Southern California Experiencing What May Become the Coldest Summer in History

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Temperatures continue well below average in Southern California

It hasn't been the coolest summer on record, but it's been close, forecasters say.

The average temperature in July was 79 degrees, five degrees below normal, and the first eight days of this month also have been five to six degrees below normal, weather experts said.

That could put Southern California on track for a near-record-low summer, but it's still too early to say, according to weather experts. The Los Angeles area, in fact, has had below-normal temperatures every month since April.

"We normally get this kind of weather pattern when we are transitioning from an El Niño year to a La Niña year," National Weather Service meteorologist Jaimie Meier said. "It sets up this trough of moisture over the West Coast, and that's what's been happening. We end up with cooler-than-normal temperatures and cooler coastal waters."

On Monday forecasters were monitoring a high-pressure system developing to the north that could swing over Southern California by Sunday and heat things into the mid-90s in some inland areas, she said.

It may be too early to be feeling any effects of La Niña, Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist Bill Patzert said.

During a La Niña occurrence, certain ocean temperatures around the equator cool, resulting in wetter winter weather for Northern California and a drier winter in Southern California.

"Some would like to blame it on La Niña, but that La Niña is a long ways away," Patzert said. "The pattern we're seeing is that the Northern Hemisphere is having record-breaking heat and we're getting near-record lows."

He attributed the cooler temps to a series of low-pressure systems off the Southern California coast this summer - except for one above-normal week in early July - and the "Catalina eddy effect" that pushes low coastal clouds farther inland and keeps temperatures cooler everywhere except in the mountains and deserts.

"Some people are singing the blues, but I'm enjoying this," Patzert said.

So are people with outdoor jobs like Jill Morganelli, the horticulture curator in charge of plant life at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia.

"The benefits are that gardeners are much more comfortable and are really enjoying being out there," she said. "I'm loving it. My productivity is going way up."

But some plants could be affected by the cold nights and cooler mornings, Morganelli said. Citing only what she's seen happening this summer at the Arboretum, where overnight lows have dipped into the mid-50s, Morganelli said she's noticed more yellow in the leaves of some flowering plants, particularly roses.

"The fruits and vegetables, the tomatoes and a lot of the citrus and things like raspberries are not ripening up because it's not getting hot long enough," she said, adding that some fruit could taste less sweet because less sun means less sugar content.

Morganalli said she has picked just one fully ripened tomato so far from her own summer garden.

With more moisture in the ground backyard gardeners should water no more than three times a week, she advised.

People who absolutely love the heat can still look forward to September and October, two months in which we typically experience waves of above-normal temperatures, Patzert said.

Because La Niña could be stronger by then, increasing the chance of dry conditions, he recommended that people living in the hillsides take advantage of the cool days to clear brush around their homes - before the Santa Ana winds kick up this fall.

"It's cool and comfortable right now - a great time to get out there and clear that brush," Patzert said.

Read more: Temperatures continue well below average in Southern California - Whittier Daily News http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_15723011#ixzz0wLfN7egD

[lostinblue 1,989]

Global Warming is the cause ....or so it will be reported here on VJ.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

This is caused by moon spots.

-The Emperor Has Spoken

[웃 910]

All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.

Barack Obama

Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world.. the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.

Barack Obama

The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.

Barack Obama -

I think it is manmade. I think it's clearly manmade. If you don't understand what the cause is, it's virtually impossible to come up with a solution. We know what the cause is. The cause is manmade. That's the cause. That's why the polar icecap is melting.

Joe Biden

[웃 910]

“The science is in. The facts are there that we have created, man has, a self-inflicted wound that man has created through global warming.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger

[DEDixon 39]

northern CA isn't any better - i turn my heat on to blow off the chill in the air every morning and just recently in the afternoon.

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

It is because of global climate change. The heat from California migrated to Moscow, started fires by spontaneous combustion and is killing 800 people a day. See! Now, the ONLY way to stop this and return the heat to California where it belongs is for the US congress to pass laws and raise taxes on US citizens. Don't be silly and think otherwise.

[Jenn! 918]

Wow, all the global warming jokes are so clever.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This just in from across the pond where unusually hot and dry summers endanger the native flora. Devastating floods, wildfires and storms are becoming occurences so regular that all but the incurably blind would need to admit that something's way off.

Berlin Eyes Exotic Trees in Response to Warming Weather

Palm trees in Berlin? Not quite. But the German capital is testing trees from the south as native species show signs of struggling with increasingly warm temperatures. Instead of limes and oaks, the city could soon be filled with Judas trees and Daimyo oaks.

Berlin is so proud of its trees that it named its most elegant boulevard after them -- Unter den Linden (Under The Lime Trees). But a succession of dry, hot summers followed by cold winters has taken its toll on the indigenous limes and chestnut trees, many of which now have disturbingly brown leaves.

Local politicians and scientists attribute the problem to global warming and have responded with a pilot project to bring new species to the German capital -- species which are normally at home in far hotter climates in southern Europe and Asia.

"We are trying to come up with alternatives to our trees," Matthias Zander from the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture at Humboldt University told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The university has planted more than 56 species of trees from various geographic regions in a southern suburb of the city to analyze whether they are better able to weather the German weather.

The trees are far from home and include the Daimyo oak and the Magnolia tree which thrive in Japan and South Korea. The so-called Judas tree lives in Greece and Spain. The species also include the manna ash from the Russian island of Sakhalin and the North American horse apple.

"Extreme situations are becoming more and more common," Zander said. If the trees are weakened by the weather, they can't protect themselves against pests and man-made hazards such as pollution. That in turn affects humans because trees absorb CO2 and release moisture in to the dry city air.

Chestnuts Suffer Most

Among the indigenous German species, the chestnut tree has paid the highest price for climate change, Zander said. But lime trees, which are the most popular among Berlin landscapers, are also suffering.

The newcomers, 800 trees in total, were raised in nurseries all over Europe. The Berliners have 15 trees from each species to experiment with. The resilience of the trees will be tested by giving five of them as much water as they desire, five only the minimum they need to survive; and the remaining five will be watered even less to see how they cope with extreme dryness.

But their ability to withstand the unfamiliar cold of a Berlin winter will be equally important."The crunch point will be whether these trees can also cope with the low winter temperatures," Zander said.

The first results and recommendations will be released when the project under the auspices of the Innovation Network of Climate Change Adaptation Brandenburg Berlin, which was founded one year ago, ends in 2014.

Despite the rising temperatures in Berlin, residents will not have to rename their favorite street to Unter den Palmen (Under the Palm Trees) anytime soon, said Zander. "They aren't winter-resistant enough."