Internet Resources for Natural Phenomena Affecting Santa Barbara

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Shasta Guy

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Feb 15, 2018, 2:02:08 PM2/15/18
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Santa Barbara Weather Links and other Natural Phenomena Here

The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

Thanks for everyone's input.  I've cleaned things up and organized it.   The nominal order is:  Weather, Rainfall & Reservoir data, Webcams, Fire, Earthquakes, Sun Activity, and Volcanoes, .  I'll add more links as they are suggested, and I'll work to keep the format clean.  

Some links you'll need to paste in your browser, sorry.

Shasta Guy


1.  Weather Links

Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler.  You can select the option to loop them to get an idea of trend where the rain bands will go.  This is important if heavy precipitation is on the way.



This is a 8km animated IR map of the western US which gives an idea what may be coming our way in the next 24-48 hrs.   Things change a lot, and it can give a good idea how the rain will interact with ridge behind us.


Here is the 8km animated water vapor map of the western US.  I put this in because of the impending "atmospheric river event" forecasted to occur the week of 3/19:


This is a really nice multi-map of weather

Wind prediction map by Caltopo, with optional overlays for many things including terrain and maps of past fires. A little bit slow to load at first but very information. 

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.50761,-119.54558&z=12&b=hyb&a=modis_mp,wxd_wspd-01,wx 

Another real-time wind map by Windy.com, with overlay options.  This one is animated and has a different (and more attractive) interface than the Caltopo map. (Originally posted to SBitz.net by "Section Make8R" in December): 

https://www.windy.com/overlays?gfs,950h,34.153,-119.844,11,m:eCvacPS 

Weather - lots to explore here


Accuweather:


Weather in Motion:


In depth weather discussion



 Heres a few visual links, I like these for quick no fooling around.  The GOES satellites are putting out tons of great info.
 

The next one is the approximate weather map, highs N lows etc, which helps me to "somewhat" figure things out.



Here are a couple links that map lightning strikes.  



2.  Santa Barbara Hydrology

This is a regional interactive rainfall map from Ventura County via JW:


It shows SB County and the main Southern CA counties, with lots of options including those in the "three dots" (...) menu at the top-left.  Choose the accumulation time that you want, and zoom in on the Santa Barbara area.  It's really deluxe in my opinion.  

3.  Webcams

This link will take you to traffic cams in our area.  You may need to move the map and expand the Santa Barbara area.  You then select the camera icon you want.  Linking to individual cameras does not work.  


Santa Barbara County Fire Webcams:


HPWREN Web Santa Ynez Peak



4.  Fire Links

Inciweb changed their format and all they have now is a national map.  I guess if we get something near Santa Barbara there will be an icon in the are to click.


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.
 


National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  

I found this twitter account to have the best live coverage of the actual Thomas fire around.  They had a webcam on their tower and were monitoring and summarizing radio traffic.



5.  Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:

Here are earthquake maps.  If you feel a shake, check these out because it might have been nearby.



Here is a map of USGS live seismographs in CA.  There are none in the SB area, but there are lots to choose from.  Just click on one of the dots, then click on the tiny graph to make it a full page.  




6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta




The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

 Also, the Long Valley Caldera is probably our closest dangerous volcano:
 


This is all for now.  I have other links to post later, but these are my workhorse links.  If you have a set of good links, post them along with a short description.  

Shasta Guy

SBitZ.NET

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Feb 15, 2018, 7:51:42 PM2/15/18
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Shasta Guy wrote:
> websites ... for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other

Thanks SO much for launching this Topic! I'm a bit under the weather
and very much overwhelmed with projects right now, but hope to offer a
few links in this Topic.

Mike

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Feb 15, 2018, 10:48:16 PM2/15/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Great idea about posting information sources! Here's a couple more:

1. Wind prediction map by Caltopo, with optional overlays for many things including terrain and maps of past fires. A little bit slow to load at first but very information.

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.50761,-119.54558&z=12&b=hyb&a=modis_mp,wxd_wspd-01,wx

2. Another real-time wind map by Windy.com, with overlay options. This one is animated and has a different (and more attractive) interface than the Caltopo map. (Originally posted to SBitz.net by "Section Make8R" in December):

https://www.windy.com/overlays?gfs,950h,34.153,-119.844,11,m:eCvacPS

Between these two, I don't know which one is more accurate. (If anyone does, please let us know here.)

