El Nino: “A slight tilt in the odds” for California
THE NATIONAL Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration yesterday reiterated forecasts for an El Nino in its seasonal outlook for December-February.
California, it says, has a “slight tilt in the odds toward wetter-than-average conditions over the entire state.”
For the announcement, click here. For Chance of Rain’s chat with JPL oceanographer Bill Patzert on the likelihood of a big rain year, here. For a September 28, 2009 NASA round-up of the debate over whether it will rain much or not in the parched West this winter, click here.…
Western datebook: Sundays at the lagoon
Ballona Wetlands map: California Coastal Conservancy. Click on the image to be taken to the Ballona Wetland Restoration Project
THE BALLONA Institute, City of Los Angeles and Council member Bill Rosendahl (District 11) seek volunteers for a massive landscaping effort aimed at restoring native coastal flora around the Grand Canal Lagoon in the Ballona Wetlands. The “Big Plant-in” begins on Sunday, October 18, and will run each Sunday and Monday after that until an estimated 10,000 plants are installed. For information, contact Ted Giwoff at (424) 227-9845 or leave a message at (310) 578-5888 or email outreach@ballonainstitute.org. …
The problem with people
AS SACRAMENTO legislators work on bills this week to assure the future of California’s water supply, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute points to the elephant in the living room. Population growth. He writes in this week’s San Francisco Chronicle:
The amount of water on Earth is fixed. We’re not losing it to space and we’re not getting more (with negligible exceptions) … But population is not fixed. It is growing, and growing rapidly in some places. As a result, the amount of water available per person (“per capita”) is declining.
To keep reading Peter Gleick in the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.
UPDATE: 10/21/2009 For part two of Gleick’s series on population and fresh water, click here.
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Rambling LA: To take a backward look
These are the days when Birds come back —
A very few — a Bird or two —
To take a backward look.
HOPE is indeed a thing with feathers, writes Ilsa Setziol. In a landscape entombed in cement, the sight of a wild bird soaring — circling over the freeway, alighting on the towers of high-tension power liness — offers a sudden thrill.
If it’s a majestic bird, it’s probably a hawk.
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A good rain
THE NORTH got drenched, but here in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times, fine showers and the absence of downpours largely spared the foothill communities from post-fire debris torrents. As of 5pm today, we in downtown Los Angeles had received 2.03 inches of rain that fell steadily last night and in light showers throughout today. For a National Weather Service regional breakdown of who got how much rain where, click here. Isolated showers are forecast for the evening.
For a most interesting diversion, try this article by Keith C. Heidorn, aka “the Weather Doctor,” on why rain drops are not tear-shaped, but round and then as they enlarge, shaped like hamburger buns.
This post has been updated.…
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