Batten Down the Hatches (and Trash Cans)
Yesterday morning dawned sunny and chilly, but relatively pleasant. After breakfast at the Wigwam, I walked to the post office and back home, and considered doing some yard work. However, a few minutes after I got home, the light breeze that had been blowing significantly intensified, turning into winds that came within a few knots of gale force and plunging Fernley into a cloud of dust.
The camera appears to penetrate the dusty haze better than my eyes do. The Pah Rah Mountains to the west of Fernley were engulfed in heavy clouds with lots of dust mixed into it. With a mouthful of dust from standing in that wind, I retreated back inside the house.
Not too much later, I heard a loud clatter from the front yard. Looking out the front window, I saw that the trash bin had blown over. With the wind still howling, putting it back where it was would have been pointless, but I did not want trash blown around the yard, so I grabbed it and rolled it over to the wood bin, which (being on the east side of the house and slightly in the lee of the strong west winds) was less likely to make a mess, then set it on its side with the lid against the wood box to keep it shut.
As the wind started to subside, rain began to fall, which helped settle some of the dust, but it wasn't a lot of rain. After a while, the rain subsided and the clouds rolled back somewhat to reveal that the mountains were still there, but somewhat altered.
Yep, that's a scattering of snow only a few hundred meters above Fernley, with September not done yet.
Whether this is a harbinger of a "Donner Party winter" or not remains to be seen. I do not object to lots of snow in the mountains, but I do have one trip to the Bay Area planned in late October and I hope it is not scuppered by snow, as driving the Rolling Stone over I-80 in snow conditions is a prospect that attracts me not one bit.
The camera appears to penetrate the dusty haze better than my eyes do. The Pah Rah Mountains to the west of Fernley were engulfed in heavy clouds with lots of dust mixed into it. With a mouthful of dust from standing in that wind, I retreated back inside the house.
Not too much later, I heard a loud clatter from the front yard. Looking out the front window, I saw that the trash bin had blown over. With the wind still howling, putting it back where it was would have been pointless, but I did not want trash blown around the yard, so I grabbed it and rolled it over to the wood bin, which (being on the east side of the house and slightly in the lee of the strong west winds) was less likely to make a mess, then set it on its side with the lid against the wood box to keep it shut.
As the wind started to subside, rain began to fall, which helped settle some of the dust, but it wasn't a lot of rain. After a while, the rain subsided and the clouds rolled back somewhat to reveal that the mountains were still there, but somewhat altered.
Yep, that's a scattering of snow only a few hundred meters above Fernley, with September not done yet.
Whether this is a harbinger of a "Donner Party winter" or not remains to be seen. I do not object to lots of snow in the mountains, but I do have one trip to the Bay Area planned in late October and I hope it is not scuppered by snow, as driving the Rolling Stone over I-80 in snow conditions is a prospect that attracts me not one bit.