The National Weather Service says that conditions are in place for a La Niña weather pattern in the fall and winter of 2020-21. That could bring warmer, drier than usual weather to San Diego over the next few months.
By definition, La Niña happens when the water along the equator is colder than usual. That pushes the jet stream farther north and directs storms away from the Pacific Southwest region of the United States.
Growers of some of San Diego County’s most lucrative crops — flowers, nursery plants and exotic fruits — can now get federal cash to cover some coronavirus-related losses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s initial relief program left out these small farmers who contribute significantly to the county’s nearly $1.8 billion agricultural economy.
The department expanded the program to include more specialty crops in August and announced last week it would make an additional $14 billion available to farmers through mid-December. Growers could begin applying for the relief this week.
Hannah Gbeh, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, called the federal aid “the lifeline our producers need to help weather the economic challenges that came along with the pandemic.”
Hurricanes have the Saffir-Simpson Scale (Category 5), tornadoes have the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-3) but now the West Coast has a storm scale of our own with a recent introduction of a new rating system for atmospheric rivers — the causes of a vast majority of our annual autumn and winter flooding damage.
The autumn equinox was at 6:30 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, meaning there are nearly equal periods of daylight and darkness. From now until the winter solstice in December, days will gradually get shorter and nights will get longer in the Northern Hemisphere.
A Central California water board is poised to do something rare in American agriculture: It is trying to establish enforcement mechanisms — not just toothless regulations — to limit the use of farm fertilizers that contribute to dangerous levels of groundwater pollution. If the effort is successful, within a few decades it will have reversed or at least stopped adding to the pollution of groundwater beneath the Salinas and Santa Maria valleys.
Del Mar will begin the process of developing a new rate structure for its Clean Water Program.
The process of implementing a rate increase is expected to unfold over the next year, and will include a vote by Del Mar property owners.
After a wildfire ripped through central California last month, residents in the Riverside Grove neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains discovered another danger: contaminated water coursing through their pipes.
Benzene, a chemical tied to cancer, leukemia and anemia, was detected in the town’s drinking water after 7 miles of plastic water piping was torched in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire south of San Francisco. Plastic pipes are used for their flexibility in earthquake-prone California. Today, about 450 homes there remain under a “do not drink” advisory.
David Drake, Treasurer of the Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District Board of Directors, was recently recognized with the 2020 Industry Icon Award by Water and Wastes Digest, an industry-related technical magazine which covers breaking news and new developments in water and wastewater products, projects, and technology.
California is one of the least vulnerable states to drought even as it faces record wildfires, according to a first-ever state ranking funded by NOAA. The “Drought Vulnerability Index” finds that Oklahoma is the most susceptible to extreme dryness followed by two other states — Montana and Iowa — with a “very high” drought vulnerability.
The plan to fix subsidence in the Friant-Kern Canal and restore water deliveries to farmers in southern Tulare County and Kern County got over a major hump last week. On Sept. 18, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the Friant-Kern Canal, released final environmental documents for its plan to repair a 33-mile stretch of canal between Lindsay and McFarland. The final environmental impact report represents a significant milestone in beginning work to restore flows to the lower third of the 153-mile long canal running along the Valley’s east side.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
