The Golden State of the Golden State

It's been a dry winter, with only two thirds of the rainfall considered "normal." Thus, much of the grass has already dried to its late-summer golden hue, including the grass here on the levee where I walk. The city has sent crews to mow it to the ground as a precaution against accidental fire, but it is still like tinder.

The number of burning fires is now reduced to just under 300 from over 1,000 a couple of weeks ago, and, with the advent of the delta breeze a few days ago, the air is now clearer, the sky is blue again, and the sun doesn't have that reddish cast it had during the worst of the smoke.

California's On Fire

Over the past weekend, a dry lightning storm crossed northern California, igniting hundreds of grass fires between Monterey and the Oregon border. Many of them are still burning. None is close to Sacramento, physically, but we are surrounded by a ring of fires. Because Sacramento is in a valley, the smoke has settled down and can't blow away. Air quality is very bad, and we are being advised to remain indoors and avoid exposure.

This has been a very dry year, with rainfall 5" below normal. So when the lightning storm swept across the state, grass that would have been still green was already dry as tinder, and burst into flame. They said there were over 9,000 lightning strikes, and over 800 fires on June 22!

The governor has declared a drought, and water metering is suddenly in the news again (not all homes have meters, but owners pay a flat fee, instead.) This is reminiscent of how things were when we moved to California in the early 90s - there was a drought then, too, which lasted for several years and prompted much coverage of water conservation, effects on agriculture and on the fish in the rivers and deltas. I guess we're in another dry cycle.