Best regards,
MH

Section Make8R

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Feb 17, 2018, 2:35:42 PM2/17/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
 

Between these two, I don't know which one is more accurate.  (If anyone does, please let us know here.)

Best regards,
MH

  Thanx for posting those.  Windy TV seems almost too good to work so easily, (too much data to work) but I think the large picture data is OK.  Local events and weather are very difficult to predict. 

  I'll be back later with some  ocean/weather links I use. ( mostly retired surfer)  Many of the surfing/snow sites are helpful because people want to plan their surfing or skiing trips 2 or 3 weeks in advance, you know, so you can plan that special sick day!!!  (thats why is so crowded in the lineups and lifts nowadays!!!  ha!)

  The thing about almost all the sites, is that they all get info from either the Euro or GFS computer models, via the US gov  or 3rd party sites and then fancy it up with graphics etc.   
  The CalTopo link is really usefull for plotting trails, during the Thomas fire they seemed to be the first to show the IR satellite hotspots.

  Anyways, my favorite place to hang out now, is Daniel Swains Weather West blog,  (UCLA climate specialist)  as its full of weather people and "obsessives"  (said fondly) who post 24/7 all the model runs and what it means for california's weather. Very closely moderated, no spam, no trolls.

 Many posters are from northern half of state, and are concerned with snow, but site also has people from all over california sharing real time info.  You  will see Daniels name mentioned more and more in publications such as the LA Times as his predictions are increasingly being born out.

I hope this link works, if not, the comments section on Weather West is where the postings are. (its a small link button on the main page of each blog post)  

For me, its helpful to have  others navigate these sites and then post the relevant info.  I've tried diggin into some of the archived radar or wind sites, to see just what "really" happened, and you can waste some serious time, and then only get pages and pages of numerical data!!  So, yeah,  I like heisting links!!!   (and weather people love to share!!!)


 Heres a local person  (805) who appears to have it together. He has his own page on Twitter, which although is on Twitter (ugg but you should be able to read) is really topnotch and he knows his stuff. 
 Heres the link and a great analysis and links to the event which hit Jan 9  ( I may have posted this before, if so sorry!!  but its actually somewhat scary to see how precisely our coast was targeted by the storm) Scroll down for other news on current weather etc.


JPR

Shasta Guy

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Feb 26, 2018, 8:48:15 PM2/26/18
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Thanks everyone for your posts and links.  I'm adding another one:


This is a looped IR map of the western pacific.  From this you can see if we have an atmospheric river coming or if we'll get a strong orthographic flow that drops a lot of rain slowly over the ridge behind us.  Sometimes you can tell that something is going to fizzle out by the time it gets to us.  You can also see if there is a bunch of cold north pacific air coming our way (which it is for the weather hitting us this week.

Stay informed.  "Nature sets the terms, and you must choose to accept them."  "Do not expect to be rescued."  These are the words one must comprehend before summiting Mt. Shasta, and they apply to our special geographical location when there is no protective vegetation on the slopes above us.


On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

1. California Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:



Comment:  If someone could locate and post a seismograph link to our area, that would be great.  I'm sure there's one at UCSB.


2.  California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


3.  California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  You can access the really cool satellite showing smoke from all the fires.  You can find them on your own.  JW has posted the higher resolution hotspot maps from a mapping site (geomac I believe).  Geomac was a little tedious for me so I stopped using.


4.  National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  


5.  Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler



If you what to loop them, select that option.  This SW map is good for seeing what's coming our way, then the Vandenberg map tells you what may hit you in the next 30 min.  There are others that work too, but this is what I check first.


6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

Shasta Guy

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Feb 27, 2018, 9:38:10 PM2/27/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Earthquakes.  

Here is a map of USGS live seismographs in CA.  There are none in the SB area, but there are lots to choose from.  Just click on one of the dots, then click on the tiny graph to make it a full page.  


On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

1. California Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:



Comment:  If someone could locate and post a seismograph link to our area, that would be great.  I'm sure there's one at UCSB.


2.  California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


3.  California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  You can access the really cool satellite showing smoke from all the fires.  You can find them on your own.  JW has posted the higher resolution hotspot maps from a mapping site (geomac I believe).  Geomac was a little tedious for me so I stopped using.


