In the face of sea level rise, can we reimagine California’s vanishing coastline? – the Los Angeles Times
Excerpted from “California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline” (available Sept. 26, 2023) by Rosanna Xia. Reprinted in the Los Angeles Times with permission from Heyday Books, © 2023.
How does sea level rise challenge modern notions of property lines? – Los Angeles Times
The (California) Coastal Act is a remarkable commitment to the public trust doctrine, which traces back to Justinian I, who declared in 533 C.E. that “the following things are natural law common to all: the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the seashore.” This notion — that certain lands should be held in trust by the government for the benefit of all people — evolved into English common law, which the United States then adopted and California later wrote into its state constitution…
Volcano? Climate change? Bad luck? – the Los Angeles Times
As winter approached, few anticipated what was about to hit California. Mired in a serious drought, the state was suddenly battered by an onslaught of 31 atmospheric river storms in a matter of months. While the number alone isn’t exceptional, the location, intensity and duration of these storms had a transforming effect on California’s climate. Record snowfall. Deadly flooding…But one thing remains a mystery: Why did so many of these bands of water vapor, many back-to-back, slam into California?
Bomb cyclone, atmospheric river, polar vortex: How our weather terminology has grown with recent wild storms – the Los Angeles Times
Californians have been warned over the past few months about weather ranging from a “vicious heat dome” to back-to-back “atmospheric rivers,” and the always-concerning “bomb cyclone.” While it might feel as though recent weather has been dominated by a string of new phenomena, experts say these terms and events are well-established in the scientific world but simply novel to much of general public…
Authorities working to determine source of oil slick off Santa Barbara coast – the Los Angeles Times
The U.S. Coast Guard was working with state officials Saturday to determine the cause of a large oil slick in the waters off Santa Barbara County.
The 1½- to 2-mile sheen was spotted Friday about five nautical miles from Summerland Beach, an area with a petroleum-rich sea floor that is home to numerous abandoned gas and oil wells…
California bracing for one final round of storms as officials assess damage – the Los Angeles Times
Another moderate storm moved into California Sunday evening, bringing more rain to Los Angeles, the coast and inland valleys, and dropping potentially up to 2 feet of snow in the mountain regions of Northern California before it moves east on Monday…
Mass storm outages bring misery across California, exposing power grid’s vulnerabilities – the Los AngelesTimes
David Higares was on his fourth day without power in his Morada home in San Joaquin County when he woke up to indoor temperatures barely above 50 degrees.
His lights had flickered twice since his neighborhood outside Stockton went dark Saturday, following one of the train of atmospheric river storms, but his home remained dark, he said. Each time he checked, it seemed Pacific Gas & Electric had again pushed back the estimate for restoring power.
“It feels endless at this point,” said Higares, who lost all the food in his refrigerator and freezer due to spoilage. “Basically, we’re camping indoors.”
Since New Year’s Eve, hundreds of thousands of Californians have lost power — many multiple times…