La Nina building this fall

LA NINA UPDATE Oct 2011

A weak La Nina condition remains in place across the Central Pacific in early Fall, with sea surface temperatures in the region at least .5 degrees below normal. The condition is expected to strengthen a bit as we head from fall into winter, but remain weaker than last season’s La Nina. A La Nina condition, even a weak one, is expected to mean a colder and wetter winter in the Pacific Northwest and a drier season in the Southwest. Sitting between these two, Tahoe is dependent on the whims of each storm and how far the jet stream dips south. Last season, of course, we got nearly every storm that came off the Pacific. One thing that should be true is that we are less likely to see the kind of big, warm, wet storm that comes off the Southern Pacific. The storms we do get will tend to be smaller, and colder, but they can add up, and they can bump up against each other to produce plenty of powder.

Home Care & Maintenance Tips for Summer

By Dan Sheehan….

Houses in Lake Tahoe do not have it easy. In the summer they endure the high altitude dry climate and some very intense sunshine. In the fall and winter the area’s homes endure the rain, snow, wind and cold weather. Basically homes here take a beating. As a building/remodeling contractor I have seen how Tahoe homes become weathered and damaged over time. More importantly; I have learned about some of the things you can do to prolong the life of your home, avoid some headaches and save money and value in your home.

It sure is nice having a roof over our heads.

A part of the house that typically does not require too much maintenance and should (given good design) need little attention is the roof. What I have recognized is that homeowners usually do not take care of their roofs until they have a leak. Sometimes a simple leak can become a huge problem when it damages your interior. This can become an especially large problem if you do not live in your home full time and water has been penetrating your interior for a prolonged period. So be sure to have a professional take a look at your roof during the summer to see if there may be some areas that could become problem and address them now rather than the middle of winter.

Don’t stub your toes on those deck screws.

A common thing I see are decks that are in need of maintenance. Decks have gravity working against them in that water and snow just sit on them for long periods of time. Once a deck board starts cracking it usually becomes a larger problem if you do not do some things to stabilize the situation; like tightening up and replacing screws. Once water and snow gets into a cracked piece of wood it then goes through a process of freezing and thawing and expansion and contraction.

Water is really strange how it reacts to temperatures in regards to volume. As water cools it condenses in volume till it reaches 39 F then it begins to expand in volume till the temperature hits freezing (32F) then it expands dramatically. So when water gets into places and goes through this process it usually causes damage to whatever it is infiltrating be it wood or concrete. To prevent this from happening, the most important thing is to make sure the deck boards are properly fastened to the decks framing and that your deck is properly coated with stain or oil. Be sure to go over your decking and replace any screws that need replacing and add more as needed. And of course be sure to countersink and screws that are protruding above the surface so you don’t catch your toes on them!

Do not let your home get dehydrated

The most common problem I see is with siding. If siding is not maintained properly its integrity will be compromised and eventually lead to the need for replacement. The paint, stain or oil which encapsulates or coats your siding is what protects it from the elements. When wooden siding is not properly protected then it degrades at an accelerated pace. It starts out by looking dry and thirsty, and then cracks. As the rain, snow and sun affect the composition of the wood and water penetrate the cracks the water freezes and the faults become bigger to the point siding is literally falling off the house.

I see it over and over again when a new home is built it is oiled once and that is it. Raw wood is like a sponge and it can only absorb so much at once and it is best to come back and do it again on a more regular basis until its coating is established. If you have a new home with stain or oil as a coating it should be fully gone over again the following summer and again a few years later, then maybe every 8-10 years. Be sure to go over and sink any nails that are loose and add more where needed. Also be sure all your door, window, corner and other trim is securely fastened and replace any pieces that are failing. It is also a good idea to properly caulk around any doors windows and other areas where you have breaks in the shell to prevent water from getting in and doing its damage.

It is much better to maintain home regularly so that you avoid incurring more costly repairs down the road. This not only applies to your roof, siding and decking but any component of your home, inside and out.

Dan Sheehan is a Lake Tahoe General Contractor. His company DS Construction stays busy repairing, maintaining & remodeling homes in and around the Tahoe City/Truckee area. You can read more from Dan at his construction blog.

Snowpack 106 percent of normal

The storms in the final week of March have left the Sierra’s snow pack at just above normal for this time of year, according to the latest snow survey taken Thursday. The water content of the snowpack is at 106 percent, the Department of Water Resources said. Last year at this time it was 81 percent. This AP story has more, and details on what this means for water deliveries to Central Valley farmers.