4.  National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  


5.  Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler



If you what to loop them, select that option.  This SW map is good for seeing what's coming our way, then the Vandenberg map tells you what may hit you in the next 30 min.  There are others that work too, but this is what I check first.


6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

Shasta Guy

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Feb 27, 2018, 9:57:14 PM2/27/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Some Local Webcams

Santa Barbara County Fire Webcams:


HPWREN Web Santa Ynez Peak



On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

1. California Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:



Comment:  If someone could locate and post a seismograph link to our area, that would be great.  I'm sure there's one at UCSB.


2.  California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


3.  California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  You can access the really cool satellite showing smoke from all the fires.  You can find them on your own.  JW has posted the higher resolution hotspot maps from a mapping site (geomac I believe).  Geomac was a little tedious for me so I stopped using.


4.  National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  


5.  Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler



If you what to loop them, select that option.  This SW map is good for seeing what's coming our way, then the Vandenberg map tells you what may hit you in the next 30 min.  There are others that work too, but this is what I check first.


6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

SBitz

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Feb 28, 2018, 3:29:00 PM2/28/18
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Shasta Guy, thanks for starting this topic. Already we have a great collection of links thanks to contributions from other Members, and I'm hoping Shasta Guy may be willing to occasionally edit the first Post in this Topic to have just a brief intro to the Topic and a clean list of links organized by categories of some sort. That way people can keep posting new links they find, and noting any that vanish as things tend to do on the web. Then when the mood strikes, Shasta Guy can edit and maintain the list in the first Post. Whether you'd like to take that on or not, three cheers for Shasta Guy our hero of the local links! :)

I've "pinned" this Topic so it will stay at the top for the benefit of new Members and anyone who happens to check out SBitZ.NET as a source for local/regional info.

By way of a contribution to the links, here's one I like. It has a variety of satellite and radar products I find a little less annoying than most of the others, including the fact I can get a quick look with JavaScript turned off in my browser (for a bit more privacy/security and less annoying ads). Thumbnails of current key other products tell me at a glance what's going on out there.

Intellicast - http://www.intellicast.com/National/Satellite/Visible.aspx?location=USCA1017&enlarge=true
Here's a cropped and down-sized screencap showing how it looks right now, with wisps of cloud already approaching our North County.
Auto Generated Inline Image 1

Shasta Guy

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Feb 28, 2018, 8:57:17 PM2/28/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Thanks for your link, and the pleasure is all mine.  I'm not smart enough to figure out how to edit an old post yet, so I'll reorganize everything as a completely new post which can replace this one.  I'll figure out the old post editing later.  

On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

1. California Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:



Comment:  If someone could locate and post a seismograph link to our area, that would be great.  I'm sure there's one at UCSB.


2.  California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


3.  California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  You can access the really cool satellite showing smoke from all the fires.  You can find them on your own.  JW has posted the higher resolution hotspot maps from a mapping site (geomac I believe).  Geomac was a little tedious for me so I stopped using.


4.  National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  


5.  Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler



If you what to loop them, select that option.  This SW map is good for seeing what's coming our way, then the Vandenberg map tells you what may hit you in the next 30 min.  There are others that work too, but this is what I check first.


6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

SBitz

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Feb 28, 2018, 11:56:50 PM2/28/18
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I'll figure out the old post editing later.

When you're ready, it's not too tough. A post you created has an extra Edit option in the top-right pull-down menu. So to edit the first post in this Topic, which you created, just open that Post and click the Edit button in the pull-down menu. Here's a screencap of the Edit button in that menu for my reply to you, circled in red:
Auto Generated Inline Image 1

Shasta Guy

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Mar 1, 2018, 12:15:41 AM3/1/18
to Santa Barbara CitiZen Network
Thanks for the tip.  I decided to explore the icons, and I did find the edit tool.  I spent some time rearranging.  I made five categories, with the weather links being first.   Each category has large, bold text to make them easy to spot.  This is good start.  


On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

Thanks for everyone's input.  I've cleaned things up and organized it.   The nominal order is:  Weather, Fire, Earthquakes, Sun Activity, and Volcanoes.  I'll add more links as they are suggested, and I'll work to keep the format clean.  

Shasta Guy


1.  Weather Links

Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler.  You can select the option to loop them to get an idea of trend where the rain bands will go.  This is important if heavy precipitation is on the way.



