As if on cue to reinforce my previous post’s observation about California’s dry weather year, the Weather Service is now predicting a very-unusual-around-these-parts chance of thunderstorms over the Central California coast today. From an article in SFGate:
Tropical moisture wandering up from Central California is predicted to make its way into the South Bay and East [...]
Tom Mangan reports at Two-Heel Drive:
Fire news blog. California Fire News could use a visual-appeal consultant, but the content’s there. Has tons of news headlines and weather reports (still in all-caps, the way the National Weather Service likes it). [Two-Heel Drive]
Content, yes. Visual (and aural!) appeal? GACK!
The text doesn’t line up and [...]
The New York times posts a story well worth reading:
As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes. China’s pollution problem, like the speed and scale of its rise as an economic power, has shattered all precedents. By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY. [NYT > Home Page]
From weather underground:
One third of Arctic ice cap now missing; Midwestern floods; tropical update. Sea ice in the Arctic continues its record decline, thanks to unusually cloud-free conditions and above-average temperatures. For August 21, the National Snow and Ice Data Center estimated that fully one third of the Arctic ice cap was missing, compared [...]
New York Times:
Judge Orders Reports on Global Warming. The Bush administration violated federal law by missing deadlines to produce a study on the impact of global warming, now as much as two years overdue, a federal judge ruled. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [NYT > Science]
Glaciers are shrinking in the Sierra Nevada.
Over decades of backpacking in the Sierra, I’ve watched the conditions change from year to year. But this year I saw something that I had not noticed in the past. I spent several days in sight of glaciers above Ediza Lake in the Ansel Adams wilderness area, so I [...]
After nearly 40 years of backpacking (starting at the age of 1 month? or not? ;-) you’d think that there wouldn’t be a lot more for me to learn about the techniques of this endeavor. However, after nearly every trip, and certainly after every season, I do discover new things - about the places I [...]
Paul McHugh writes in SF Gate about a new book that I’d like to read:
The broad bands of green land that embrace Bay Area urban zones offer both humans and wildlife refuge, respite and regeneration. These preserves are no accident of history. They result from a hard-fought, century-long crusade. This immense battle is recounted in [...]
Tom Mangan reports:
China’s pollution landing in California. Airborne crud from the China boom is settling in the High Sierra, according to this story my employer published today.
This story hammers home the myth of “cheaper goods from China.” These goods are not cheap, they’re just being sold at a discount against their environmental costs, [...]
Here We Go: California’s Fire Season
The sight of huge towers of smoke from the Lick Fire at Henry Coe Park last night reminded me again that the next two months could be a terrible fire season in California. (According to this morning’s reports, the fire has ballooned to over 5,000 acres in less than 24 hours as it burns through [...]