Weather, or Not
The easy way to start our annual “weather” story for the Eastern Sierra is with Bob Dylan’s lyric “you don’t need to be a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.” Well, according to the annual report from the National Weather Service, sometimes even weathermen don’t know what’s coming.
The NWS’ Warning Coordination Meteorologist Dawn Johnson made the annual presentation to the Mono County Board of Supervisors last week, starting with a recap of last year’s chaos. In a nutshell, the “rainy season” was dry as a bone. Then March blew in with above normal rain in Inyo County and snow in the high country, hitting Mammoth and points north with record-breaking and building-crushing intensity. As Johnson said, “March is the new December.”
So, what about the 2024-25 “rain” season? Who knows, she admitted. As of November 20, news outlets are warning of bomb cyclones and Snowmageddons across Northern California, which does fall in line with the NWS predictions—wet to the north, dry to the south with Mono County, and Inyo, in the middle. Johnson’s primary message was “prepare for anything.”
Johnson did provide the timeline of the NWS’ prediction cycle. Seven to 14 days out, forecasters see the “broad trends.” Those trends start to take shape two to five days out with more specific locations and intensity. Within six to 48 hours of an “incident,” the high-impact features become more obvious.
Another new feature of the NWS’ annual visit to Mono County: comparing cold, or extreme, weather watches to making tacos. Weather “advisories” require some attention and/or some wisdom. Translated into the taco analogy, just “be smart.” The next stage, a weather watch, translates into gathering the ingredients for your taco feast. The premise for a “watch”: something’s going to happen, so get ready. The “warning” stage is the equivalent of actually eating your taco.
As tempting as a plate full of tacos can be, when taken in the context of snow storms, blizzards and floods, maybe a burrito to-go sounds better.
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