I have been here for a long, long time. One of the reasons I chose to stay here is because of the great weather. Being near the ocean, many towns and cities here never experience freezing temperatures and the need for air conditioning is rare enough that you don't find it in the southern part of the county. Where I live now, in the northern part of the county and a bit inland (five miles from the ocean), freezing temperatures in the winter are occasional (although becoming uncommon; there were none last winter), and high temperatures in the summer are common.
The weather here has always been predictable and reasonable. But that has changed. Aside from the long-term drought we are facing, I have noticed strange anomalies in the weather. By the way, the drought was not caused by global climate change - they happen here on a more or less regular basis - but climate change has increased the severity of the drought significantly.
When I speak of anomalies, I mean odd and uncharacteristic short-term weather. Now maybe these are common in other places, but I have been noticing weather patterns that I have not encountered before in this area.
For example, this morning when I arose, it was socked in; couldn't see more than a couple hundred feet. That is not uncommon: just wait a couple of hours and everything will be fine. Well, this morning, in less than ten minutes, it was clear as a bell. An hour later it was socked in again. I don't recall ever seeing such an occurrence here before.
Yesterday, Tuesday, it was what used to be a normal September day: 75 degrees, light breeze, and sunny skies. Perfect weather. Saturday and Sunday it was 105 degrees. Monday, it was 108 degrees at 3 pm. Ten minutes later it was 106 degrees. Just after 5 pm, it was 68 degrees. The temp had fallen 40 degrees in two hours, while the air remained calm and the sun was still bright. No cloud cover. No wind. Just plummeting temperature. Two hours ago, it was 66 degrees. Sunny, no cloud cover, no wind. Right now it is 97 degrees, a 31 degree increase in two hours.
It is these rapid changes in temperature that is something new. It would be understandable if there were accompanying changes in wind, cloud cover, humidity, etc., but all that changes is the temperature. I find that very strange.
Home 