This is a 8km animated IR map of the western US which gives an idea what may be coming our way in the next 24-48 hrs.   Things change a lot, and it can give a good idea how the rain will interact with ridge behind us.


This is a really nice multi-map of weather

Wind prediction map by Caltopo, with optional overlays for many things including terrain and maps of past fires. A little bit slow to load at first but very information. 

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.50761,-119.54558&z=12&b=hyb&a=modis_mp,wxd_wspd-01,wx 

Another real-time wind map by Windy.com, with overlay options.  This one is animated and has a different (and more attractive) interface than the Caltopo map. (Originally posted to SBitz.net by "Section Make8R" in December): 

https://www.windy.com/overlays?gfs,950h,34.153,-119.844,11,m:eCvacPS 

In depth weather discussion

http://weatherwest.com/archives/6072#disqus_thread




2.  Fire Links

California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  


National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  


3.  Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:

Here are earthquake maps.  If you feel a shake, check these out because it might have been nearby.



Here is a map of USGS live seismographs in CA.  There are none in the SB area, but there are lots to choose from.  Just click on one of the dots, then click on the tiny graph to make it a full page.  




4.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


5.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  

Section Make8R

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Mar 4, 2018, 11:11:57 PM3/4/18
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 Heres a few visual links, I like these for quick no fooling around.  The GOES satellites are putting out tons of great info.
 

The next one is the approximate weather map, highs N lows etc, which helps me to "somewhat" figure things out.


I've been trying to follow the various "free" versions of the GFS and Euro models, but it seems easier to just watch the weather pros on either weather channel or local folks sort them out.  

Thank you for this summary page, Shasta Guy!!! Links Mike H.  and S Bitz for helping us out.   




 

Shasta Guy

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Mar 5, 2018, 12:15:47 AM3/5/18
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I appreciate the links!  I plan on adding new links later in the week.  I'm also looking for suggestions on new categories.  I'm not an ocean person, so links on tide charts and wave conditions would be be great for the surfers and sailers.  I'm going to break off hydrology from weather to create links for rain fall, lake levels, and etc.  I made a big push for the coming storm, but I want to be ready for the next event.  Thanks for your enthusiasm and spread the word.  

Shasta Guy

Dan Rhodes

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Mar 6, 2018, 6:00:29 PM3/6/18
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SBitz

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Mar 15, 2018, 3:57:37 PM3/15/18
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Ventura County's rainfall map web page (http://www.vcwatershed.net/fws/gmap.html) shows SB County and the main Southern CA counties, with lots of options including those in the "three dots" (...) menu at the top-left.  I've added it to my weather bookmarks.  It shows the rain event that hammered LA County and led to a mudslide road closure in the wee hours this morning.

Shasta Guy

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Mar 15, 2018, 8:35:57 PM3/15/18
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Thanks for the great map!  It's more user friendly than navigating the SB county watershed site.

Last night's rain was a bit concerning.  Since Mission Creek is now flowing per Edhat, it means the water tables are rising and the soil is saturating.  We have another rain event tomorrow, and hopefully it won't be the one that breaks the camel's back.  

The links seem to be getting some traction which is fun.  

Take Care.

nerodia

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Mar 16, 2018, 1:29:10 AM3/16/18
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Weather - lots to explore here



On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 11:02:08 AM UTC-8, Shasta Guy wrote:
Santa Barbara Weather Links and other Natural Phenomena Here

The purpose of this post is for everyone to start posting their websites they turn to for understanding weather, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena that affect us here in and around SB.  The Zaca fire is what led me to Edhat which was convenient to get info casually, however, as we all know it can get overloaded making access impossible.  Last year when the Edhat blackout happened, I resorted to beefing up my personal set of links.  Thanks to John setting up this forum to discussion.  I appreciate intelligent discussion, I disdain the army of trolls on Edhat, and I'm a "live and let live" and "let's agree to disagree" kind of person.

Thanks for everyone's input.  I've cleaned things up and organized it.   The nominal order is:  Weather, Rainfall & Reservoir data, Webcams, Fire, Earthquakes, Sun Activity, and Volcanoes, .  I'll add more links as they are suggested, and I'll work to keep the format clean.  

Some links you'll need to paste in your browser, sorry.

