Video: former hurricane very close to Southern California.

[windfind]

Hi Gang,

Updated animation at the bottom of this forum thread of the former hurricane very close to Southern California.

Several times today lightning prompted the closure of all beaches in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Huntington Beach and a plane out of LAX was struck and returned to the airport. Lifeguards are being especially cautious since last summer a lightning strike killed a man at Venice Beach and injured about a dozen others.

The first animation below show the mass of convective clouds forming over Southern California that produced today's rain and lightning.

At the bottom the left animation shows all the wind and moisture being pumped from former hurricane Dolores towards Southern California and the Bay Area. The right image shows the quick creation of convective cloud masses.

Also note this same moisture is heading towards the Bay Area but the action should be much milder but still the clouds will take the edge of the Monday pressure gradient.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com

[isobars]

If we worried about lightning in New Mexico, we would get no WSing in the summer, when Tstorms are our only wind source. We learned to predict sustained Tstorm winds an hour or two in advance based on visual observation and radar tracking, often in time to rush to the lake and catch a few hours of strong outflow wind. Most of us, even the two WSers hit by lightning while sailing, figure a few hours on a 4.5 are worth the slight risk of sailing into a lightning bolt. The guys at real risk were the ones who sought shelter on shore leaning against a motor home* as lightning crashed all around them several times per minute if a storm passed directly overhead.

* They were suitably called grounding rods.

[windfind]

Hi Gang,

Former hurricane Dolores neared the Southern California bight today producing more thunderstorms and lightening.

Check out this satellite animation.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com