“May the stars carry your sadness away, May the flowers fill your heart with beauty, May hope forever wipe away your tears …”

~ Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

There are times, presently and in past years, that water has come roaring out of the local San Gabriel Mountains, carving out our valleys and canyons. Many of us have boulders in our yards that attest to this happening. The geological formation that promotes this occurrence is the same one that makes for our unique geography and weather and their relationship.

Last week I mentioned the Tongva peoples living in scattered villages across the LA basin and the exploration of Portuguese sailor and explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo. He gave a name to the LA region reflecting the blanket of haze that hung over the area as Spanish sailors entered San Pedro and made the first written observations of the Southland. This early air pollution so impressed the sailors and their captain that they named the area “Baya de los Fumos,” or “Bay of the Smokes.”

The haze then wasn’t today’s variety of smog. Rather, it was smoke emanating from the dozens of Tongva Indian villages dotting the coastal plain and inland valleys. Rising wispy columns flattened out against an invisible ceiling. It was formed by a persistent meteorological phenomenon that continues to threaten Angelenos’ lungs: temperature inversion. A product of the Southland’s topography and its prevailing weather patterns, the inversion layer forms when ocean breezes draw cool marine air onshore beneath a mass of warmer air above. Trapped by nearby tall mountains (like our local ones) on the north, the cool air then stabilizes, unable to rise through the warm air above. We may add to the problem but it’s not just a “people problem!”

A few days ago, rain dropped by the bucketsful over the Crescenta Valley. As I’m sure you noticed when looking at all the rain data across the Southland, we received way more than our fair share. Within a few hours time, close to two inches were added to the already healthy annual rain amount.

Springtime is a time of transition. With fervor we wait for the winter-stripped landscape to once again coax foliage back into spring (especially during a drought year). March, in its last remaining days, was more generous than expected: normally January and February are the biggest water producers. It seems a difficult one to forecast these days!

Drizzle is possible today, Thursday, morning. Temperatures will also be cooler then turn slightly warmer on Friday and Saturday. Expect a cooler Sunday with stronger onshore flow, then turning much warmer next week with periods of gusty northerly winds. Could see highs well into the 70s to lower 80s for most coastal areas, and 80s and possibly even some lower 90s for inland valleys … Yep! Summer’s coming.