Blizzard at Venice Beach
Today was probably the windiest, hat-blowingest (I lost my prized Zermatt Switzerland cap) day that I have experienced here. I walked over to Venice Beach to check out our version of a blizzard. Few people, far less than the usual Sunday throng, were out. Sand was everywhere, including in my eyes. Sand drifts were piling up. The stinging sand gave my face a nice dermabrasion. Visible sand clouds could be seen down towards Palos Verdes and up towards Point Dume. The surf was extremely choppy. Birds flew sideways, if at all.
Today’s sand blizzard was another of Mother Nature’s somewhat regular reminders that, no matter how much we in the Los Angeles area may surround ourselves with homes, roads, cars, and other material objects, she is in charge.
Now, if you’re located in Manhattan Beach, or San Diego, or Maui, and you happen to see a black Zermatt Switzerland cap wash up on the shore, please contact me.
Big spray
Big surf
Big sand drifts
Nike's new Sea Foam model
Related posts:
[...] The high winds strew palm fronds around the streets and blew sand all over the parking lots and bike path today. There isn’t a lot of news in that, but it was a good excuse to take the Nikkor 300mm out and play with it on the Venice pier! MetBlogs covered it here. [...]
The wind was equally brutal going through the desert and Cabazon Sunday around 2-3, it actually was picking up small rocks and tossing then with all the sand. I have 3 windshield pings to prove it…arghh and a call into my insurance to fix.
Rocks? Wow! I noticed (and you can tell from the palm trees in the pics) that the winds were essentially blowing down the beach from North to South, or at least from the Northwest. That’s a shift from the West or Southwest winds we usually have here.