At 4:50 AM this morning, in the dark, it began to rain. Much as yesterday, it was reasonably big drops. Unlike yesterday, my car sunroof was already closed so I could make coffee and just listen to it peacefully. I'm having cheap mocha, which is coffee with cream and chocolate syrup. Not as good as the real thing, but I didn't want to wake Dad with the microwave beeping. Not when we could both enjoy the sound of raindrops at our leisure. The storm overhead is a long streamer of cloud that stretches 10 miles wide but 100 miles long, all the way down to Roseville on the flatland and up the mountain through us, past Downieville and the Sierra Buttes, heading for Grayeagle on the far side.
The rain cloud yesterday was the same. As the storm rises in elevation, the air gets colder and can physically hold less water so it condenses out as rain all the way up the slope to the crest of the Sierras. Ergo, why the west side are wet and the east side are dry. The intensity of the rain comes and goes, but I'm enjoying both the noise and the higher humidity. Glad I did my laundry yesterday.
Happy Labor Day.
UPDATE: After a short break around dawn, more storms formed in Sacramento and while some drift east, others came straight at us so its raining off and on every 10 minutes or so. Looks like it will be dry in the Valley, but wet up here. A good day to take the corners gently. There's been flashes of lightning, rumbles of thunder and I suspect the lights may go off.
UPDATE2: Just got back from the Valley. Its dry and nice down there, with the clouds up here visible beautifully. Unfortunately I was driving so I don't have a photo but it was really pretty. As soon as I started hitting hills, it started raining and by the time I got home it everything is wet and it seems like the pattern this morning has been going on all day. There was a short blackout which affected several of the clocks and shut down my PC and the garage door, temporarily. It was back up and running when I returned, but still. There's also an inch of rain in the gauge out back.
Ironically, there's a 24+ hour marathon of James Bond movies running on one of the movie channels right now. DVR recordings. Moonraker is one of my favorite Bond movies, being the remake of You Only Live Twice or Dr. No, if you prefer. Most of the Bond movie plots are recycled. Only From Russia With Love is based on real events, allegedly by Fleming himself when he was OSS.
Its warm as the rain falls. I've got my window wide open just to listen to drop pound the grape leaves outside.
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