“Nature paints not; In oils, but frescoes the great dome of heaven;
With sunsets, and the lovely forms of clouds…” 

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mother Nature is on a rampage! The weather is out of control. There is more going on than just your “typical summer weather.” It’s the heat; on Tuesday, the temperature in the Crescenta Valley hit 114 degrees (according to a digital thermometer, hung in the shade on the north side of our house). Turning it up a bit, on Sunday Death Valley, California reached a record 130 degrees. Meteorologists and climatologists are referring to its sky-high temperature as being the hottest “reliably recorded.” The validity of a record 134 degrees, set in 1913, has always been questioned. Either one is too hot!

The Midwest was ravaged last week by a deadly derecho. Derecho, a Spanish word, translates to straight, referring to the direction a storm is heading. The entire area of the storm must have winds of at least 58 mph and it must produce a swath of damage that is at least 240 miles long. Last week’s derecho was estimated to have covered an unprecedented 770 miles with winds reaching 130 mph. Within the system, 20 tornadoes were reported. Derechos are most common in the Midwestern United States but are still fairly rare.

Wildland fires are burning out of control across California. Moving northward along the Baja Peninsula is Genevieve, a Category 4 hurricane. Rapid dissipation is certain as it contacts the cooler Pacific waters, but residual moisture will impact our local weather.

In a 72-hour time period there were about 10,849 lightning strikes in California. Considered an “historic lightning siege” more than 367 new fires were sparked as of yesterday, according to Jeremy Rahn, a spokesman for the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection or Cal Fire.

Have you noticed the colorful sunsets? Unfortunately, the reason is not good; they are a product of the wildfires. As of yesterday, 30 fires were burning throughout the state.

Extremely hot weather conditions continue through the week. Unfortunately, low overnight temperatures are still warm causing windows to be closed and the air conditioning on. A slight and likely unnoticed cooling is expected into the weekend but no matter; valley areas (CV included) will remain exceptionally hot. Compliments of Genevieve, moisture will saturate Southern California. And it’s only August!

Sue Kilpatrick is a Crescenta Valley
resident and Official Skywarn Spotter for the
National Weather Service Reach her
at suelkilpatrick@gmail.com.

  Sue Kilpatrick