It looks like we’re in for a bit of rain here in Southern California. We can use the rain, but it’s going to be showers all weekend. It reminds me of our trip to Alaska in July 2005, when it seemed to rain everyday in Anchorage and Denali. This is a shot of our train pulling into Denali station as we were getting ready to go to Fairbanks. Of course, it was pouring.
Fairbanks, thankfully, was dry when we visited there.
All of those elements and more contributed to this photo that I took yesterday at Cabrillo Beach. I just love the green glow of sunlight through the waves and the spray dancing on top of them.
After a rainy day yesterday, we drove to San Pedro to seek out any photo ops. We got plenty. It was difficult picking one of over two hundred images, but this one had plenty of action. The surf was up a little and was crashing against the Los Angeles Harbor breakwater, occasionally sending waves over the top. This shot taken from Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. Click on the image for a bigger view.
The wildfires burning here in Southern California are many miles from our house yet the smoke in the air reduced the sun to a dimmer brownish-yellow ball. Objects on the ground appeared dim and yellowish. I have blue carpet in the living room and the sunlight falling on it would make it look greenish-yellow. Last night, the moon looked like a great pumpkin in the sky.
I snapped this picture of the sun surrounded by the thick smoke about mid-morning yesterday.
Overnight, we had considerable rainfall – at least for drought-stricken Southern California. Damsel and I knew that there would be clear air down by the ocean, as is typical after rainfall here. When we drove to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, we were not disappointed.
Damsel took this picture of Point Vicente with the Lighthouse to the left and Catalina Island in the distance. Click on the image below for the deluxe full-screen version.
Whenever we take the Catalina Express to or from Catalina, we never fail to see several California Sea Lions basking on the harbor navigation buoys. Damsel took this picture as we passed into the harbor returning to the San Pedro Catalina Terminal.
Pinnipeds are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection act, and organizations such as the Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur (we are supporting members) provide rescue, rehab and restoration to the habitat for injured critters.
It’s not uncommon for sea lions to rest on buoys; they will also often gather at marinas and wharves. These man-made environments provide them safety from their natural predators: orcas and white sharks.
You can click on the image for a larger view.
We’re adding a new item to our Global Warming Resources page. The National Center for Policy Analysis has compiled a Global Warming Primer in PDF format that illustrates in graphical form some of the concepts of Global Warming that are often misunderstood or not understood at all by many people with opinions about climate change.
At the right is a pie chart illustrating that greenhouse gasses are less than 5 percent of the atmosphere. A subsequent pie chart shows that 95 percent of that small wedge is harmless water vapor!
The primer is an easy read since most of the pages are graphs and pie charts with annotations to clearly explain to the reader what concepts are being presented. The primer is based on a review of available scientific research. The NCPA received no money and no input from any private company or government agency.
The primer is a welcome change from the myriad of complex and often daunting data on the subject. All that engineering and scientific stuff is fine for some of us, but try and explain it to your kids and others without the background and you get blank stares.
Hat tip to Planet Gore – A Global Warming Primer: A Graph is worth 1,000 words.