Storm System Reaches SoCal- 11/29/12

Update: Infrared satellite image as of:
 12/2/12 at 12:12 in the morning.
Second storm can be seen approaching Socal.
Image courtesy of NOAA.

Update: As of 12/9/12, the storm total rainfall in my location in Los Angeles was 1.22" of rain. 

Update: As of 12/1/12, the storm total rainfall for my location in Los Angeles is .92" of rain. Another storm is expected to reach LA tommorow.

The first substantial storm system of the season just entered SoCal. The National Weather Service forecasts the first system to reach the Los Angeles area tomorrow night, lasting through the week. A second part of the storm system is expected to reach the area Friday midday and a third on Saturday night. Between the systems, isolated showers are expected. As of 4pm on 11/29, my rain gauge in Del Rey, Los Angeles, CA, recorded .25" of rain, being the largest storm reaching my location this season. Rain is expected to continue through Monday.

The NWS states that:

 "A SERIES OF STORM SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH MONDAY MORNING... BRINGING PERIODS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAINFALL TO THE AREA. A MOIST SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO GENERATE INTERMITTENT LIGHT SHOWERS TONIGHT FOLLOWED BY A PERIOD OF MODERATE PRECIPITATION THAT WILL BEGIN MIDDAY ON FRIDAY AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. ANOTHER PERIOD OF HEAVIER PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN LATE ON SATURDAY CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. AT THIS TIME...THE STORM SYSTEM ON SUNDAY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE STRONGEST AND WETTEST."

11/30/12 Image courtesy of NOAA

"FOR COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS... RAINFALL TOTALS THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT WILL RANGE FROM ONE TO THREE INCHES ACROSS SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY DOWN TO ONE QUARTER TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH ACROSS LOS ANGELES COUNTY. IN THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS...UPSLOPE FLOW WILL GENERATE HIGHER TOTALS RANGING FROM THREE TO FIVE INCHES ACROSS SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY DOWN TO A HALF TO ONE AND A HALF INCHES ACROSS LOS ANGELES COUNTY."

For more information on the storm, as well as the forecast for your location, visit: www.weather.gov

Why are Earthquakes Felt So Widely over the Eastern US?

3.9 Earthquake in Newhall

Several weeks ago, I woke up to the sound of my "Quakealarm" ringing, feeling a very small rolling motion a few seconds later. After that I immediately went back to sleep. I later checked USGS and found out that I awoke to a magnitude 3.9 earthquake near Newhall, CA. The epicenter was about 40km away from my house.

Several weeks earlier, on the East Coast, there was a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in Southern Maine. My friend who was in Connecticut,  felt the shaking (she is a native Californian, so she has felt many earthquakes). The shaking amount was a little more (About III-IV) than the amount I had felt in the earthquake (About II) in Newhall. Interestingly, my friend was over 200km away from the epicenter. How is an earthquake on the East Coast felt farther than a similar size earthquake with a similar depth, in California?

4.0 Earthquake in Maine

Well, the answer is simple.

In California the geology of the earth is very different than the geology in the East Coast. In California, the ground is less dense than on the East Coast, where the ground is more solid. Lucy Jones in USGS has said many times to TV reporters: "A solid bell rings more than a cracked bell."

Wacky Weather in West LA- 11/10/12

Clouds Looking West
(Image Property of Socal Earth Science Blog)

November 10, 2012: just before 5pm a small row of clouds, passed through the LA Basin on a perfectly sunny and otherwise cloudless day. In my location, just north of Playa Vista, a period of light rainfall and drizzle occurred for approximately twenty minutes. Only a trace of rain was recorded in my rain gauge.