Dear WeatherCat observers of the seasons turning,
For the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year. This year it occurs around the 21th of June. Here is a website with the exact time of the Solstice for various locations around the world.
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20190621T1554&msg=June%20Solstice%202019In California, the time of hot dry weather has arrived. Here is the same hillside I photographed earlier this spring:
http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2947.msg28932#msg28932Alas, the late rains have had little effect on the dried out grasses. Still, there is some more pleasant aspects of Summer in Northern California. There is the rolling of the fog in and out. Here are some palm trees in front of the marine layer:
Unfortunately, we are seeing considerably less fog in recent years and that is causing a serious uptick in temperatures.
There are still some late blooming shrubs like these oleander:
There is also some of the first fruits of the season. Here is another yellow plum tree with the fading blossoms of buckeye trees behind:
Still the creeks are starting to run dry:
This year there is something new upon the land:
In the wake of the destruction of Paradise and other regions by wildfire, there is a feverish attempt to reduce the risk of fires spreading - especially around power lines. While the goal is laudable, the rote removal of growth really doesn't guarantee anything. Attempting to prevent a repeat of one wildfire scenario hardly precludes others. At the same time living plants remove greenhouse gases from atmosphere. No matter what you do with dead vegetation, it releases CO
2 as it decomposes. In addition trees provide shade that reduces overall temperatures. While not definitive, there is some evidence that
Urban Heat Islands are contributing to climate change. So the haste to reduce one sort of wildfire risk could be ultimately increasing the risk in other ways. It is always sad to see a tree die, sadder still when a tree is removed more out of fear than reason.
Such are the conditions that prevail in California at the start of Summer 2019. . . . . . .
Edouard