January 3, 2008
SFist Photo: Red Skies at Night, Kite Surfer's Delight
Remarkable winds today at Ocean Beach. Larger photo here
Oh we warned you. We gave you all the signs. RSAN 'n stuff. And now it's here.
OMG, a blustery day! Actual weather in San Francisco, complete with an omninous-looking Storm Warning flag flying above the Great Highway. That's an advisory for Beaufort wind force scale numbers of 10 or 11. Do you have any idea what that means!?
We don't either. We think it's something like "park your car near an aging Eucalyptus tree and you might regret it." Otherwise, you should be all right.
Carry on.
Update: Over at The Biggest Room, Outdoor News for Indoor Enthusiasts, San Francisco resident "quake" is hunkering down near Donner Lake bracing for a blizzard with winds of up to 145 mph. He's already calling this the Storm of 1-4-08 and he thinks this will be NorCal's biggest since the big blow of 12-12-95. That one took out the Conservatory of Flowers. Courage.
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That's a real gale warning flag. For all ye lubbers, yes, well put, "don't park yer brig under a eucalyptus tree".
The Beaufort Scale is well documented,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
The design is quite rational - to give one an idea of wind speed, based of easily visible phenomena, or vice versa.
we need one of these for homeless sightings
;)
Dood, it's actually really important to be careful driving when the winds are up at the beach. I totaled my car because of that in 2002. I was driving along (not very fast) and the Great Highway was suddenly covered with sand. It was like driving on ice, and my car slid hard into the side barrier. Anyone thinking of driving down there should consider another route.
I had to google because I know two of those flags together means hurricane, but didn't know what one meant.
It's a storm warning sign:
To indicate winds 48 knots and above, no matter how high the speed, are forecast for the area. However, if the winds are associated with a tropical cyclone (hurricane), the STORM WARNING indicates that winds within the range 48-63 knots are forecast.
http://www.weather.gov/os/marine/cwd.htm
Yup, use the beaufort scale every four hours when I'm at work. I get to estimate the height of the seas from ninety feet above them. I've seen force 12 once or twice.
Here's some footage of force 10:
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/jimbo749/?action=view¤t=MVI_1916.flv
Taken from the bridge of the containership APL President Jackson.
Listen close and you can hear the Chief Mate blaming the storm on some sailor who didn't pay a girl in port.
I stand corrected! Thanks for the link.
we've been keeping a weather station at the house for almost three years, and right now the barometer is almost but not quite at a three year low, 29.45 in.
2007 Low Pressure: 29.51 on 12/6/07
2006 Low Pressure: 29.41 on 2/27/06
2005 Low Pressure: 29.44 on 12/31/05