Snow in the Sierras this Weekend

There's a winter storm coming to California today through this weekend. Here in the SF Bay Area that means rain and cooler than normal temperatures. In the Sierra Nevada mountains that means snow. And this storm is expected to bring a lot of snow— up to 10 feet (3 meters). Here's a forecast chart I saw this morning from the National Weather Service (NWS):



As an aside, I really like this diagram. One of my areas of study in grad school many years ago was the visual representation of data. This diagram is much more interesting than the typical chart snowing a map with color coding indicating amount of snowfall predicted. This one doesn't cover as large a geographical area but it does kind of tell a story: If you were to drive on Interstate 80 over the Sierra Nevada, how much new snowfall would you encounter?

For anyone who's actually driven I-80 a bunch of times (raises hand) the names of towns on this chart are all recognizable and help with visualization. Auburn, for example, is 30 miles west of downtown Sacramento. It's the first town you hit after leaving the Sac metro area and ascending into the foothills, at about 1,000' elevation. Colfax is a smaller town further up. And Donner Pass is, of course, the highest point on the road. (Always bring food to Donner Pass, you'll feed everyone one way or another.)

As for weather here in the SF Bay Area.... This storm is not one of the "Atmospheric River" or "Pineapple Express" rainstorms we often get in the winter. Instead of coming straight across the Pacific Ocean and hitting the coast (i.e., us) first this one's sweeping down from Alaska following jet stream as it bends south. The Sierras will get the brunt of it, we'll get a lighter version. Forecasts are predicting maybe an inch of rain locally with high temperatures low in the 50s— much cooler than normal for the start of March. So much for lazy yellow journalists trying to tell us winter is over.

More Comparisons to Make You Feel Old

Yesterday I wrote about how comparing things to memorable dates can make you feel old. For example, do you remember the Apple Macintosh? (I do.) Well, the Apple Macintosh launched closer to WWII than to today. 😳

That's a form of comparison I described as "X happened closer to Y than to today." Another type of comparison that can make you feel old is to consider what would happen if memorable TV shows or movies about times past were remade today.

Back to the Future, 2024 edition

For example, Back to the Future was released in 1985. If it were remade today (2024), it would feature hero Marty McFly traveling back in time to... 1994.



Marty would be like, "Hey, where can I get on the Internet?"

And he'd cringe when old-time Doc Brown says, "Oh, you mean AOL?"

Then he'd meet his parents at a high school dance listening to oldies music from Ace of Base and Salt-n-Pepa.

Okay, let's try another one.

That '00s Show

If they remade That 70s Show today it'd be That 00s Show. The teen nostalgia show that aired from 1998 to 2006 portrayed the years 1976-1979. So today it'd premier with teens living in 2002.



Teens in That 00s Show would be sitting in someone's parents' basement together after school sharing their fears about more 9-11 style attacks, lockdown drills, the war in Afghanistan, and whether the US would invade other countries, too, like Iraq.

They'd be trash-talking about which movie, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, each of which had just been released months earlier, was better.

The kids would likely have internet access to help pass the time... but it would be slow because it'd be a dial-up connection. The warble of the modem connecting would be a regular sound effect indicating what was happening. And somebody's mom picking up the phone and breaking the connection while downloading music illegally would be a regular trope. Oh, and in later seasons the kids would discover this great new teens-focused service, MySpace. 🤣