Fred: your observation about storms coming from the south - since moving here last November, the locals have told me, and I've learned, that if a wind is coming from the west or east (blowing in a storm), it rarely makes it here, but anything straight on from the south or north, then heads up. I too have noticed when they say 30% chance, we usually get hit. This last storm was leftovers from Dean. We had violent thunder and lightning strikes up around Bishop and Big Pine, and even up to Chalfant, on this last storm. Lots of spotty but big dumps of rain - you could be in a downpour, drive three blocks, and it was barely drizzling. The weather in Owens Valley never ceases to amaze me or leave me in humbled awe. We are all wise to be prepared as much as possible and use common sense, and above all, stay humble....this is not an extreme sports tv show....and lots of people get carried out dead out of these mountains every year because they overestimate their capabilities and underestimate the weather/mountain/bears/etc. Great thread, and some good advice here.
