But it’s a dry heat…
Now this I could have told you without looking at the numbers, but Southern California is in the middle of its driest year on record.
The LA Times has a story on it in today’s paper. Downtown Los Angeles, as an example, has received 2.4 inches of rain since July 1st 2006.
“We’ve never had a drier year on record so far,” said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “If nothing significant happens in March, then we’ve pretty much run out of time.”
Those in the outdoors will see the effects throughout the year, from a prolonged fire danger season, to upset insect migrations, to threatened crops and other plant life.
Even native California plants are suffering under the dry conditions. Gardeners at South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have seen more dry and brown leaves in their drought-resistant Mediterranean and California plants.
Those plants usually rely exclusively on California’s winter rains, said Tanya Finney, who leads the gardening staff on the 87-acre property.
“We don’t normally have to supplement the water in the winter,” she said. “But this year it’s been so dry that we’ve started hand-watering things we usually don’t, like our rosemary and salvia.”
So keep those canteens handy. And if you have your pets along for the hikes, bring extra for them.