Prevailing wind 2012

[MikieCGY]

[Thread split from prevailing wind thread about 2007 event by moderator]

Holy Crap!! CHANCE OF SNOW?? lol nice

[Bob]

Elevation on the Weather Underground site is wrong, the Black Rock Desert lakebed is only about 1200m, but it gets occasional sparse light snow through late winter, and the nearby mountains are often snow-capped through mid-spring.

[Mojojita]

Holy Crap!! CHANCE OF SNOW?? lol nice

I was snowed on at 3:30am on the playa, in August. Be prepared!

[some seeing eye]

How did this thread revive??

Compass North is East of true North by about 14 degrees. The maps and satellite photos are oriented to true North. Your magnetic North may vary - YMNMV

[AntiM]

I've seen snow on the mountains.

[ygmir]

How did this thread revive??

Compass North is East of true North by about 14 degrees. The maps and satellite photos are oriented to true North. Your magnetic North may vary - YMNMV

unless you're in the south Atlantic magnetic anomaly......

[AntiM]

All threads on eplaya are undead unless locked.

[phil]

This was in 2000.

[Bob]

Anybody else find the term "prevailing wind" anthropocentrically anti-Gaia?

[robbidobbs]

Prepare for 100mph winds that can last 48 hours and you're probably good. Just like the Cafe (loving you Bob). It wasn't that long ago that this did happen after the Event on Wednesday. It was nuts (info from a direct observer). The meteorological gods don't care. It's expected to be a hot and dry summer this year (per the Almanac). Hot means dirt. DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING THAT CAN FLY UNPROTECTED.

Think about it. What can lift off at 100mph? A lot. Do a check of your camp before leaving, before whatever you're going to do. Constant diligence will keep that bullshit from flying to Winnemucca.

Gonzo designed a shade structure last year with double (!) tarps against the prevailing wind (what comes from Gerlach/Gate direction). Make sure that it can wobble so it doesn't break (lost a good cabin tent that way) Nice that it was so nice last year. Personally I'm hoping for some wrath of gawd dirt storm to enlighten some people.

Burningman isn't about nice. It's about personal experience. At times out there while working in the dirt storm, I just wanted to scream. And I'm good at this. Be warned.

[EspressoDude]

The safest JOTS are the ones with the rows aligned towards Gerlach. (caution about wind catching the doors and smacking hands or fingers)

The JOTS near 10:00 or 2:00 are perpendicular to the prevailing wind and MAY be blown over.

[geospyder]

We sailed around Cape Horn last month. I was up on deck when we had wind gusts of 87 knots (just a fraction over 100 mph). I was filming the waves sloshing in the pool when a gust hit and a number of the deck chairs, which were tied down, broke loose and went flying into the pool and over board. I've also been up on a mountain top with a number of Jeeps in extreme winds. I had to use my feet to push the door open. Another Jeep was parked facing the opposite way and when he opened his door it was ripped off. Long story short - winds can be dangerous - be prepared. I use a PVC exoskeleton on my tent. The normal poles will break in high winds.

[BoyScoutGirl]

Every time it rains heavily here in SoCal, it has made me curious about the weather in NV for the following days. So during three days of heavy rain and hail over the weekend, I kept checking on the precipitation predictions for Gerlach. Sure enough, rain and snow were predicted. Can anybody in the area report on how much actually fell? I'm new to the west coast, so maybe it's silly of me to think that weather patterns in San Diego have much to do with northern NV at all...

In general, given that the winter was so dry, should we expect some rain/snow now have much impact, dust-wise?

Disclaimer: obviously, we are all at the mercy of the weather/dust of the playa and our best bet is to simply be prepared for anything. The above questions are motivated by curiosity + Burning Man constantly on my mind, not some desperate hope for moderately reduced dustiness.

Maybe.

[AntiM]

Pretty much too late. The water needs to be on the playa and undergo several hard freezes throughout winter. Spring rain? Nah. Damn dusty year.

Actually, the weather in SoCal affects us in Utah more than Nevada. Southern Utah especially. Gerlach gets the fronts rolling off NoCal and the PNW more than anything pushing up from the south.

[trilobyte]

+1 to what AntiM said. Unless it's a really massive weather system, what happens in San Diego (12ish hours South) wouldn't affect what's happening in Gerlach (Portland's closer). Welcome to California, btw.

[Bob]

True in the summer that blustery weather along the northern California coast translates to cooler and windier weather in the Great Basin, but winter storms that hit the playa could be sweeping generally eastward from the coast hereabouts, or down from the northwest if it's a strong Alaskan system. Water that ends up on the playa could be from direct precipitation, runoff from the immediate area, or snowmelt from the Quinn River watershed, which originates in SE Oregon.

[Trishntek]

geospyder wrote:

I had to use my feet to push the door open. Another Jeep was parked facing the opposite way and when he opened his door it was ripped off.

That sounds like a typical day in Shirley Basin, Wyoming. I honestly did not know snow could fall straight down until I was 23 years old!

As-far-as weather on the playa, it will be mostly sunny with regular dark periods and winds averaging 7 to 10 mph coming from somewhere between east and west and occasional bursts of 80 mph from somewhere between the north and south . It is possible you may be able to fry an egg on your car during the day, and make ice cubes in your cup during one of those dark periods. But no matter what, IT WILL BE DUSTY!

[EspressoDude]

sometimes there are extremely localized winds and tornadoes just below the belt line...........................

[LostinReno]

Since the precip is similar in Reno/Sierra's as it is in Gerlach, this is a comparison of last year, what is average and this year. Look forward to some epic dust storms!
http://www.mynews4.com/media/lib/167/2/ ... _Tahoe.pdf

Sorry it's a PDF, I don't have the fancy version to change it to a .jpg

[lemur]

thar she blows... no need to use a pdf