Salton Sea in July
THE WEBMASTER of the Water Education Foundation blog Aquafornia today published a delightful photo essay of a visit to Salton Sea in July. To see (do see) click on the arrow.
This post has been updated.…
“You’d better put your money on conservation”
THE PREDICTION this month of an El Nino weather system capable of bringing much needed rain and snowpack to California reminds Bill Patzert of another time that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an El Nino. That was September 13, 2006 (announcement art, left). “That was the driest winter in the historical record with 3.21 inches,” said Patzert.
As a climatologist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Patzert is part of the team of scientists contributing to El Nino forecasting for NOAA. However he has become a well known dissenter, calling previous El Ninos forecast by the administration “El No Show” and “El Wimpo.” Nothing he sees this year encourages him to believe that we’re in for anything like the rainfall of the classic El Nino years of 1997-98 (31.01 inches in Los Angeles) or 2004-05 (37.96 inches).
“I’d love to be wrong. At this point it …
Capturing rain (and run-off) in the Inland Empire
TO LOS ANGELES, rainfall is storm water and is flushed out to sea. For the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, rainwater and stormwater is water, best treated and saved. For a first class report in the Los Angeles Times by Bettina Boxall, click on the desalting plant.…
The week that was, 7/13-19/2009
“We have been too concerned in this country I think with dying of a lot of other things. I don’t think anyone realized that we were also running out of water.” Jon Stewart interviewing Robert Glennon on The Daily Show
“… despite the surge of interest in this region, the crisis did not materialize suddenly. Rather, the people of Mendota and their neighbors — in Kerman, Firebaugh, San Joaquin and a handful of smaller burgs — are the victims of a long and painful slide. This is California’s Detroit.” Los Angeles Times op-ed by Rick Wartzman, co-author of the book on JG Boswell, “The King of California”
“Not all El Ninos are created equal.” Steve Goldstein, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, Sacramento Bee
There’s little doubt that the No. 1 issue in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign …
Western Datebook: the Snake Valley Festival
The Snake Valley Festival in aid of the Great Basin Water Network will be held at different locations in and around Baker, Nevada from July 24-26. To set your compass, all festivities will take place in the immediate vicinity of the Great Basin National Park.
For the park, click on the starry, starry sky.
For the festival, click on the pine nuts.
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North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
