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Saturday 11/24/12 [Weather] and [Flight Articles]
Saturday Flight Articles by [Sundowner] [Ron Faoro] [Chris Grantham]
Sunday Flight Articles by [Aaron] [Chris Grantham]

Weather Archive and Summary for Saturday, 11/24/12

Good day in Ojai. 3 Suburban trips carted 20 pilots plus 2 tandem passengers to launch. 24 people total including the two truck crews, John Kloer and Vince (the FlyAboveAll truck made 2 trips).

Fading weak Santa Anna event with very little wind at altitude. There was a pronounced sharp and shallow marine layer protruding into the Oxnard plain up to Camarillo, but the coast was clear from Ventura up through Santa Barbara and reportedly a good beach day. It was warm at altitude, but the valley floor heated up in Ojai for a better than average lapse rate, but not strong. SB was reportedly weak, but Scotty made it through the Pass from Santa Barbara to land at Nordhoff. Hammer turned around earlier due to the weak conditions, but it got better for Scotty at Noon Peak. Scotty reported light flow from the SW. In Ojai, it was light from the east up higher and light from the SW down lower.

The Santa Anna drainage down the Santa Clara river finally let up as the flow switch upriver, but not until late in the day as noted in the archived station observations. There was pretty solid drainage down the 33 as the early bus made it's way up from Matilija to Rose Valley, but the middle of Rose Valley was calm. We check the wind at the Nordhoff Ridge road tee and it was light up from the south about 3 to 5 at 9:15 am.

Climb rates in Ojai were weaker down low and better above 45ish, but not strong. There was typical punchy air down low at Nordhoff, but sweet thermals between 5 and 6K. The thermals at Chiefs and the repeater were big and buoyant above 45, but there was some struggling down lower. Top of the lift grew throughout the day, in the low 5s early, above 7K in convergence over the Repeater during peak heat, and lowering again late in the afternoon. Pilot were airborne from 10 am through 3 pm. There was still lift at 3 pm, but it was getting weak. Official sunrise was 6:40 and published sunset was 4:48.

Several Pilots went to the Topa Bluffs, and one made it back to the West side of White Ledge. Most landed at the High School, and wind mill field.

Pre-Flight Postings
copied from http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2702

Ojai Saturday 11/24
by sd » Thursday Nov 22, 2012 11:51 am

The best opportunity this weekend may be launching from Ojai Saturday. Projections are calling for a mild Santa Anna event to clear the marine layered stratification Friday through Sunday with Ojai's surface temperature peaking Saturday before falling Sunday and Monday as the marine influence ebbs back in. The lapse rate will hopefully be better than average with a temperature spread from the surface to 6K in the mid 20s. Ojai has a history of good altitude on Santa Anna days when potential convergence sets up. The flow at altitude is forecast to be mild from the ENE, perhaps more so Friday compared to Saturday, but not excessive in Ojai either day. Trekking westbound may be downwind.

My preference would be to ride a bus to launch if one of the schools is tractoring up. If not, the Nuthouse hike may offer an opportunity to burn off some of Thursday's turkey. I'll keep an eye on the indicators and update Saturday morning. Friday may work also, with more tailwind and convergence potential, but I can only budget one day.

by Chris G » Thursday Nov 22, 2012 8:14 pm

Fly Above All will be running a truck up to Chief's on Saturday. Space is limited and we were packed full today. If necessary we may do a double-run leaving the HS at 8. The second run would leave around 10. If you're up for the 8 AM run, to guarantee a seat and be on launch early, let us know so we can schedule it.

Let's send it through the pass!!

Friday Report & Saturday Meet Times
by sd » Friday Nov 23, 2012 5:14 pm

Initial reports from Ojai on Friday indicate a full boat launched from Chiefs around noonish. Most pilots flew back to Nordhoff high school. Max altitudes were in the upper sixes. Chris Grantham will run 2 trips to launch from Nordhoff Highschool. the 1st bus is scheduled to leave at 8, and the second at 10ish. Both are already scheduled close to 10 pilots per trip, so Chris recommends calling him if you prefer to avoid the Nuthouse hike so he can juggle logistics.

