Tag Archive for: The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Last Time A Hurricane Made Landfall In California Was 160 Years Ago In San Diego, Resulting In 94 Deaths

It was the autumn of 1858, and Abraham Lincoln was on the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. On the national front, the Compromise of 1850 divided the nation into free and slave states and was brewing political tensions during the years leading up to the Civil War. But off the coast of California — less than a decade into statehood — a different kind of storm was approaching. Tuesday, Oct. 2, marked 160 years since the San Diego Hurricane of 1858, the only hurricane on record to make landfall on the western coast of the United States. Newspaper clippings from the time and academic research since offer a glimpse into how the skies turned above the typically sunny shores of Southern California.

Rainfall Prediction Contest Winner Has Weather In His Genes

No investigations are planned, but David Schug, the winner of the Union-Tribune’s 15th annual Precipitation Prediction Contest, may have had an unfair advantage: His father was a weatherman. Schug predicted San Diego would get 3.5 inches of rain during the 2017-18 rainfall year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2017 to Sunday (Sept. 30). The city’s actual total, as measured at San Diego International Airport, site of the city’s official weather station, was 3.34 inches. It was the second driest year in city history.

San Diego Ending The Rainy Season With A Meager 3.34 Inches Of Precipitation

he final figures won’t be available until midnight. But San Diego will end the current rainy season (October 1-September 30) with roughly 3.34 inches of precipitation, which is 7 inches below average, says the National Weather Service. The deficit is even bigger in Ramona, which recorded approximately 5.80 inches of rain, which is 10.24 inches below average.

First Rain Of Season Possible Next Week

San Diego County could get its first substantial rain since March early next week. Or not. The remains of Hurricane Rosa, a major hurricane with 125 mph winds southwest of the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula on Thursday night, are expected to drift northward. By Monday, Rosa should be downgraded to a tropical storm. By Tuesday, much of its moisture, if not its tropical-storm-force winds, should move into or close to Southern California.

A Guide To Drought-Friendly Aloes

Debilitating droughts, fierce fires, water shortages — all are contributing to some people getting rid of their gardens. However, people can enjoy colorful plants while conserving water by changing their plant choices. Consider succulent plants. Succulents are defined as any plant storing water in leaves, stems or roots to withstand drought. (Cactuses are succulents, but botanists set them apart in their own category of Cactaceae.) Botanists have categorized succulent plants into many different genera. The most widely used in home gardens are aloes, agaves, aeoniums, kalanchoe, sedums, echeveria, euphorbia and crassula.

Agreement Will Pipe Treated Tijuana Water To Baja’s Wine Country

Officials in Baja California’s drought-parched Valle de Guadalupe wine country are toasting a new agreement that will pipe in treated wastewater from Tijuana to irrigate the vineyards. A pact was signed in the Valle de Guadalupe on Sept. 13 between Baja’s governor, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, and Fabián Yañez, who oversees operations in Latin America for ODIS Asversa, a private Israeli company that specializes in treating wastewater and recycling it for irrigation.

OPINION: Proposition 3: Two Biggest Reasons To Oppose Water Bond In November Election

Proposition 3, which asks voters to approve $8.9 billion in bond funds for water projects, has a surface appeal. The state’s need for improved water infrastructure and new water storage facilities is plain. But there are strong reasons to reject it. The first and most obvious is that Proposition 3 is on the ballot not because the Legislature thought it was necessary but because of signature-gatherers paid by those who stand to benefit from the bond. A July 16 CALmatters story noted that more than half the money raised to promote the measure came from business groups and farmers seeking specific improvements, especially to the 152-mile-long Friant-Kern Canal in the Central Valley.

Audit Report: San Diego City Faces Growing Backlog Of Broken Water-Meter Cases

A growing backlog of broken water meter boxes and lids has plagued the San Diego Public Utilities Department — an agency still reeling from months of public outrage following spiking water bill throughout the city. That’s according to a recent report by the independent City Auditor’s Office, which found that agency “mismanagement” led to a backlog of more than 25,000 broken meter cases. The city has 281,500 such devices. The audit report stated: “We found that PUD’s delayed response to box and lid maintenance issues resulted from a lack of management oversight and accountability; a variety of process inefficiencies; and inadequate strategic planning.”

Crowd Drinks In Water Fest In Santee

Several hundred residents poured into the East County Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project Visitor Center on Fanita Parkway on Saturday to learn about recycled water. The Padre Dam Municipal Water District’s first East County Water Festival celebrated water and showed visitors how it recycles waste and turns it into drinkable water. The free event included a tour of the facility that cleans and purifies wastewater plus educational booths, food, snow cones and iced coffee beverages made using purified recycled water. People planted succulents in small plastic cups they could take home, kids got their faces painted and families posed with water-related props in a photo booth at the event.

CCA 101: How Does Community Choice Aggregation Work? What You Need To Know

The name may sound clunky, but Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA, is one of the hottest energy topics in California and may upend the long-time relationship between utilities and customers. But while the growth of CCAs has led to heated debates across the state within the energy and political spheres, many local utility customers are either unclear or unaware of the subject — even as the City of San Diego slowly deliberates whether to hop on the CCA bandwagon to help it meet its Climate Action Plan that calls for 100 percent of the city’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2035.