Climate Correspondent Ken Homer
Author: Ken Homer Issue: 2022-09-21
Climate Correspondent: Ken Homer
A new semi-regular item about living with extreme climate events. Send Pete an email when you want to tell us about extreme weather where you are.
We’ve had quite the roller coaster ride here in the Bay Area in the last two weeks. After a blessedly cool summer the mercury climbed to the highest I’ve ever seen it around here in the first week of September. I got a reading on my patio of 107ºF.
Less than two miles away as the crow files, the town of Ross recorded 112º and, a little more than an hour north of me, the town of Calistoga saw the unbelievable temp of 117ºF!
For the first time in my more than 30 years in California, the temps did not drop after sunset as they usually do, but stayed high until well after midnight - making sleep elusive and fitful for the five days of baking we endured. (I am not complaining, compared to many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, we got off easy).
Once the heatwave passed, we went back to our normal temperature range for September for a few days. Then, this past weekend, we were treated to an out of season rainstorm - our rainy season normally runs from late October to early April. Local precipitation as noted by our water district was 1.47 inches.
This is a welcome event as it will suppress the immediate fire danger, although it is not enough moisture to end fire season. We are now back to above normal temps which will rapidly dry out the vegetation placing us back in the zone of high fire danger.
Sadly, the extended outlook for the winter does not bode well. If the modeling is accurate, we can expect a dryer than normal winter.☹️
Climate change, global warming, global weirding, or whatever you want to call it, is most definitely happening now...
Related:
- Ken Homer (author)
- 2022 (year)
- Topics: Climate and Environment