I'm on the early bus and will meet Chris Paul in Ventura at 7:40 if anyone wants to carpool from there. The Vista 126 bus leaves Fillmore every hour on the hour, last bus at 5 PM. You can get off at the Ventura Pier and use the foot bridge to get across the freeway to parking at the end of South Ash Street, or if the dirt lot is full, you can park along Front Street. The Saturday 126 bus schedule is posted at http://www.goventura.org/?q=travel-ventura/vista/routes-schedules/routes/vista-126-westbound-weekend

Fillmore LZ photos are posted at: http://scpa.info/sites/fillmore

Piru was draining mild Santa Anna from the ESE in the mid 20s , but it never pushed to the coast. Oxnard and Camarillo were onshore all day. The Santa Anna was apparently too weak to clear the marine air all the way to the coast, but it did heat up pretty good in Ojai. The forecast for Sunday is fading Santa Anna, L&V at 6K. Hopefully it will be enough to keep the ocean air out of the valleys.

by Chris G » Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:33 pm

10 am truck is filling up fast. 8 am truck is full. OJ Is bringing his truck for the 10:00 run as well so we'll have lots of overflow room. Lets do this!!

Saturday Pre-Dawn
by sd » Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:03 am

Pre-Dawn Review

Ojai looks like a good call. The marine inversion is squashed down below 400 feet, so the SB mountains may work behind the Rivera, but Ojai is more of a sure thing. If you do fly SB, start high and avoid getting low. The base of the hill at the Nuthouse is about 1K, so it is further above the top of the marine inversion than Parma. This marine inversion event is a bit unusual in that it is quite strong but shallow with a sharp boundary.

The wind's aloft forecast is calling for Light and Variable up through 12K, so don't expect to get on course toward SB from Ojai. There has been a bit more drainage tonight compared with Thursday night, so hopefully it will clear out better. Santa Paula is light down river at 3 AM Saturday, but was calm Friday morning. Ojai has been trickling offshore all night, similar to Friday pre-dawn, and the forecast is for it to get a tad hotter today in Ojai compared to Friday. Fillmore and Piru continue to blow Santa Anna, but about 10 knots less than Friday

The Santa Anna drainage flow from the east is forecasted to back down this afternoon so we may be able to reach Fillmore, but it can be dangerously windy in the Santa Clara River on Santa Anna days, so try to get a report before committing out of the protected Ojai Valley toward Santa Paula Ridge. I don't think the Santa Clara River will be too windy this afternoon, but it is presently blowing 25ish and was gusting over 40 on Friday.

Timing: I'm on the early bus, so I'll be kicking rocks for awhile. I suspect we will go to Chiefs, but the early bus may have an option to go to Nordhoff since Nordhoff has good early morning east facing exposure. Chris Grantham reported Pilots on Friday waited till noonish and had a narrow window. I think the window will be wider on Saturday, but note that thermal draw pulls cooler marine air up the Ventura River, and Nordhoff is exposed to the river, so Northoff often works better earlier rather than later. Late in the day, I recommend a downwind retreat away from the river toward the high ground at the Topa Bluffs. We will need someone with a smart phone to check the wind in Fillmore before we reach for Santa Paula ridge.

A potential task might be to launch Chiefs and go west to Spine One. Cross 33 if the altitude is good (above 5K at Spine One) but turn at Spine One if not. There will likely be pilots launching from the Nuthouse, so you will know if you can get back up from low in the gap if you want to reach low for an extended turn point. If we do get across 33, I wouldn't recommend going past White Ledge.

If you lap early and have time to kill, you can top land Chiefs for a break. I've wanted to top land at the Bluffs for years, but always chicken out. If the west comes up the Santa Clara River, we should make a play for Santa Paula Ridge. The forecast is for the Santa Anna to back off in the afternoon. What to do from Santa Paula Peak depends on factors like do we have chase and how far up the river the wind is pushing, We can sometimes work a convergence along sea-breeze front that is plowing up the river, but that is more common when the days are longer and more robust in the spring, so we'll have to wait and see.

With 3 bus trips from Nordhoff scheduled (8, and two @ 10), plus pilots hiking the Nuthouse trail, we should have plenty of indicators bobbing around to map out the day.

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