It Never Rains in (Southern) California...

Huzzah! The Pineapple Express has arrived!

OK, I parenthesized the “Southern”, cuz I grew up in LA (Los Angeles/Southern Calif, not Louisiana), moved here to the SF/Bay Area to go to UC Berkeley to get my baccalaureate in chemistry. I totally detest El Lay. The title is a reference to an MOR pop music song from my teen years (yes, I know: you can determine the date of this song by Albert Hammond, and figure out that I come close to qualifying as an old fart). A music video of said composition can be found here.

We are currently in the midst of a rather bad drought. The same thing happened a couple of decades ago, and water conservation was the watchword. Lawns turned brown, and there was a saying regarding flushing the toilet: if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down. Take a shower with a friend, don't brush your teeth (kids loved this one).

Why?

Cuz there is a high pressure ridge parked off of the coast of California.

Guh?

You see, here in California, there are 2 sources of rain.

The first are storms that grow in the Gulf of Alaska, and sweep down the west coast, dropping rain all along the way. These are the ones that are quite cold, and are often accompanied by winds that cause the rain to fall horizontally.

The second is the so-called “Pineapple Express”. These are weather fronts that have their genesis in the Hawaiin Islands and sweep westward here to California. They are powerful, and can dump huge amounts of rain. In a good year, they turn gutters into mighty rivers and streets into great seas, and, yes, your shoes and socks will get sopping wet. They are also quite warm and humid, and often cause me to sweat (yes, in winter).

Now: when a high pressure ridge parks it rear end off of the coast, both types of storms get shoved north, and Washington state and Oregon and Canada get our rain. Hence, the current drought.

Happily, today, we got a small bit of the Hawaiian Express, but not nearly enough to soothe our drought. It is going to be a very long summer in California.

Why I Oppose Bride of Peripheral Canal

You see, many conservatives favor said environmental disaster because farming and therefore economic activity are being totally destroyed in the interior valleys. Nevertheless, I still oppose it due to a small, yet disastrous regulation: if we allow construction of SON OF PERIPHERAL CANAL, SF/Bay Area (who rely on the Sacramento river for drinking water) will be required by law to ship water southwards. SF can turn into a friggin' desert, but will still be required to ship predetermined quantities of water southwards. Worse: the beneficiary will not only be agriculture in the valley, but also LA. You see, the powerful land development company who will control the water once it reaches the valley also has powerful contacts to the DWP (Department of Water and Power), and the water can easily and legally be trans-shipped to LA, for people in Bel Air to fill their swimming pools and wash their cars, at the same time that SF residents will be forbidden to wash their cars. FYI: DWP is quite powerful, and has a history of snookering entire states (Nevada, Arizona) out of their fair share of water from the Colorado River. Have you ever seen Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson? It is all about the political battles over water in the LA basin: yes, water is that important. Can you guess who the shadowy power is lurking in the background? That's correct: our old friend DWP.

A Bit of Agricultural History

Before the advent of pumping water from the SF/Bay Area to the valley, this area was still the salad bowl of America. How? Humid farming: the farmers were smart enough to grow crops that did not require irrigation, but could thrive and be productive using only the natural rainfall. My heart does not bleed for the farmers of the valley, who are wailing and gnashing their teeth. All they have to do is become as smart as their forebears and switch to crops that do not require irrigation. They will still be wealthy and productive farmers. All they have to do is switch from lettuce and rice and stone fruits to other crops using humid farming (Google it).