]

Wait a darn second. I see that picture. How do we know the dust isn't retreating?

someone say too many adventure fantasy movies in the 60's............from the 50's..........

[geospyder]

Think talcum powder dust...

[^Rhino!]

That's OK-when the volcano blows and releases its pyroclastic flow, a little dust will be the least of our problems.

Sheik, you are ever so right. In fact, just this last year, review of this video shows an entirely new phenomenon to most people, a twist(er) on the pyroclastic flow.. In fact, there were three tornadoes following the flow. It wasn't a surprise that this had happened, it was just the first time we had film of it. This is from Sinabung volcano in Indonesia:

[media]

Imagine if you will, you've already been incinerated by the pyroclastic flow and then, the tornado shows up to scatter your ashes. It's simply a sign that nature wants you DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

[Eric]

Imagine if you will, you've already been incinerated by the pyroclastic flow and then, the tornado shows up to scatter your ashes. It's simply a sign that nature wants you DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

So it's an Australian volcano? We are so fucked.