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Monsoon season

2/14/2017

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Two more storms due in the next five days. It has rained a portion or all of every week since December. The drought is over, ya think? I haven't seen this much rain since the El Nino of 1998 and that's a long time ago.

People are going crazy trying to get to jobs over in Silicon Valley driving hours out of the way with half of Highway 17 closed and complete closure of the nearest auxiliary routes such as San Jose-Soquel Road. Most go down through Gilroy and then across to the coast or they go up over on 92 to Half Moon Bay and down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz.

I don't feel stir crazy with the weather as it's really not cold and getting wet after so long a drought is still a novelty. The beauty of our protected isolation comes back to haunt us in dealing with trying to get to jobs, specialized doctor appointments or rendezvous with friends...let alone anything happening in the City.

It will take months to move mountains of mud, fill sinkholes, and drain real swamps with much discussion about how this could have been prevented or how it can be forestalled in the future. Of course nothing productive will come of it.

No, highway 17 will not be widened to six lanes as is should have been years ago.
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May Grey slipping into June Gloom

5/24/2015

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Cimate change is taking its toll in lack of rain and weird weather. Sunny and warm all winter, but now as summer arrives it has been drizzling, raining on a weekly basis for a month. 
I suppose this is good as it mitigates the need for watering, keeps the redwoods hydrated and lowers the fire danger in the mountains. I'll take a winter-summer reverse out.
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Santa Cruz is a National geographic pick!

9/5/2013

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Business Digest, Sept. 5, 2013: Nat Geo picks Santa CruzBy Jondi Gumz


Santa Cruz Sentinel

POSTED:   09/04/2013 03:44:11 PM PDT
SANTA CRUZ

National Geographic picks SC

Santa Cruz has been added to National Geographic's list of "Long Weekends Like a Local" for two reasons: Vibrant surf culture and the only major seaside amusement park on the West Coast.

The magazine quotes Neil Pearlberg, 56, surf columnist for the Sentinel, as the resident expert on where to go.

Top activities include a hike at The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, with 30 miles of redwood-lined trails rising from sea level to 2,600 feet into the Santa Cruz Mountains; mountain biking at Wilder Ranch State Park, 34 miles of trails through coastal terraces and valleys; climbing at Pacific Edge Climbing Gym, which has a 50-foot wall; and visiting Monterey Bay.

Recommended locations include: The breaks at Cowell Beach or Capitola for learning to surf; Giant Dipper roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; Crow's Nest Restaurant at the harbor; Motiv night club; Sunset Beach Campground 16 miles south of Santa Cruz for budget travelers; and Santa Cruz Dream Inn on Cowell Beach with bay views, for a splurge.

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The Dog days are on

7/15/2013

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Well much has passed in our fair city and much is still the same. People are still contentious over traffic, growth, zoning, and, of course, the proposed Desal Plant . Nobody wants a pumping station in their backyard as it gives off cosmic frequencies that induces Great White Sharks to stalk leash free dogs on It's Beach.

People are in water conservancy mode because of the so-called drought. I call it a way of life that nobody wants to cop to because the reality of Global Warming here as it is too normal an idea.

June Gloom has arrived finally in July and the weather is typical cool marine summer that makes plants thrive with not much water and people forget about sunscreen only to achieve great fogburns.

The fourth of July has come and gone with lots of warnings and admonishments about the $1000 fine for fireworks and alcohol on the beach. There was both and it was quite a show.

Now the sleepy days of early overcast, later sun, and happy hour at Hulu's have taken hold. It's a good life here.
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Deep cold at the Beach

1/10/2013

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An artic storm has blown in and brought freezing temperatures to the coast.
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Welcome to summer in september

9/20/2012

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Fall has fallen, the tourists are gone and the weather is gorgeous.
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Fall is Falling upon us and the arts are in full swing

8/29/2012

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Picture
Thirty-Five reasons to love Fall here.

And many more events lined up as well. From the Begonia and John Cage Festivals...what a juxtaposition that is in one's mind...to the Monterrey Jazz Festival, TEDx, and Welcome Back the Monarchs. Woo Hoo!

Here comes the Pacific Rim Film Festival and OMG not Bill Maher at the Civic Auditorium.  A plethora of fun times and gatherings ends with First Saturday at the Tannery, a Burlesque dance clas and the lighted boat parade. What more can you ask for to keep

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To Build or Not to Build: a Desalination Plant?

4/10/2012

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Picture
photo by BILL LOVEJOY/SENTINEL
Of all the places on this planet where you won't get much of an argument about climate change, it is here in Santa Cruz. We know that it is happening and bringing extremes in weather that will only get worse over time. 

This is Al Gore country. The Thrive Movement was born here. That is what makes the opposition to building a desalination plant so incredulous to me.

Eventually global warming will make this temperate, Mediterranean paradise dry to the bone as it heats up...think North Africa. We had a record dry winter with only 65% of normal rainfall. The aquifers long holding back the seawater creep are dwindling to the point of being invaded. 

Some how this situation has gotten entangled with a long-standing resentment of a vocal minority towards the University of California. They have this no-growth now that I've got mine attitude towards new business, increased tourism, and perhaps population growth in general. They challenge anyone's "right to be here at all" except for themselves. 

Putting aside the accuracy of Malthus's prediction that we would over populate ourselves out of existence, the addition of another 3000 students is a drop in the bucket (excuse the pun) so to speak in terms of water usage. Increased tourist use of water is more than offset by sales tax revenues. There are no jobs here. Unemployment is over 11% now. But all that is totally completely and absolutely irrelevant. Tying no growth issues to climate change is a specious argument at best.

Futher, advocating water conservation as an alternative rather than complimentary solution is simply ludicrous. Even if all citizens conserved water by 80% ...there still won't be enough. This county is 50% agribusiness based. We grow food to earn a living. That takes water and creates jobs. But even that is irrelevant to this argument. It is not about no growth, tax revenues, food and job creation. 
 
We are running out of water. It will stop raining more and more. The rainfall will eventually be completely insufficient to sustain even a smaller population, with no tourism, farms, or students. There won't be enough.  That people can't see the long-view, shows a very self-centered lack of vision, imagination and compassion.  The real 800 pound gorilla in the living room is that proactive action to build one desalination plant now will simply forestall the inevitable and make the cost of quenching our collective thirst more affordable. 

The operative goal here is desalination plants..as in the plural. Wrap your self-referenced minds around that one as the redwoods wither and dry up, the seasonal rivers run dry, and we even recycle our urine.  

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Record Breaking Sunday..83 Degrees

3/6/2012

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Seems like I write a lot about the weather but it never ceases to amaze me here. I have decided that Santa Cruz has weekly and daily seasons. The same temperatures can happen summer and winter from day to day.
 
It was 83 Sunday here. Warmer than inland which it not typical but go figure. The latest argument in government and in the Sentinel has been about paying for and building a desalination plant. We need water to drink and to grow with. The university plans to expand the number of students which is a good thing, I believe. 

That means more research, more culture, more jobs and aliveness in the community. There are a lot of retired folks and an aging population that needs some balance...though they don't think so.

We are rolling into longer days which brings more fog and overcast. Its a good thing the days are long in summer given the lack of daily sunshine compared to winter
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It Rained Today, Sorta

2/7/2012

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I never thought I would find myself with a garden hose in February watering plants but the ground is bone dry and this is rainy season. I hope we have a very very foggy socked in sunless summer just to help save the plants and keep them humid.

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