UNITED STATES NEWS

Californians eager for sunnier days after relentless winter

Mar 23, 2023, 6:12 AM

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Californians are tired. Tired of the rain, tired of the snow, tired of stormy weather and the cold, relentlessly gray skies that have clouded the Golden State nearly nonstop since late December.

With spring now underway, the state’s 39 million residents are hopeful for sunnier days ahead. But this week’s atmospheric river — the 12th such storm here since late December — had other plans.

The powerful systems dump huge amounts of rain and snow as they bring massive plumes of Pacific moisture into California. They have already wreaked havoc across the state, with a death toll rising as communities dig out and floodwaters recede. High winds toppled trees, storm surges inundated coastal towns with no end in sight.

Californians initially welcomed the precipitation and chilly temperatures after a broke precipitation records along the way.

In San Diego — famed for its 72-and-sunny climate — this week’s high temperatures hover around 60 F to 61 F (15.5 C to 16 C). The average high is 67 F (19 C), said National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Moede.

And San Diego has already recorded nearly 5 more inches (13 centimeters) of rain than normal since the water year began in October, Moede said.

All that rainfall has hurt San Diego’s beachfront businesses: Surf schools are slowing down, boardwalk vendors are bored, the usual sun-worshipping locals are staying home.

“We depend on the sunshine,” said Duncan Taylor, who works at a surf-inspired clothing store called Sun Diego Boardshop. “We depend on people coming out and having a good time at the beach.”

Noe Reyes closed up his stand in Mission Beach early Tuesday after too much rain and too few customers. He needs tourists to buy hoodies, souvenirs and drinks, but an empty promenade doesn’t make money.

“It’s been rough,” he said. “There’s no one out here, not even locals.”

Weather in typically temperate Los Angeles hasn’t been much better. Angelenos experienced the wettest January and February since 2005, according to the National Weather Service. That put a damper on everything from youth baseball leagues that faced cancellation after cancellation to washed-out beach yoga classes overlooking the Santa Monica Pier.

Beach Yoga SoCal co-owner Eric Gomez said he and his wife, who are from less-sunny New Jersey, took over the business in 2018 to experience yoga in “quintessential LA.”

“We never imagined it to be this rainy,” Gomez said Wednesday after canceling another class. “It definitely feels like a different climate of sorts these past few months.”

Even Californians eager for winter weather found themselves exhausted by the season.

“I am so tired of this rain,” said Nicolas Gonzalez, a National Audubon Society spokesperson. “I am just ready to be outside again.”

Gonzalez and a friend had planned a cabin weekend last month in the city of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains with the goal of spotting the Southern California valley’s bald eagle pair between snowy hikes and trips to the hot tub. They postponed their trip when major snowfall forced road closures that blocked most routes to the cabin.

“I’m hoping that next month, it’ll be just as snowy and wintry with less of a life-endangering risk to get there,” he said in February.

No such luck. The pair had to scrap the trip entirely as more snow fell and roads remained treacherous for weeks.

Along the central coast — where storm surges and pounding rain have destroyed picturesque seaside towns and inland farming communities alike — TV forecasters are exhausted.

“I don’t want to come into work,” said Lee Solomon, KSBW’s chief meteorologist. “To have to focus your brain on three storms all at once, in a seven-day period — it’s hard.”

The stress is compounded by the complexity of knowing when to tell people to flee in a state with microclimates encompassing the coast, high mountains and valley farmlands. The evacuation orders are piling up with the atmospheric rivers, Solomon said, but you don’t want to “over-warn people” and risk complacency.

In coastal Carmel, Jaime Schrabeck’s nail salon was under evacuation orders for days in mid-January. Now she’s contending with power outages — the result of the 11th atmospheric river — that could cost her up to $1,000 a day. Her clients prefer gel enhancements, which need electricity to power a special light.

“We can’t take it outdoors and use the sun’s rays to cure it properly,” she said.

At Schrabeck’s utility provider, Pacific Gas and Electric, crews work 12- to 14-hour days, hanging from poles trying to keep the lights on. They’ve been at it for months, but outages still topped 500,000 statewide during one storm.

“When everybody else has battened down the hatches, they’re out there working,” said Bob Dean, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1245, the union that represents thousands of line workers in Northern California and Nevada. “It’s like, ‘My God, we need a break here.’”

Further south at Bart’s Books, the partially outdoor bookseller has seen business slow with the rain. The Ojai store lost a shelf of 150 Russian history books to a leak two months back, but manager Matt Henriksen is looking on the bright side.

“We lose more books to damage from sun than water,” Henriksen said. “This is a Southern California problem.”

As is the current surfing outlook. Even after the rains let up, experts tell swimmers to stay out of the water for three days. Contaminated runoff increases bacteria, introducing a risk of serious illness.

For Eric “Bird” Huffman, owner of Bird’s Surf Shed in San Diego, the swell has remained stubbornly small, and the 12th atmospheric river’s forecast is much the same.

Too many rainy days, too little sunshine. And way too much winter.

___

Dazio reported from Los Angeles.

United States News

FILE - Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former N...

Associated Press

3rd Republican presidential debate is set for Nov. 8 in Miami, with the strictest qualifications yet

The third Republican presidential debate will be held in Miami on Nov. 8, a day after several states hold off-year elections, and candidates will be facing the most stringent requirements yet to take part. Participating candidates must secure 4% of the vote in multiple polls and 70,000 unique donors to earn a spot on the […]

24 minutes ago

Associated Press

Video of Elijah McClain’s stop by police shown as officers on trial in Black man’s death

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Elijah McClain’s mother left a Colorado courtroom in tears Friday after prosecutors showed video footage of the 23-year-old Black man pinned down by police officers during a fatal 2019 confrontation, which rose to prominence during nationwide protests over racial discrimination and excessive force in policing. Two officers from the Denver suburb […]

32 minutes ago

Associated Press

Biologists look to expand suitable habitat for North America’s largest and rarest tortoise

ENGLE, N.M. (AP) — While the average life span of North America’s largest and most rare tortoise species is unknown, biologists have said it could span upward of a century. So saving the endangered species is a long game — one that just got another nudge forward Friday as U.S. wildlife officials finalized an agreement […]

42 minutes ago

Associated Press

Surgeons perform second pig heart transplant, trying to save a dying man

WASHINGTON (AP) — Surgeons have transplanted a pig’s heart into a dying man in a bid to prolong his life – only the second patient to ever undergo such an experimental feat. Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday. The 58-year-old Navy veteran […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

GOP candidate challenging election loss in race to lead Texas’ most populous county drops lawsuit

HOUSTON (AP) — The highest profile Republican candidate who had sued seeking to overturn election results in the nation’s third-most populous county, a Democratic stronghold in deeply red Texas, has dropped her lawsuit. Alexandra del Moral Mealer was one of 21 GOP candidates who had filed lawsuits challenging their losses in November’s election in Harris […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Convicted sex offender back in custody after walking away from a St. Louis hospital

SHREWSBURY, Mo. (AP) — A man convicted of child sex crimes is back in custody after walking away from a St. Louis hospital, authorities said. Tommy Wayne Boyd, 45, was transported Wednesday from the Potosi Correctional Facility to Mercy Hospital South for medical treatment. Surveillance video later showed him walking away from the hospital, St. […]

4 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Importance of AC maintenance after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

An air conditioning unit in Phoenix is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat.

...

Ignite Digital

How to unlock the power of digital marketing for Phoenix businesses

All businesses around the Valley hopes to maximize their ROI with current customers and secure a greater market share in the digital sphere.

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

Californians eager for sunnier days after relentless winter