Wintry weather did a hit-and-run job on Southern California this week, bringing the season’s first notable snowfall to the mountains and leaving behind and a modest amount of havoc Sunday and Monday, before vanishing. In the storm’s wake: more agreeable travel weather heading into the holiday. “It looks like pretty nice weather for Thanksgiving,” said Stephen Harrison, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Since the presidential election, several opinion pieces have appeared that offer a farmer view of the result. Not one has confined it to views that might be held only by farmers in California. Into that vast abyss tumbles today’s Ag at Large, sustained by several direct expressions from farmer friends before the election, comments from them since, and a kind of compilation of attitudes formed from years of associating with and listening to them.
San Diego experienced its first “winter-like” storm of the season on Monday, giving people an excuse to finally bring out the winter sweaters and umbrellas.San Diego resident Tiffany Epps recently had to purchase a new umbrella because hers broke. “I seen they had a pink one and I was like this is perfect. I’m going to grab this one before somebody else does,” Epp said.Rancho Bernardo resident Mandana Soltani, and her young son Nikhal, spent the day at Balboa Park where it rained on and off all day. Soltani says she loves the rain.
Les Grober, deputy director of the State Water Resources Control Board, said his agency had done “more than was required” in studying the impacts of the state’s water grab on our rivers. But what became clear during a daylong public session in Modesto was that his agency hasn’t done as much as it should have.Rod Smith, who earned his doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago, had some pointed questions for the bevy of state officials who attended Friday. He started by asking about the state’s assumptions on volatility and reliability.
A weekend rainstorm that drenched Southern California and triggered hundreds of freeway crashes will disappear by the afternoon and make way for cool, autumn weather on Thanksgiving, the National Weather Service said Monday. Over Sunday and Monday, the storm dumped more than two inches of rain in San Luis Obispo County and more than an inch at Brentwood’s Getty Center in Los Angeles County, where a surge in car crashes left freeways intermittently jammed, authorities said.
The top executive at Palomar Health District earned more than $841,200 in wages last year, making him the fourth-highest-paid special district employee in the state, according to 2105 data. The CEO, Robert A. Hemker, was one of three employees at special districts in San Diego County to be paid more than $500,000 last year, according to data compiled by the state controller and the open government group Transparent California.
California’s trees are dying at an alarming rate. Late last week, the U.S. Forest Service said an aerial survey revealed that 36 million additional trees had died while in the grip of persistent drought, bringing the total since 2010 to more than 102 million. Those numbers have startled California officials and scientists while adding urgency to a long-simmering debate over what should be done about it. The tree deaths have been concentrated in the southern and central Sierra Nevada, but experts warn of increasing deaths in forests all the way up to the Oregon border.
Earlier this year, the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) completed work on a small bypass pipeline at San Vicente Dam, near Lakeside California, and a marina at the reservoir formed by the dam. Although relatively minor projects in their own right, their completion effectively brings to a close a massive effort spanning decades to ensure that the San Diego region maintains access to adequate water supplies in the event of an earthquake or other emergency, including severe drought.
Environmental groups and scientists are gripped with anxiety about the prospect of President-elect Donald Trump, who has denied the existence of climate change, slashing government money for climate research, gutting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s staffing and authority, and pulling out from international agreements to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. On the other end, skeptics of climate change and those who believe the Obama administration has wrongly prioritized efforts to curb global warming at the expense of the U.S. economy are eyeing Trump’s presidential victory as a chance to give their views high-profile credence.
Even from 38,000 feet in a jet, Hoover Dam is a remarkable achievement. The giant plug in the Colorado River about 30 miles outside Las Vegas, the cause of the swathes of blue in the tan desert landscape, stands as a testament to 20th century American ingenuity, stubbornness, and political will. From the crest of the dam, the achievement looks more flawed. Lake Mead has dropped 130 feet since 2000, when it was full. It’s now at 37 percent of capacity and declining rapidly enough to capture the full attention of water managers from Los Angeles to Denver.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