Shasta Guy


1.  Weather Links

Southwest Regional Doppler Radar and Vandenburg Doppler.  You can select the option to loop them to get an idea of trend where the rain bands will go.  This is important if heavy precipitation is on the way.



This is a 8km animated IR map of the western US which gives an idea what may be coming our way in the next 24-48 hrs.   Things change a lot, and it can give a good idea how the rain will interact with ridge behind us.


This is a really nice multi-map of weather

Wind prediction map by Caltopo, with optional overlays for many things including terrain and maps of past fires. A little bit slow to load at first but very information. 

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.50761,-119.54558&z=12&b=hyb&a=modis_mp,wxd_wspd-01,wx 

Another real-time wind map by Windy.com, with overlay options.  This one is animated and has a different (and more attractive) interface than the Caltopo map. (Originally posted to SBitz.net by "Section Make8R" in December): 

https://www.windy.com/overlays?gfs,950h,34.153,-119.844,11,m:eCvacPS 

Accuweather:


Weather in Motion:


In depth weather discussion



 Heres a few visual links, I like these for quick no fooling around.  The GOES satellites are putting out tons of great info.
 

The next one is the approximate weather map, highs N lows etc, which helps me to "somewhat" figure things out.




2.  Santa Barbara Hydrology

This is a regional interactive rainfall map from Ventura County via JW:


It shows SB County and the main Southern CA counties, with lots of options including those in the "three dots" (...) menu at the top-left.  Choose the accumulation time that you want, and zoom in on the Santa Barbara area.  It's really deluxe in my opinion.  

3.  Webcams

This link will take you to traffic cams in our area.  You may need to move the map and expand the Santa Barbara area.  You then select the camera icon you want.  Linking to individual cameras does not work.  


Santa Barbara County Fire Webcams:


HPWREN Web Santa Ynez Peak



4.  Fire Links

California Fire Incidents via US Forest Service:


There usually is a delay between when smoke is first spotted and when fire is named and starts showing up as an incident.  this is where to go to get the updated perimeter maps of a fire which are posted in the morning and sometimes updated at the end of the day.


California Fire Detection Map


Once you click this, you'll then need to click the JPEG image button then click the image to enlarge the map.  This just shows detected hotspots all over the state.  


National Situational Awareness Map


I found this one during the Thomas Fire which compiles hotspot detects and puts them on an area topo map.  I really liked it.  Because there are no fires in our area it just looks like a topo map.  I used this map to assess the Thomas Fire risk for my neighborhood.  

I found this twitter account to have the best live coverage of the actual Thomas fire around.  They had a webcam on their tower and were monitoring and summarizing radio traffic.



5.  Earthquake activity, and Santa Barbara Quad:

Here are earthquake maps.  If you feel a shake, check these out because it might have been nearby.



Here is a map of USGS live seismographs in CA.  There are none in the SB area, but there are lots to choose from.  Just click on one of the dots, then click on the tiny graph to make it a full page.  




6.  Space Weather and Sunspots



These give updates on coronal mass ejections, and image of the sunspots on the sun, and plots of the sun spot count.  Based on sunspot counts, we are entering a new grand solar minimum.  Solar minimums, especially grand solar minimums, result in global cooling via increased cloud cover.  Our current sunspot numbers are lower than the 1970's when the media when crazy about the "Coming New Ice Age"  I'll probably put those links in a separate post.  It will provoke intelligent discussion, but it will also release the Kraken in terms of trolls.  I once posted one comment on Edhat related to this, and I should have just said that I like torturing puppies instead.


7.  Cascade Volcanic Activity and Mount Shasta



The first link shows the earthquake activity for the Cascade volcanos.  You can use this website to link to seismographs on the individual mountains or see the earthquake trend.  Currently Mount Saint Helens is perking up an ongoing series of earthquake clusters.  The second link is the live webcam for the fairest Volcano of them all, Mount Shasta.  I'm from Northern California, and Shasta is my second home.  





nerodia

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Mar 16, 2018, 1:42:12 AM3/16/18
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Shasta Guy

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Mar 16, 2018, 9:29:25 AM3/16/18
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Thanks, especially for the lightning link.  Several years ago in Northern California there was dry summer storm that resulted in a couple thousand lightning strikes.  The result was the initiation of dozens of fires that took months to get control of.  I remember seeing a map of all the strikes.  I'll get these added to the main list soon.
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