Daily Entry

Talk about your scary weather. I read this article talking about a weather phenomenon called "Arkstorm". Based on what the article stated, this is a storm of biblical proportion. The last one that occurred in California was in 1861-1862 which is expected to occur every other century.

Here's a quote from the article, "The USGS unveiled Friday a new study of what they call an 'Arkstorm Scenario.' It's a mega-storm that would measure rain in feet instead of inches.
Playing off the Biblical story of Noah's ark, scientists say an Arkstorm is an every-other century occurrence. That might not be that far off once you look at the historical data. For the novice, it is a weather system that plants itself out in the Pacific Ocean and the "storm door" never closes. You can see the weather map in the clip in this link.
Arkstorm is a hypothetical scenario that describes a rainstorm that produces a 10-foot wall of water that could flood a swath of the state from the Yosemite Valley to the Pacific Ocean. A similar storm hit back in 1861 and left the central valley of California impassable.
Scientists didn't put a number in lives lost, but said it would leave in its wake destruction in the $300 billion range."

Here's a brief description of the 1861 storm:
"The Great Flood of 1861-1862 was believed to be the most powerful and longest series of storms in state history, lasting a month and causing severe flooding.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys were water-logged and spontaneous lakes popped up in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles basin. Nearly a third of the young state's taxable land was destroyed."

On top of the "Big One" that supposed to happen to California, now we have to worry about a killer storm! Hopefully its more speculation than a probability.

Oh and check out this video of a mudslide in Italy recently. This is what happens when the environment gets inundated with too much water.



So I guess I shouldn't complain about the recent rain we've had. Or when we have typical Sunny California weather. 8)

jp