Western datebook: Sundays at the lagoon
Posted on | October 15, 2009 | No Comments
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.
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Native Gardening > wetlands restoration
The problem with people
Posted on | October 15, 2009 | No Comments
Source: NASA. Click on the map to be taken to the Earth Observatory
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.
Rambling LA: To take a backward look
Posted on | October 14, 2009 | 2 Comments
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.
To read Ilsa Setziol’s reprise of her August KPCC radio story on the red-tailed hawks of Los Angeles, click here
A good rain
Posted on | October 14, 2009 | No Comments
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.
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Los Angeles > National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A huge storm is coming to California
Posted on | October 13, 2009 | No Comments
October 13, 2009, 10.33am. Source: National Weather Service
Click on the image for the National Weather Service, then enter your location for the latest forecasts.
Via Aquafornia: “I am looking at a storm developing in the eastern Pacific today that made me look at the calendar to confirm it’s still October … a huge storm is coming to a large part of California, especially the northern two thirds.” – Ken Clark, AccuWeather.com. For Clark’s state-wide forecast for California, click here.
For Southern California Clark predicts: Rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are likely in western Santa Barbara County to 1.5 to 2.5 inches in Ventura County, 0.75 to 1.50 in the LA Basin diminishing to 0.10 to 0.30 inches in San Diego County. These are total rain amounts through Wednesday as a few showers linger behind the main rain band.
For the deserts: Some rain or showers are likely to develop in the upper deserts but the lower deserts will be mostly rain free. Rainfall amounts in the upper deserts will be generally under a quarter to a half inch. But there will be winds of 20 to 35 mph.
For burn areas: In and around recent burn areas it will be the worst with mudslides and debris flows likely.
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