🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1iruc0INN1mj@bHARs12c.bnr.co.uk> neil@pio.gid.co.uk writes:
>The UK newspapers are reporting flooding etc in Tijuana, and other
>posters have
>mentioned lots of rain presently in San Diego. How wet is it ? average
>British winter's day rain, average British summer's day rain :-) or what ?

San Diego, on average, gets less than 9 inches (29 cm) of rain per year.
The amount of rain they've been getting lately would seem like nothing
for people from wetter climates (e.g. Britain).  The flooding is because
desert areas have poor drainage, so that when you do have a big storm,
the storm drains back up and the hills turn into mud that slides downhill.
When people start paving everywhere so the ground can no longer absorb
the runoff, flooding gets particularly bad when you do have a big storm.

Even during most of the rains, what a southern Californian would call
a heavy rain, most people from wetter parts of the world would call a
light rain.  It really hasn't been all that much rain by the standards
of most places.

>Do the weather reports indicate that things are likely to clear up by
>the time the conference starts ?

My experience with weather reports indicates that any prediction for
more than five days in advance is no better than a coin flip.  So who
knows?



--
Joe Buck	jbuck@ohm.berkeley.edu

In article <1isn5j$mri@agate.berkeley.edu>, jbuck@forney.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) writes:
> 
> Even during most of the rains, what a southern Californian would call
> a heavy rain, most people from wetter parts of the world would call a
> light rain.  It really hasn't been all that much rain by the standards
> of most places.

The Town and Country hotel is in Mission Valley right in the middle of an
ancient river bed. The roads in that area are designed to flood. When the
rain stops, pumps clear out all the water (the roads stay washed out until the
rain stops). It is really bad right between the Town and Country and the
Fashion Valley Mall (right behind the hotel). It is not what comes down that
is bad, it is that all the water drains down right behind the hotel. The ground
is saturated and when it rains now flooding starts right away (it is raining
again as I write this on Jan 12). You really needed a boat down there last week.
If you are going to do any significant walking outside the hotel, those wellies
might be nice to have.

Keith Muller
University of California, San Diego

The rain here has been between an English summer rain and a bit heavier,
with occasional really brisk winds.  Not bad, and not too cold.  It
certainly isn't a hurricane.

However, the hotel is located in Mission Valley, which is a dry riverbed.
It is part of a "100-year flood plain", which has been quite dry for
some years.  When it rains hard, some of the roads crossing the valley
get flooded.  Every year some idiot tries to surf the resulting river
and dies.  The freeways continue to flow just fine.

If the rain stops even for a day, the valley drains quite quickly and is
pleasant once again, as long as you like mud.

When it's raining as it is now, the conference center is ok, and
probably the hotel is too.  If it were to do a week of really heavy rain
(heavy for us), the underground parking garage at the convention center
would be a mess but the convention center itself would be ok.

Because San Diego's storms are blown in from the Pacific (and there's
little radar at sea), it's quite hard to predict their exact arrival and
strength.  Another problem is that our chief weatherman retired about a
year ago and his replacement is more familiar with the Boston area, so
predictions are a little less reliable than in the past, and tend to err
on the cautious side - he often predicts downpours when all we get are
moderate rains.

If it's raining or rain is predicted when you leave for the conference,
I'd suggest some sensible rain gear (umbrella, raincoat, maybe some wellies)
but you don't have to pack a raft.  On the other hand, we may have a
Santa Ana condition by then, and it will bright and sunny and 70F.

Welcome to San Diego.
	- Brian