Weather

A Glorious Moment to Warm a Fog-Chilled Soul

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Bernal Heights Fog With Sunset

The weather for the last few days has been an overcast soup. That can be a downer at times, which is all the more reason why it’s important to appreciate those moments of grandeur that occur when fog meets sun and a crazy cosmic swirling dance ensues. Jeff Rueppel captured one such moment on Bernal Hill last week:

Eleven years ago, give or take a day I moved to San Francisco. A couple of years in Colorado and travels else where, it’s been my home since then. One of the most amazing things most about this place is the fog. Other places have clouds, or weather if you want, but I haven’t been anywhere else with fog like San Francisco. In the summer when it comes in from the Pacific and crawls over Twin peaks it’s something different. Almost alive, it pushes it’s way into the city through valleys and over the Golden Gate. I’ve always wanted to catch a photo of it doing it’s thing over the city just when the sun gets behind it and brings it to life. Cassi’s dog and I hiked up here tonight with a pack of cameras and fought though the cold wind for 15 minutes to try and make photos. We got at least one I like.

Fantastic photo. Do yourself a favor and view it large!

PHOTO: Jeff Rueppel

Sunset Report: Warm Night Delivers Perfect Light

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Just Another Perfect Sunset

Just Another Perfect SunsetRecall, we began the month of June with a freakish rain storm. Now we mark the official start of summer with weather that is actually rather summer-like. So bizarre! So surprising! So seductive. So… WARM!

Indeed, last night was particularly lovely, with balmy air, no wind, and no fog. So I headed up to the Hill to grab a few snaps.

Just Another Perfect SunsetBlessedly, tonight’s forecast looks just as warm and pleasant, which is good news for this evening’s Summer Stroll on Cortland. See you there.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Totally Insane “Eye of the Storm” Sunset on Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Spiral Sunset

In cased you missed it, sunset on Saturday evening was crazy off-the-hook for serious. Bernal Hill provided (per usual) an excellent vantage point from which to view the madness, which was caused by the same whack-job storm system that give us last night’s record-setting June (!!!) rainfall. (Sing along: “Kooooyaaaaaaanisqatsiiiiii”)

This weather front is bonkers, but it is also extremely well organized, spinning out in a spiral-shaped pinwheel that put Bernalwood in the eye of the storm right around sunset:

It’s even nuttier in the animated satellite view.

The setting sun lit up all those spiralling cloud loops as they surrounded our City, providing amazing texture and color. This was the scene:

Spiral Sunset

Lord Sutro looked dazzling:Spiral Sunset

The ridgeline just below Twin Peaks was glowing pink:
Spiral Sunset

One Rincon and the Bay Bridge were a colorful couple:
Spiral Sunset

South Van Ness looked exceptionally arterial:
Spiral Sunset

Our own Microwave Tower seemed rather rakish:
Spiral Sunset

The Spaghetti Bowl was a tangle of colors:
Spiral Sunset

And Bernal Heights Boulevard was delightfully apocalyptic:
Spiral Sunset

Lastly, here’s a 360-degree video, to help put it all in perspective. (Add your own “Double rainbow all the way!” soundtrack):

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Rainbow Alert!! Rainbow Alert!! Rainbow Alert!!

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Bernalwood Rainbow!

We interrupt this neighborhood weblog to bring you an important announcement:

Moments ago, the Bernalwood Atmospheric Team confirmed the presence of a very large rainbow to the west, arching over La Lengua and Sutro Tower.

Be advised that residents in those areas may experience moments of euphoria today, with occasional pots of gold at rainbow termination points. Remain calm and carry on. This concludes today’s activation of the Bernal Rainbow Alert System.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Spring is Here

/ David Gallagher

Did anybody notice how the temperature rose 10 degrees on Wednesday afternoon?

One minute, I’m sitting in the shade at the Giants’ game thinking that I should put my jacket on, then suddenly there’s a warm wind blowing in my face. (No, I wasn’t at the hot dog stand.) Anyway… that, and other signs, can only mean one thing.

Meanwhile, Will Bernalwood Get Hit By a Radioactive Cloud?

/ Todd_Lappin


It goes without saying that the situation in Japan is upsetting. As fellow fault-dwellers, most of us feel a spontaneous sympathy toward others who endure the calamity and loss of an earthquake — and a 9.0 is a VERY big quake.

Then there was the tsunami. Luckily, that’s not too much of a danger for us, because a) Unlike Japan, most of California’s faults are located onshore, and b) We live on a hill that’s shielded from the ocean by an even bigger hill.

But Japan’s crisis may yet arrive on our front doors. Thanks to the out-of-control nuclear power plant at Fukushima (which, it should be remembered, was crippled by the tsunami, and not by the earthquake) it’s entirely possible that the disaster could reach us here — in the form of a radioactive cloud.

The experts say we probably don’t have too much to fear. But if you want to monitor the situation from the safety and comfort of your own fallout shelter, visit a special site created by the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Austria. They’ve built a series of animated maps that model the dispersion of the radioactive cloud. So far, we sit just beyond the nuke cloud’s reach:

But if things get even nastier at Fukushima, Bernalwood residents might want to check these maps regularly to know when it’s time to take precautions.