For those who don't know (which is probably most of the world), the massive dry spell California has been suffering since December was being caused by a high-pressure ridge off the coast of Alaska. It was diverting the Jetstream north a bit, which then hooked down almost across the rockies and created the "polar vortex" effect that the Midwest and Eastern US has been enduring (and which seems to be also causing massive flooding in the UK).
This high-pressure ridge was there for so long without moving or dissipating that it became half-jokingly known as "the ridiculously resilient ridge".
Now, blue skies and 80-degree temps in January are nice to a point, but you have to realize that Central California is one of the major food production areas in the country (and in some areas in the world): less than 1% of the nation's land by area creates over 8% of the produce in the country.
This ridge, by forcing the Jetstream to skip California, has been endangering the US food supply in a massive way.
Until last weekend, when it finally broke apart. SoCal has only gotten a few showers, but there is now flooding in parts of the state north of San Francisco, and hopefully the snow pack on the mountains will begin to build up.
The ironic part is that the driest January in California history is likely about to head into an El Nino wet season. Bring on the rain!
I'm heading to Tampa for a conference next week. I'm not necessarily looking forward to it - I'm spending the entire time hanging out in a hall at a booth, mostly by myself - but it'll be something different at least.
During the dry spell, I noticed a few hummingbirds coming up and poking at the little white flowers on my basil plants. This seemed kind of desperate to me, so I bought a shepherd's hook and a hummingbird feeder and kind of nestled it in the middle of the basil. Since then, I've had at least three hummingbirds come by regularly - including one who likes to "stand guard" and chase others away except for the one female that I think is his mate.
They're actually pretty comfortable with me. I was out watering my plants earlier - including the planter where the feeder sits - and they'd buzz up, "zot" at me a bit (this kind actually makes noise, kind of like an electric click), and then start drinking out of the feeder. I can even move around the patio slowly and they don't get jumpy. I think I'll call the guard "Henry"; as I was heading outside to water, I just randomly thought, "I hope Henry doesn't get too mad at me," so I guess that's his name now.
I thought Electric Cars Were the Future. I Changed my Mind.
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5 comments:
Hi there, Austin
I'd heard about the drought in California; I didn't know about the weather system that has caused it. I hope the change in circulation patterns works its way across North America and the Atlantic: as you mention, most of Britain has had an extremely wet and stormy winter. Indeed, as I write, I can hear a gale blowing outside for the second time in a week! The only up-side has been temperatures significantly higher than usual too - I've only seen a frost perhaps 3 or 4 times this winter.
I'm glad to hear the plants are still OK. The idea of hummingbirds as local wildlife still seems odd to me - from my perspective they're sufficiently exotic to only appear in zoos.
Take care
Mark
That's cool about the hummingbirds. My wife has a few feeders in the front yard and it's pretty cool to eat breakfast at the table and watch them eat too. I like living in a part of the country that has them year round.
Have fun at the conference. I have to head to one in Chicago in early March. With any luck maybe the snow will be gone and they'll have 80 degree weather....
Jeremy
I was refilling Henry's feeder this morning (since I'll be gone for a few days), and as I was hanging it back up, he actually buzzed up and "hovered" a few inches away until I got it in place. As soon as I let go, he started at it. Guess he's getting used to me (or was really thirsty this morning).
Glad to hear both of you (Mark and Jeremy) are good. We'll see how Tampa treats me.
Hi there, Austin
I hope Tampa's going (gone?) well.
Your resilient high might have moved on; unfortunately it hasn't made any change to the weather here, except perhaps to make it more extreme. We've had ten storms so far this winter that have been bad enough to have severe weather warnings, and four have been in the last ten days - in fact number 10 is roaring outside the window at the moment. We're forecast better weather from some time next week, but I think this winter is going to be remembered for a long time in Britain.
Take care
Mark
Tampa didn't. Couldn't get there Wednesday, tried again Thursday and everything was worse. So, I'm still in sunny SoCal.
Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on. It seems like both sides of the northern Atlantic are in cold storage mode right now, though that seems like it's going to be ending in the next few days. Don't get washed away before it does.
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