One of the many things I love about Coastal Southern California is the escape from excessive heat, and excessive cold. Away from the coast, inland, it gets quite hot in summer, but where I live, in a coastal area, it is fairly steady all year round, and rarely exceeds mid-70s during summer days. May Gray and June Gloom are real seasons of coastal fog which is beautiful, mysterious, and visually enchanting. July and August are comfortably warm. It's lovely living here, with no need for air conditioning at home.
EXCEPT THIS YEAR. Summer's Heat Fills the Calendar With Fry Days, reported in today's LA Times, talks about the failure of that necessary coastal fog, and As a result, the Los Angeles region endured a blistering June — the second-hottest on record after 1981 — and the rest of the summer looks to be a scorcher, including this weekend.
The result of this excessive heat is tinder-dry conditions. Two massive fires in San Bernadino County have joined, and firefighters battle to control them as conditions get drier by the hour. The fires release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, which contribute to the conditions that make the fires so dangerous. Our winter rains came late; we had no spring and are well into a summer that has been between 4 to 6 degrees higher than normal.
Who says we don't have global warming?
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Went to Valencia this afternoon for a travel open house which our agency did in cooperation with several of our key travel partners. We advertised, we sent mailers out to 20,000 qualified names in the Santa Clarita Valley. Nobody showed up because of the heat. This is a first for us, every other such event we've done has been hugely successful. Not this one -- people were not on the roads; people were home, or in air conditioned movie theaters. It was 110 and we had no shade. Nobody was in the pool at this place. We were supposed to stay til 8PM, but we wrapped up early. I'm dizzy. Put a fork in me, I'm done.
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11 comments:
I hears ya. If this isn't an alarming example of EXACTLY what Gore and a slew of scientists have said, I don't know what is.
I used to only need AC one or 2 days a year here in L.A. Now ironically, the heat is making people use AC, which is a terrible carbon load we could do without. Talk about a vicious circle. A friend told me that the past few days broke records for electricity use. NOT the direction we wanted to go.
Here I am here I am!
You'll never convince ME there's no global warming. Not only is it hotter'na crack pipe, we've already had a named storm pass through. I was just going through my house taking pictures for insurance. Scary! Hope all's well-I'm just catching up after another techno-nightmare.
Diva, If you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, and I do mean utltimate, this problem of fossil fuel burning and Global Warming could be solved. You would of course have to enlist a lot of other folks to go along with the sacrifice too. Here it is. John Hofmeister, CEO of Shell Oil told Tim Russert that first generation ethanol was out of the question as a replacement fuel because we don't have enough corn and Americans would have a hissy fit if the price of bacon and Fritos went up. We have to all agree to pay more for bacon and Fritos. Or, go buy bacon from Full Quiver Farms, an Amish farm that raises their pigs on whey instead of corn. Or give up Fritos. Oh, I forgot to mention, he's also worried about the world's Dorito supply, but I must say, I have plenty on reserve and would be willing to release some to curtail the cost if demand caused prices to increase.
Seriously, I live in Texas and we have had some horrific droughts and heat waves. I have Texas Mountain Cedar on a hill on my property. The resin inside those trees is like fuel. One spark and they literally blow-up in flames. My deck is made of Ipe and it most likely burns very slowly because it is so hard. My house is stone and stucco, but of course, it's always the roof that catches fire, so without dough for a tile roof, we worry too about wildfire.
I sympathize and empathize with you.
You don't have your email listed so I'll respond here. I didn't mean for that to come off as Israel being at fault at all. I feel that Hezbollah has ignited this situation entirely. I was trying to show the things happening on both sides. I most sincerely beg your pardon if you thought otherwise. I remember you wrote about living in a kibbutz so you have more knowledge of the country certainly than I do...and the feelngs of these various peoples. I just hope all isn't lost and the kidnapped Israeli soldiers are okay. I thought the cartoon was neutral in the impact, to me it defines each side and what they demand...a sort of standoff. But who will possibly give in...if indeed that is possible now?
Helen, when I bought my place down here, one of the best features was that living so close to the ocean meant no need for AC. Nobody in our complex has it; and we all need it. At least I've got ceiling fans. It's insane.
Sue Woo, I thought you'd been swept to sea by a a hurricane or sumpthun. How's the book?
Karena, I don't eat Fritos or Doritos, and I only eat turkey bacon (less fatty) so alas, I can't give this all up. Whatever is a girl to do?
Sumo, the cartoon was not as neutral as the one you posted about "eye for an eye" which is brilliant. That's a situation that may have passed the tipping point. Without strong negotiations, nobody will give in. That's the tragedy. I don't expect neutrality, I just hope for balance. But in my mistrust of our own Administration, I would not be surprised at all if someone from the US arranged the kidnappings as a reason to go into Iran.
Well...then I am not alone in thinking the same thing. I've not wanted to voice it because I didn't want it to be true. If it is true...they weren't thinking ahead of the ramifications. I think even we could come up with some good arguments why that would be so wrong and ultimately harmful for the hemisphere. Is life some sort of game to them? And...could this be Georgie doing his best to keep his title much longer for the sake of the nation at war? He's lost his mind if he thinks that!!!
Sumo, GWB had no mind to lose. I'm just sayin. Hey, he's in an airconditioned ivory tower, what does he care? He's got his own personal safe bunker, what does he care if the world blows up, or burns up?
Singing REM songs again...
I feeel fiiiine.....
Sue, yep. Well sung.
Well, I don't feel fine, like DivaJood says, it's too damn HOT here!!
I am blown away that you are suffering more than I seem to be, Diva, being near the ocean & all. I'm about 13 miles from the ocean but it has been hot but bearable. You should way more miserable than me. Maybe I am part lizard as some friends claim :)
THAT'S ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS GIVE UP BACON AND FRITOS?!?!
Jeeeeeez, I don't eat either but with the obesity epidemic in this country, we could do without Fritos, Bacon & that nasty NASTY corn syrup that's put into everthing & causing the youth of today to get juvenile diabetes.
See, it's win-win. Also get those young couch potatoes on a bike instead of riding in the back of a Lincoln Navigator everywhere and maybe that would solve some problems as well.
Did you ever hear Bill Maher's screed on corn & corn products (esp. the deadly syrup)? I'll try to find it. It was brilliant.
Helen, yeah, but it's a dry heat...
Really, the thing in Valencia did me in. It was like walking into an oven, with no place to get relief. So, I just lay low yesterday. Blogged all day in my ceiling-fan-cooled condo. Did laundry. Cleaned a bit. Got some groceries. Watched "Crash" and, second time viewing, thought it was heartbreaking.
I don't eat bacon or fritos and I'm still too heavy. Go figure. Yes, the Bill Maher think is brilliant.
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