The Labor Day Heat Wave of 2017

Last weekend, the high temperatures around coastal California set many new records. Here in San Geronimo Valley, the same was true, but equally remarkable were the nighttime lows above the inversion layer--there were three nights near 80 degrees! On the valley floor, below the inversion, the minimum temperatures were close to 60 on the days when it was near 80 on the ridges, and warmed each day until a peak of 70 on Tuesday September 5th. This nighttime heat wave on the valley floor peaked two days after the daytime heat wave ended--and insects such as wasps seemed busier than ever that 70-degree morning. 70 was the highest minimum temperature I recorded in the last five years, beating 65 in 2014. Also remarkable--on Monday September 4th, the high temperature of 82 in Woodacre occurred before 8 am!

High and low temperatures each day for two ridge locations and one valley floor location.

The high of 107 on Friday was the highest temperature I've recorded in my five years of recordkeeping, and three other days this summer also beat the previous record of 99 in August 2015. The number of days in the 90s is steadily climbing, with 9 days in 2012 and 2013, 12 in 2014, 14 in 2015, 21 in 2016, and 23 in 2017. Since I miss 30-60 days per year, this is just a sampling, but it is clear that there has been a steady warming trend since 2012 for the warmest daytime highs.

Eclipse of the Millennium: Travelogue

Day 1: Monday, 6 am, Southern California

I left on my solo adventure from L.A., and it was raining on the 405 Freeway, hard at times. After crossing the border I took the toll road for $6 to Ensenada, where I got gas around 10 am. It was cloudy on the coast, but the desert between Santo Tomas and Colonet was hot. It was cloudy again in San Quintin, but inland again between El Rosario and Catavina was warm desert with lots of cacti. A couple of guys with a truck waved me down and said they were out of gas--they siphoned some gas from my tank, and they helped themselves to a bit more than I had wanted them to have. At 4pm for $4 I ate dinner at Santa Inez. I spoke to some people from San Diego who suggested spending the night at Guerro Negro.

At 6:30 pm near Rosarito there was a big accident blocking the road on a curve. It involved a jackknifed truck and four other vehicles, one on its side. No one was hurt. There was an old dirt road that cut across the curve, and I went with three other vehicles across the shortcut, with no one passing anyone else the rest of the way to Guerro Negro.

Dam building comic

The California Water Commission is about to give away billions of taxpayer dollars to dam builders. At least, that is what could happen if it doesn't prioritize more benign storage projects that most Californians voting yes on Proposition 1 envisioned, such as groundwater storage projects. California has millions of acre-feet of groundwater storage already available, and public funds could help build the groundwater recharge facilities we will need in the future once our dams are sedimented in and crumbling. Unfortunately, the dam-building lobby is well-connected and clever at public indoctrination, so things might not go well for the public interest. We may end up with more expensive, dangerous, and environmentally-destructive dams siphoning water from our precious rivers and estuaries and drowning our beautiful river canyons and grasslands.

So here is a comic strip I made to clarify the politics of the issue.

The slick Environmental Impact Reports about to land on the CWC's desk will be more marketing materials selling new dams, and less informative unbiased documents useful to the public and decisionmakers. I hope they see through the propaganda and keep in mind Aldo Leopold's words:

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Large Woody Debris in San Geronimo Creek, 2016-2017

This is the story of wood in San Geronimo Creek pools immediately upstream of the Meadow Way bridge during the 2016-2017 winter season. When it arrived, and when it, sadly, departed.

Looking north along the bridge railing during the biggest flood
in a decade (December 2012) on the left and September 2016 (right).

2: calm coastal waters

This is the second question in the new quiz category on my blog and on Twitter: #WithoutTheRoar, where I give information about a place and you guess where in California it is. See the first question (and answer) here.

You arrive. The first thing you hear might be the honking of Canada Geese on the lawn near the lagoon. An angler walks by with his catch of starry flounder and striped bass.You cross the railroad tracks--apparently abandoned--and scramble down the rip-rap boulders to the shore of a large, calm, salty body of water. You head uphill, hoping to get a better view from above the fog. You cross a street and head up a trail, taking care not to touch the poison oak as you ascend under the coast live oaks. You recognize coyotebush and toyon, and California poppies as you ascend into open rocky grassland. The fog does not clear, so you head back down to the water's edge, noticing that automobiles must go through a tunnel to get here. The fog clears just enough for this view:

Where in California are you?

Without the Roar

Wow, I've never had a tweet go viral before.

This photo I tweeted got over 18,000 views, hundreds of likes,
and over a hundred retweets. In two days!

I'm not sure what to say... except thank you. And follow me live next weekend on Twitter as I climb Mt. Shasta--just kidding. My favorite comment: "this looks like my lawn during baseball season."

Carrizo Plain Photos

Soda Lake, April 14, 2017

Looking southeast toward snowcapped Mt. Pinos
from Soda Lake Overlook, April 14, 2017

Meadowlark, Goldfields, and Tidy Tips, March 30, 2006.

California Poppies, March 31, 2006

March 31, 2006

Long-billed Curlews, March 31, 2006

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