2467 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

How was your luck?

Edited by Foogoo, July 7 2015 - 7:30 PM.

[dspdrew]

My luck was very good this time. Maybe now I'm thinking there wasn't as much luck involved. it rained a LOT more at this location than the last two, and the totals were confirmed by a Weather Underground amateur weather station that just happened to be right in the center of Goffs. It was one of the only two anywhere around there. Clearly, you just need a lot more rain. I would say don't waste your time unless there was an inch at least from now on. That way you know there will be plenty of species flying afterwards.

 

We left close to midnight and stopped in Palm Springs to get some Wendy's. The wind was blowing like CRAZY, but that's not really anything out of the ordinary there. I was just a little worried the wind might have been blowing up in Goffs too. We left there and headed up through Yucca Valley and through Twenty-nine Palms, and then up to Amboy. Just after going through Amboy on Route 66, we hit a dead end. The road was closed due to being "impassable". This was most likely due to the storm the day before. Luckily we were able to take a road from Amboy straight north to the Interstate 40, which we took back to Route 66. As we got closer to Goffs, I noticed the humidity steadily increasing. It went from 25% up to 65% by the time we got there around 4 am. Way off in the distance, closer to Vegas there was a huge lightning storm going on.

 

Even a day and a half after the storm went through in Goffs, everything was soaked--much wetter than the last two places I drove out to looking for ants. This is what makes the humidity go up so high. Between the soaked ground and the 65% humidity, the conditions were obviously perfect for mating flights, because we found queens galore: Pogonomyrmex, Myrmecocystus, Novomessor, Solenopsis, Pheidole, Camponotus, Dorymyrmex, Crematogaster.

 

The Novomessor I think are Novomessor cockerelli (formerly Aphaenogaster cockerelli). The queens are huge and colored exactly like Pogonomyrmex rugosus. The queens are actually larger than P. rugosus queens! These must have just flown earlier, because they were running around all over the place. We got some good stuff on the black light, and once it got light out, we started digging up founding chambers. I came back with all sorts of goodies this time.

[Jonathan21700]

Wow! Apheonogaster cockerelli are so cool! Do you have photos?

Edited by Jonathan21700, July 8 2015 - 11:18 AM.

[Foogoo]

Dude, do you sleep?

 

Where did you see that Goffs received heavy rain? Looking at the calendar forecast on Wunderground and historic Wundermap, it doesn't seem to show any evidence of rain.

Edited by Foogoo, July 8 2015 - 12:30 PM.

[dspdrew]

Ahhh yes. The reason why is only the official weather stations at the airports keep weather history, so when you go to check the history of any location, they send you to the nearest airport, and give you that weather history. The only time you can see how much rain fell at one of the other weather stations (if the weather station measures rainfall--many don't), is during that same day. Once midnight hits, the data's gone.

 

Watching the radar, I saw an intense storm sit over Goffs for hours, so I knew there had to be a lot of rain. I then knew for sure when I saw that the weather station there was reporting over an inch.

[Foogoo]

Interesting, I had assumed Wunderground saved the history of all weather stations. It's weird seeing 0.00" for the Goffs then hearing from you how much fell.

 

Looks like today there's been a very small (3km) yellow/orange cell just sitting over the 15 east of Helendale. Unfortunately no weather stations nearby. I'm really tempted to check it out this weekend, but it's so small it seems like there'll be a high probability of nothing.

 

Edited by Foogoo, July 8 2015 - 2:22 PM.

[dspdrew]

Most of the weather stations used on Weather Underground are amateur weather stations. You buy them and register them on the site.
 
That spot near Helendale is an anomaly. It's almost always there. I have no idea what causes it, and I would love if someone could explain it. There are a few of those spots that come and go.
 
I would have let more people know about that trip, but I decided to go out there at the very last minute.
 
The monsoon moisture will probably push back into Southern California before too long. As of today, you can see it might be pushing back in already.

[Foogoo]

Yeah I thought that was really cool to set up a weather station, I want to do it but my area is pretty boring and already saturated with stations.

 

Good thing you mentioned it's an anomaly, although I did find it funny the 24hr video was all sunny. Does the monsoon come from inland and not the coast? They are predicting a wet El Nino winter, though that probably won't help us with anting much.

[dspdrew]

The monsoon is just moisture that comes up from the Gulf of Mexico and creates big thunderstorms in the deserts. It doesn't typically make it's way over the mountains and to the coast. That's why it doesn't create many storms around here. I could be wrong, but I think that last bit of weather we had that actually created some thunderstorms on the coast came up from the Baja California area.

[PTAntFan]

Great run, Drew, will you be adding anything to  your adoption/sale list?

[Tpro4]

Drew, you going anywhere next or anytime soon so my family can tag along?

[dspdrew]

Great run, Drew, will you be adding anything to  your adoption/sale list?

 

Yes, I'll be adding a few.

 

 

Drew, you going anywhere next or anytime soon so my family can tag along?

 

I'll let everybody know here. These trips will usually have pretty short notice since they depend on the weather. If you guys want to meet me and whoever else goes out there that would be cool.

[Tpro4]

Drew, you going anywhere next or anytime soon so my family can tag along?

 
I'll let everybody know here. These trips will usually have pretty short notice since they depend on the weather. If you guys want to meet me and whoever else goes out there that would be cool.

Yes, i might be able to finally catch some live obes

Edited by dspdrew, July 13 2015 - 9:11 AM.
Fixed quote formatting

[Foogoo]

Has anyone been up the 2 to Mt. Wilson (nurbs?)? I'm thinking of some not-so-far areas to explore until the deserts get some rain. Otherwise I'm looking at heading up 39 to Crystal Springs.

[dspdrew]

Looks like monsoon storms should be moving back into Southern California this weekend, so there might be another desert trip coming up.

[nurbs]

Looks like monsoon storms should be moving back into Southern California this weekend, so there might be another desert trip coming up.

 

 

Yea, noticed that. It will also be over Big Bear and Angelus Oaks. Plan on heading out to the desert on Monday and hit up the mountains on Tuesday.

[Foogoo]

Think they'll fly on Monday only a day after the rain? Debating whether to pull the trigger on requesting time off...

 

EDIT: Looks too uncertain to tell right now. 

 

The primary forecasting problem for the week luks to be the possibility
of convective development this coming weekend. If the middle and upper
level flow is more to the southeast then there is a chance of pulling
the monsoonal moisture into the region. If it is more to the southwest
then it is unlikely. For now the hedge is southeast and therefore a
slight chance of showers and thunderstorms across the region and
beyond. This will be a daily question right up until the expected
arrival overnight Friday into Saturday... and then whether other
conditions are right for notable convection.

Edited by Foogoo, July 13 2015 - 12:59 PM.

[dspdrew]

That desert rain forecasts change very quickly. When you see it forecast like that, it pretty much just means that storms could pop up all of a sudden anywhere out there any time around those dates. It's nothing specific, and therefore very hard to plan for, unless you just take the entire week off.

 

If you can't take time off in that short of notice, it might be best just to wait until it rained somewhere, and then go out there a day or two later. of course it's a lot more fun to be there the night of the rain and the morning after, but a day or two later will still yield plenty queens. Just bring a shovel. I just got me a nice new folding shovel.

 

Edit: I just noticed this. It's lookin' very good.

 

**Note: this image changes, so it will only be relevant to this post for the next 24 hours or so.**

 

[stuhrike]

Hi!  I'm totally new to queen hunting so if it's cool, I'd definitely like to tag along on any of your anting trips.  

[dspdrew]

Anyone can show up, and I generally post all the information here. As for coming with me, I normally only drive with people I know to some degree.