(Sigh) Yet Another Storm Northern Mexico

Thank you RUSS! Since I now fly or use Mex 57 I have not stayed current. Those sections used to close flooded which was a logistical hardship for locals.

But it looks for sure that the tropical depression is going to force closure of Mex 1 for a day or so. Reason: Flooded VADOS arroyo bottom submergence of pavement. The big question is: Will this flood Mulege again? Mexican friends are hoping to drive up from the Vizcaino peninsula on Sunday, but I have my doubts.

The National Weather Service is convinced there are "mountains" across the peninsula in Sergio's path. Sorry, but any flooding north of Sta Rosalia would be due to generally heavy rain mountains or no.

If the Contreras' report that the roads are blocked I'll pass it along...

At EIGHT O'Clock PM on Thursday, Sergio came ashore. There is no "Friday" except for remnants racing across the gulf as almost dissipated.

RESULT

Flooded roadways Mex 1 should fully re-open in a day or two*.
There are reports of flooded roadways on the mainland. Same answer.
Take care. Wet subsoil and overloaded trucks = potholes and broken pavement
Boulders fall days later in steep highway cuts.

The images I posted UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY so what you see are current conditions.

*My friends the Contreras' are departing mid peninsula to come north in a one ton van this Sunday.

Sixteen one hundredths of an inch of total precipitation and a recorded maximum wind gust of twenty one miles per hour. Bahia Asuncion. The pesceros (fishermen) and marineros (crewmen) estimated the maximum wave height as less than 2 meters. This is open ocean. Deluges were spotty. Vizcaino, and Sn Ignacio saw a lot more rain. Mulege, the Rio de Sta Rosalia rose about two feet. The storm came ashore 28 hours earlier than predicted.

We got a big surprise from Sergio, it was way south of us when it made it to Sonora but it dumped 6" of rain on Cholla Bay just outside of Penasco. It washed out roads and flooded low lying houses. We are in the process of digging out now and in just one day most of the road repairs are done too. Now we probably won't see rain again for another year. In the last 2 storms Rosa and Sergio Penasco has received more than 4 years worth of annual rainfall. I am sure our aquifers are totally full.

And that is the blessed part. It supposedly drenched the Copper Canyon. An extreme drought area. I have perhaps too soft a heart. To see rail thin cattle (ribs) laying down beside highway standing pools of water blissfully chewing their cud from untold acres of new green grass makes me smile. They fatten within a month or two. Mountain lions take a terrible toll on brerrendos, wild desert antelope. The lions haunt the tinacas, the troughs of water for cattle. Standing pools will give the prey a respite.

Flowers please the eye and feed the bees. Wild desert honey is dark and superb. It is collected then sold to appreciative customers.

We are in Tucson and received a lot of hard rain Saturday night. More is coming all week. We had hoped to head to Kino but wonder about road conditions on the toll road. Miguel Aleman is a big lake. El Imparcial says that San Carlos, Guaymas and Penasco were the hardest hit. The "Civil Protection" in Penasco is asking for the area to be declared a disaster zone. Sonora needed rain but not like this. So many of he homes are built in low lying areas and are Casas de Carton. Heavy rain "dissolves" those homes. Kino has some areas that are below sea level. I feel for the residents. Hard enough to exist in poverty without a natural disaster.
Moisheh

Moisheh my comments failed to include several the other weather systems at work. Sergio went through Texas. We got rain yesterday and will continue to get rain (as will San Diego)

Last night was 9 degrees cooler here than the night before. All this from Sergio? No. Tucson is scheduled to see some areas in the high forties for a low temp on Wednesday. Sergio? The summer Monsoons? No.

A sneaker weather system hit. Forecasters did not see it here in extreme northern Mexico and neither did the NWS. The temp here has dropped twenty degrees for an afternoon high.

So, condemning my wish for the Copper Canyon should not be included with the effects of a confluence of multiple weather systems. Sergio is long dead and we are getting cold rain. The rain is moving east across California while northern California basks in temps in the mid-eighties. Twenty degrees warmer than here.

The problem is with a politically oriented National Weather Service. They utterly failed to see our weather coming, two weeks ago, a week ago and today was clearly explained to be 100% sunny and it is 100% overcast, cool and rainy.

I was hoping for the best.

Here is what I have learned. The road from Nogales to HMO is fine. Just lots of construction. The roads in HMO are bad as usual. But lots of new huge potholes. Some heaves that would play havoc with an RV and some flooding. WE willtry to get home on Tuesday.

Moisheh