10/13/09 - Big Rain Storm

It started out last night with us waiting for it - even taunting it a bit I think.

This time however, the forecast was right on. SJSU Alum Jan Null called it a 9 out of 10.

I went to work after some bail-out around my door.

Nice and slow today. No time to drive fast.

I'm a weather geek for sure and wanted to go follow the crews at the Mabury Yard seeing how they respond. Nothing has changed...

I rode around with a seasoned veteran of the storm sewer system. No it wasn't Ed Norton of the Honeymooners - close, but, not quite. I guess you can be him for Halloween, in case you're wondering what to dress up as.

I know a bit about stream courses from my study of geography and geology; but, learned a shit load more about the local urban streams in San Jose today. It was epic for sure. Very wet, very tropical.

It all comes together here. Epic rains from the Santa Cruz Mountains fill streams with water in pulses. Mt. Umunhum got 11 inches at the summit. That feeds the Guadalupe.

The Guadalupe River was OK with the empty dams from summer and everything, but the local sheet flow systems were hurting. The last thing to empty in the stream hierarchy, it appeared today at least, is the curb and gutter system.

The street runoff - across the flattened surfaces gets bypassed by streams too full. It doesn't matter that the water runs to a grate in the street; it gets shut down if the channel it empties into is more than full. This is to prevent back flow up to the surface level.

I know this aint' too exciting for most folks - no one reads this anyways.

However, I was stoked. My job is rad! All praises - especially for the times when it is tough and I forget about this. The co-worker I tagged along with asked me what I got out of this. I get a chance to see the process up close. My job title is geographic system specialist, not GIS specialist. There is a crucial distinction. And many lose sight of this... So, I'm trying to hold that part down, actually watching the people I'm supposed to support do what they do.

I also pondered about how to predict the pulsing flows of water and how we might use this information - along with very accurate weather forecasting and knowledge, to help us do better when crazy shit happens, like today.

The first action of the year and it brings significant rain fall. Statistics:

• Roughly 2.5 inches at San Jose Airport. The annual average rainfall for San Jose is only something like 15 inches.
• Santa Cruz Mountains in San Lorenzo Valley average something like 55 inches/year.
• Boulder Creek pushed 10 inches today...
• 1/5th of the average in one storm!
  

In San Jose, while it might not rain as much; the problem is that our streams process much of this water as it drains down the east side of the mountains.

Should be an exciting winter! Shit, it's only less than one month into fall!