Fall is Definitely Here

We supposedly had a few drops very early Sunday morning, but I wouldn't know it, not getting outside until close to 10:00am. I geared up and rode to Auburn, CA for a quick bite and to read the Sunday paper before heading another few miles to Meadow Vista. Friends were setting up a couple of nets for some pickup volleyball games.

I made sure I bundled up well before leaving the house, but decided to put away my jacket liner after my meal. I figured it was around noon and things have warmed up a bit; also, what's a few miles even if it may still be a little on the cool side? A few miles of a chilly cold ride, once you factor in the windchill factor.

The temps got just above the mid-60s in the foothills, and there was a slight breeze blowing and some patchy cloud cover. Dark, patchy clouds. The occasional rays of sunshine breaking through were warm and welcome. The weather reports dustings of snow up in the mountains, Lake Tahoe included.

I'm just hoping that the storms passing through will subside long enough for a ride next weekend, or the following weekend, to witness the forests' changing colors. But I'm sure the triple digit temps are all behind us now... fall is definitely here.

Respite from the Heat

We have had mild temps the past few days, staying well below triple digits. The coming work week we'll be in the 90s (today is forecast at 90), and the skies have been much clearer as the delta breezes are here to blow much of the smoke out of the valley.

Fires still continue to burn throughout Northern CA, but many of them are contained to some extent. Thankfully I haven't heard that any new dry lightning strikes have ignited additional fires.

Summer ain't over yet, but I'll keep my fingers x'd that things will smooth out for the latter half of 2008.

Fires

It doesn't appear that summer is about to go quietly into the night. We have a couple of major fires burning in NorCal... one in the Plumas Nat'l Forest (about 100 miles from here), and another in the Bay Area (Santa Clara - Silicon Valley). Smoke, especially from Plumas, blanketed a very broad area and caused Unhealthy Air Quality alerts in the Sacramento Valley. This weekend I rode a total of about 300 miles and witnessed our pine forests peeking out from the cloudy soup.

At least it wasn't so bad in the upper elevations where I was riding.