Crestline Soaring Society - Weather

Saturday 9/30 Could Be... Interesting

Ken Howells — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:48:03 -0500

From the Friday 3 A.M. NWS Forecast Discussion:

SATURDAY: WITH DEEPER MOISTURE IN PLACE AND AN INVERTED TROUGH TRACKING ACROSS OUR AREA...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE IN THE OUR CWA (extreme southwestern California including Orange, San Diego, western Riverside and southwestern San Bernardino counties). SATURDAY WILL BE DOWNRIGHT TROPICAL WITH HIGHER THAN NORMAL HUMIDITIES. PW`S (precipitable water) IN EXCESS OF 2 INCHES ARE FORECAST OVER THE LOWER DESERTS. EASTERLY WINDS FROM 20-30 KT ALOFT WILL TRANSPORT ANY THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WESTWARD ACROSS THE MTNS AND INTO THE COASTAL AND VALLEY ZONES. THESE WILL BE FAST MOVING STORMS WHICH WILL LOWER THE FLASH FLOOD THREAT. BUT WITH SUCH HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES...FLASH FLOODING IS DISTINCTLY POSSIBLE IN TRAINING ECHOS.

Time Lapse

agliderflyer — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:11:26 -0600

The Marshall Webcam caught the smog rolling in from 3:00 to 5:00. It was so thick it looked like a dust cloud, the wind most have picked up at Marshall around sunset.

Offshore Sunday? (Thursday?)

Ken Howells — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:18:49 -0500

Not complaining, but October isn't usually this moist, is it?

If the NWS forecasts are accurate (as they have been lately) we're looking at weak offshore winds Thursday and Friday, brief onshore with a deep marine layer Saturday, followed by strong offshore for Sun/Mon/Tue, possibly longer.

Marshall will probably be flyable ~~Thu and~~ Fri, at least late in the day.

17:00 Wed - NWS is now saying "North wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph" for Thursday...

Marshall 10k Quickie - 1 Sep, 07

Ken Howells — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:56:27 -0500

Third in a string of very hot (110F) and humid days with abundant moisture coming from south and east. Previous two days had serious gust fronts plus thunderstorms with lightning. Also 10K+ soaring and several long distance XC flights. I launched my Falcon 225 from Marshall at 14:41 after deciding I had a good hour before any gust fronts came through (faith!) and the drift was so fast I headed west before trying a serious climb. Hooked one at Regionals at 3700 MSL, good 300-500 FPM lift. At 5300 it stopped drifting so much and sped up. I had about 1300 FPM peak climb rate, a little like balancing on a beach ball, and left the lift when I got to 10,600 MSL; clouds were within 1000 feet. I descended a bit and enjoyed the spectacular view, but got worried about a large cell with a tall top over Moreno Valley, plus rain over desert, fire toward Big Bear, lots of aircraft - spotters and bombers low, and close helicopter at 8k MSL. Decided to top land before a gust front could come from Moreno Valley. Had to fight to get down to Marshall. First approach couldn't get low enough. Second approach I flew the glider with the basetube about 2 feet AGL until it was starting to settle; pushed out a little and rolled my body to lay on ground on harness. Too windy to actually flare, too bumpy to settle gently on feet. No blood, but a couple of scores in my right calf, mild charley horse in right thigh.

CSUSB Webcam Sees Marshall Peak

Ken Howells — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:22:42 -0500

It appears that they've re-oriented the CalState campus web cam and it now points toward Marshall Peak in the 'Pan Far Left' position! We'll be able to see cloudbase! We'll be able to see gliders! We'll be able to see the windsock (well, maybe not).

If you pan far left, tilt the camera up one click, then go to the middle of the zoom range you can get a pretty decent look at the peak. If you zoom in very close, the peak and windsock go out of frame to the left. Maybe you could make out the sock in full daylight, but I doubt it.

Flyable Window Saturday?

Ken Howells — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:26:52 -0500

Based on the NWS forecast discussion, it'll start blowing down some time today, with N winds through Friday, possibly rather strong winds. There's a small chance Marshall could be flyable late Friday if the N weakens rapidly enough. Saturday is projected to have East winds becoming SE, followed by developing offshore flow Saturday night into Sunday.

Best bet for flying is to plan on Saturday for Marshall/Crestline. Could be some good altitudes. Dress warm.

Crestline 1-14-07

Steve Forslund — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:48:32 -0600

Jan 07 Snow on Marshall

Ken Howells — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:18:27 -0600

Cell-phone snap of Marshall at about 10:30 on 12 Jan 07. There had been 1/2" of snow on the LZ.

Snow in Berdoo

Ken Howells — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:38:57 -0600

At 7 AM on Jan 12 the wind is about 5 MPH out of the North and here on the South side of Little Mountain, about 5 miles SE of the LZ, it's snowing. Light granules, 2-3mm, drifting down from the North. Temperature is 30F. No accumulation on the ground, but it's starting to persist on surfaces. In the NWS Forecast Discussion yesterday the forecaster had speculated that we might see snow levels dip to 900 MSL. The SBD airport (Norton AFB) is at 1000 MSL; LZ is 1700 MSL.

Snow in Berdoo

Ken Howells — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:38:06 -0600

Snow in San Bernardino, about 1200 MSL, sort of sticking to surfaces. 12 Jan 07, 07:00.