More Hot Weather For Southern California, Says UCLA Study 218
The L.A. Times reports on a study by UCLA climate researchers who conclude, based on supercomputer analysis of a model "2,500 times more precise than previous climate models for the region" that the area around L.A. will experience more (and more extreme) hot spells in decades to come. From the article: "The study, released Thursday, is the first to model the Southland's complex geography of meandering coastlines, mountain ranges and dense urban centers in high enough resolution to predict temperatures down to the level of micro climate zones, each measuring 2 1/4 square miles. The projections are for 2041 to 2060. Not only will the number of hot days increase, but the study found that the hottest of those days will break records, said Alex Hall, lead researcher on the study by UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability."
Enough! (Score:5, Interesting)
I dont care if this shit is accurate or not, I am going to attempt to do what is right, not what is cheaper.
History has proven that cheaper is not better for us, for the environment, or for our future.
If it were, we wouldnt worry about lakes catching on fire, cancer eating our bodies, and carbons heating up the earth (this is true BTW, look at historical evidence, and not just 50 years ago, more like 5 million years).
So shut the fuck up, make your decision, and die in your environment, or live in it.
Experience (Score:2, Interesting)
I have lived in SoCal all my life and there was a period in the 70's when pollution was rampant to the point you didn't trust any air you couldn't see, and even warm says resulted in eye and lung pain from acids in the air. It also served as a microclimate greenhouse effect.
We now have more than double the cars, more than 4x the degree of traffic jams, a lot less pollution that is feelable or seeable. But the greenhouse effect is still about the same. Greenhouse gases in order of magnitude are:
Water (dihydrogen monoxide)
Methane
Carbon Dioxide
As we deplete our groundwater in SoCal I expect the water level to slightly decrease, but moderated by the coastal breeze and morning low clouds off the ocean. Reverse air flow we call Santa Ana winds coming off the desert more often than usual would have a far stronger impact on that as the desert we live in has lower humidity when it is dominant. LA is surrounded by desert and ocean. The mountains act as a wind wall to channel the flows in their natural directions but contain it in the "valleys".
The key word I picked up in the original article is "model". The model might be 2500x as good as it was before, but it was crap before and they might just be talking about resolution not results! Probably so. Bragging about 2.5 mi square resolution! That's 6.25 sqmi each or 6 sections of land to the real estate folks.
On an actual experience basis the average temperature is down. The peak temperatures are up and the peak wind speeds are up. The rainfall is down.
You want to have a real impact on global warming in a good way? Replentish groundwater sourced from flood areas. One big water pipeline going 24/7 would do it. Run it from the Great Lakes Area to the area west of the Sierras. Done.
JJ
Re:Ocean currents (Score:5, Interesting)
Just a slight shift in ocean currents would make that entire region a barren desert anyway
Um, it pretty much is. Southern California passed its carrying capacity a century ago. The only region it's inhabitable is that massive amounts of water are diverted from the Colorado River Basin to Southern California. It's gotten to the point where upstream governments have outlawed collecting, in rainbarrels, water that falls on your roof to water your garden, because it's "not your water". But it is Southern California's water, you see.
At some point in the future the water source will fail, and the place will become mostly inhabitable. Massive amounts of contingent wealth will be wiped out when this happens. The only thing that could really keep it going is nuclear-powered desalinization, but Californians tend to be anti-nuke (of all types, not just LWR's), so that's unlikely to help them. Even if they could be convinced, the time delay to implement is too long, because they won't act soon enough.
Oh, but they have movie stars.
Re:Ocean currents (Score:4, Interesting)
It's gotten to the point where upstream governments have outlawed collecting, in rainbarrels, water that falls on your roof to water your garden, because it's "not your water". But it is Southern California's water, you see.
That's called "non-riparian water rights," and it goes back to before the western states were even founded. The basis for this system is Common Law legal precedent, not legislation (although most states have passed laws formally codifying their water rights systems... as of over a hundred years ago).
But don't let facts get in your way.