Today we took two sample swipes from the truck. The first at approxmiately 4:30 pm and the next at approximately 8:30 pm. The 4:30pm swipe read 16.9 times greater than background radiation, and the 8:30pm swipe read 17.5 times greater than background radiation.
The current rain seems to be derived mostly from the Northern Jet Stream, which post August 2011 has been dropping radioactive rainfall usually reading a minimum of 20 times background radiation. The max reading observed during that same time span was 276 times greater than background radiation.
Additional rain is forecast for the area tomorrow, 12/20/11; the current Jet Stream maps seem to indicate that rain will be mostly from the Southern Jet Stream. If that turns out to be the case, we would expect the radiation levels in the rain to drop (based on previous history). However, that Southern Jet Stream was also strongly influenced by a low pressure area which had been cycling over the ocean between southern California and Baja Mexico. That circulation had been strong enough to pull the Northern Jet Stream down into the Southern Jet Stream; the low may also aided in the volatilization of any ocean born radioactive contamination in the area. Tomorrow's readings, if it rains, may prove interesting.
The Jet Stream maps may be found at http://virga.sfsu.edu/scripts/nhemjetstream_model.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NeBN6Hww1c
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