posted 01-21-2010 08:03 PM ET (US)        

The last storm brought a pretty stiff westerly in its wake. I went down to Dana Harbor to take some pictures and found this guy having the time of his life. The boat's for sale, so I'm only assuming it's a sea trial. He didn't venture too far from the harbor mouth.

posted 01-21-2010 09:41 PM ET (US)            

My brother in San Diego got a 16" diameter tree through his
house this morning. Nobody hurt, but the master bath is
smashed.

And it ain't wrapped up yet, at least up north.

.TONIGHT...W WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
W SWELL 15 TO 17 FT AT 14 SECONDS. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS.
.FRI...NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
W SWELL 14 TO 16 FT AT 14 SECONDS. SHOWERS LIKELY AND SLIGHT
CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS.
.FRI NIGHT...S WINDS 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 15 TO 17 FT AT 16 SECONDS.
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS.
.SAT...SE WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING S IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 16 TO 18 FT.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
.SAT NIGHT...NW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING E AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 14 TO 16 FT.
.SUN...SE WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT.
W SWELL 8 TO 10 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.
.MON...SE WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 6 FT.
W SWELL 10 TO 12 FT. RAIN LIKELY.
.TUE...NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
W SWELL 10 TO 12 FT. CHANCE OF RAIN.

We had the first "storm warning" (above a "gale warning) I
can ever remember earlier this week. I worked from home two
days just because it was so ugly.

posted 01-22-2010 04:55 AM ET (US)            

This is a photograph taken of the water spout just off the coast of Huntington Beach on 1/18/2010.

http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/Nantucket_Sleighride/ ?action=view¤t=HuntingtonBeachWaterspout.gif

At noon today I took this photograph of several sloops that washed up on East Beach in Santa Barbara. Currently there are 6 boats on our local beach's.

http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/Nantucket_Sleighride/ ?action=view¤t=IMG_006.jpg

This is clearly not the week to be testing out my new Prop on the Honda 90.

All the very best.

posted 01-22-2010 09:42 PM ET (US)            

I would love to have taken that photograph of the water spout.
In truth that image was attached to an email that I received yesterday.

I did take the photograph of the 3 boats stranded on the beach in Santa Barbara.

You may be interested to know that moments after taking that photograph Santa Barbara was hit with a micro burst of cold air. It took me less than 5-minutes to walk from the beach to my Jeep and in that time I was pummeled with rain and then hail!

I moved from Massachusetts to Santa Barbara in 1979 following the Blizzard of 1978. This is only the 2nd time in 31 years that I have seen HAIL in Santa Barbara. I moved here to avoid these weather extremes and I have not shoveled snow since then.

Bill