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A Windswept Path of Carnage

The normally tranquil beaches of Santa Barbara became a graveyard for wayward boats last week.

© 2010 David ‘Bear’ Turpin

With rain so intense that you can literally get soaked to the skin just walking from your front door to your car, it’s truly ironic to realize that we’re still officially suffering a drought. And you don’t need us to tell you that the deluge will continue this week along the California coast. But at least this week’s storms won’t be as intense as last week’s.

“We’re not in Kansas anymore.” Observers might have thought they’d stumbled into a scene from the ‘Wizard of OZ’ when this funnel cloud touched down off the Huntington Beach Pier last Tuesday.

© 2010 A. Nony Mouse

From the Bay Area to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, torrential downpours combined with high winds to wreak havoc both on land and on the water. Here in San Francisco Bay, boats dragged anchor and/or broke loose of their moorings, just as they did in Santa Barbara and San Carlos, Mexico, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Cortez. Newport Beach saw wind gusts over 100 mph, while winds at San Carlos may have been even higher (if you’re in San Carlos, shoot us an email with your account of what happened, including photos if you have them). In Tuscon, AZ, 280 miles away, one gust was clocked at 158 mph. Now that’s what we call a fresh breeze. So be careful out there, and hang onto your hats!

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