Anyone who thinks California is all about laid-back living hasn't been here in fire season. No place across our fair land requires the awareness of nature’s power, the constant state of preparation and vigilance, that Lotusland demands.
Air quality officials said the high pollution readings were a result of intense heat combined with stagnant weather conditions. As for weather, well, while climate change may have eliminated the occasional snowfall from Southern California , our seasons are just as distinct, if not as tea-towel-motif-friendly, as anywhere else.
As every Californian can tell you right now, we most certainly do have a fall — except what’s falling isn’t leaves, or early snow, it’s ash.Here in mellow, easygoing California, September and October are less about blazing colors and pulling out the cozy sweaters, and more about blazing fires and packing up the car in case of evacuation., in which winter rainfall loosens the soil of parched and/or scorched hillsides and sends it hurtling onto roads and houses. Just as many road closures as a blizzard and none of the snowplay or Christmas-card-ready selfies. On top of which, we have the Santa Anas, the drought and, of course, the earthquakes — I can’t be the only Angeleno who already had a few face masks on hand early in the pandemic because I had put a pack of them, as advised, in my earthquake kit, along with a few extra rolls of toilet paper.Yes, yes, Angelenos are so laid back that we have earthquake kits and keep a pair of tennis shoes at work, in case we have to walk home should the roads be impassable or our cars buried in rubble. We’re so chill, we keep pallets of water in those cars in case we get stuck in gridlock during an evacuation. We never need to worry about weather — except our standard-issue summers are hot enough to be considered heat waves in other parts of the country, our heat waves register temperatures more suitable to Mars and our rains come suddenly and often near-biblically. But please, keep believing we are softer, dippier and less in touch with the “real world” than, say, Midwesterners because we don’t have farms and lightning storms. Oh, wait. We do. I have lived in many parts of this country — rural and urban; eastern, southern and Midwestern. I have experienced all manner of extreme natural phenomena — blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes — and the infrastructure breakdowns that so often accompany them: road closures, bridge closures, power outages. But no place across our fair land requires the ongoing awareness of nature’s power, the constant state of preparation and vigilance, that life in Lotusland demands. Yes, our freeways are a grisly sight but no other state has so many cities, suburbs and towns slap up against so many different types of empty space — forests, hills, desert and sea — brimming with the glories and perils of nature. We may not be forced to start our own firebreaks like pioneers confronting a prairie blaze, but we trim trees in anticipation of the Santa Anas, clear debris in the months before fire season, prep sandbags for the rainy months and hoard batteries for inevitable power outages.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Most L.A. households face serious financial problems amid coronavirus pandemic, poll findsThe survey offers further proof that the heaviest impact of the outbreak often falls on Black and Latino households.
Read more »
Housing costs for the homeless rose to $531,000 a unit, L.A. controller's report saysThe average cost of projects funded by a $1.2-billion bond program have risen from $350,000 to $531,000.
Read more »
L.A. County Cancels Halloween Trick Or Treating Due to COVIDHere's what you can and can't do in L.A. this year for Halloween.
Read more »
No trick-or-treating: L.A. County cancels Halloween events amid COVID-19Breaking: Trick-or-treating, haunted houses and Halloween parades have been cancelled under new Los Angeles County health guidelines.
Read more »
An updated list of L.A. Times endorsements in the November 2020 electionLos Angeles Times editorial board endorsements for president, California ballot measures and more.
Read more »