Where they’re feeling El Nino the most

Tahoe seems to be having a fairly average year, weather wise. But that doesn’t mean El Nino has been a bust. It’s actually going into the books as a fairly storng event, and the heavy rains in the SoCal and dry conditions for the BC games in Whistler are a testament to that. Tahoe sits between these extremes. See more in this story in the San Diego Union Tribune.

El Nino update: Likely to last through spring

The latest monthly update on El Nino conditions has been posted by the US Climate Prediction Center. They note that the condition was strong through December and into January and seems likely to hold on through most of the spring. By late spring, the center predicts, ocean temperatures will return to a neutral condition, neither El Nino nor La Nina. Weather impacts, meanwhile, will likely be a continued dry spell in the Northwest and wetter than normal conditions in the southern US, including Southern California. As usual with El Nino, Tahoe sits on the cusp and its weather is dictated by the micro-details of each storm and the position of the jet stream from week to week. Here are the key paragraphs from the Center’s report:

Nearly all models predict decreasing SST anomalies in the Niño-3.4 region through 2010, and
model spread increases at longer lead times (Fig. 6). Nearly half of the models indicate the 3-month
Niño-3.4 SST anomaly will drop below +0.5°C around April-May-June 2010, indicating a transition to
ENSO-neutral conditions during Northern Hemisphere spring. However, predicting the timing of this
transition is highly uncertain.

El Niño impacts are expected to last into the Northern Hemisphere spring, even as equatorial SST
departures decrease, partly due to the typical warming that occurs between now and April/May (Fig. 3).
Expected impacts during February-April 2010 include drier-than-average conditions over Indonesia and
enhanced convection over the central equatorial Pacific Ocean, which will likely expand eastward and
influence portions of the eastern tropical Pacific, as well as coastal sections of Peru and Ecuador. For the
contiguous United States, potential El Niño impacts include above-average precipitation for the southern
tier of the country, with below-average precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley. Belowaverage
snowfall and above-average temperatures are most likely across the northern tier of states
(excluding New England), while below-average temperatures are favored for the south-central and
southeastern states.

You can read the whole thing here.

Tahoe water temp on the rise

The water temperature of Lake Tahoe has been rising over time, potentially making the lake more hospitable to invasive species of plants and animals, according to a new study by researchers from NASA and UC Davis. You can read about it here.

Sierra snowpack greater than average for end of January

One week of heavy snowfall has brought California’s snowpack above normal for this time of year, according to the latest readings from the state Department of Water Resources.

Manual and electronic readings on Friday showed the water content in California’s mountain snowpack is 115 percent of normal for the date statewide. This time last year, snow water content was 61 percent of normal statewide.

“Today’s snow survey offers us some cautious optimism as we continue to play catch-up with our statewide water supplies,” said DWR chief deputy director Sue Sims.

The snow depth at Phillips Station near Echo Summit was 62.6 inches Friday, with 20.3 inches of water content. That’s 106 percent of normal for the end of January.

But state water officials say that, because the reservoirs are still low, a dry end to the winter and spring could still put California back into a drought condition.

“We are still looking at the real possibility of a fourth dry year,” Sims said. “Even if California is blessed with a healthy snowpack, we must learn to always conserve this finite resource so that we have enough water for homes, farms, and businesses in 2010 and in the future.”

Lake Oroville, the main storage reservoir for the State Water Project (SWP) is at 33 percent of capacity, and 50 percent of average storage for this time of year. Lake Shasta, the principal storage reservoir for the federal Central Valley Project, is at 56 percent of capacity, and 82 percent of average for the date.

El Nino update: levelling off?

After several weeks of upward movement, temperatures in the subtropical Pacific declined a tick relative to the average in the week ending Jan. 4. Sea surface temperatures in the area climatologists know as “region 3.4″ declined to 1.8 degrees Celsius above average, down from 1.9 degrees above average the week before. We’ll have to see where they go from here, but many forecasters have been expecting the El Nino condition to peak in January and begin a slow decline. Such a movement, if it materializes, would still leave us a with a moderate El Nino event for the rest of the winter, and the possibility of above average precipitation in California, especially Southern California. The temperatures for the three-month period of October, November and December averaged 1.5 degrees C above average, the highest anomaly for any three-month period since the same three-month period in 2002. The last time we saw a bigger spread was 1998.

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