Reports of a mild winter have been lost on me. I watched reports of snow in Malibu, California last week with amazement. I do not remember the last time that happened. Everyone in my household had to see it to believe it.
The Governor is declaring the fruit-killing, grower-crushing, brutal cold a state disaster. He will be seeking Federal assistance on the matter. Commentators are forecasting a loss of billions to the state, affecting growers, workers and truck drivers, not to mention consumers.
What really frosts me are all the reports I'm reading on the mild winter -- widely cited as one reason oil has been dropping. Mild compared to what, the South Pole? The Himalayas? The chill between the Donald and the View? Actually it has been cold but not very wet around Southern California, yet. But oil prices have been coming down. My prediction? Temperatures will rise again...and so will the price of oil.
Commodity prices have been softening for many months while the frost has been turning California strawberries to mush. We can all look forward to that commodity rising in price, as well as oranges, for the next few quarters.
Perhaps the surfers in Malibu who are also snowboard enthusiasts will find a path from the snow passages in the hills to the chilly beaches with winter wave action, in the first ever sleet and surf event. I'm sure Governor Schwarzenegger will be among the crowd. He might even participate depending on how fast he recovers from his recent skiing accident. Get well soon, Arnold!
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Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-22-2007 @ 4:18PM
John McNary said...
Why does every blog in the world seem to run on hype and hype alone?
Fact: Malibu has had Santa Ana winds since Christmas, the longest winter hot spell on record. Remember the 85 degree winds that we had during that fire 2 weeks ago? It's been hot and dry and windy - the hottest January on record, after the hottest/driest December on record.
It was just a matter of time until an arctic low got sucked into the Four Corners High and pulled down into Southern California. The resulting collision of cold dry air up high and warm moist air along the coast made for a winter thunderstorm - winter thunderstorms around here ALWAYS drop snow or ice.
The last time Malibu had snow was 1998. Also, 1994 and 1988. The last significant accumulation was 1986. And mind you, the snow fell up at the 2,000-foot elevation, where overnight lows rotuinely fall below 32 in the winter.
Weather is complicated. The experts all say that weather patterns are not only going to get more warm, but more complicated and violent.
The Denver blizzards is another example of this: Denver had the hottest Decvember ever. Warmer air can carry more moisture. Ergo, it snowed in rfecord amounts in Denver this year - usually, the colder air is drier.
Of course, the flat earth types over at Fox News and the other conservative media are far too unsophisticated to communicate anything more complicated than a bumper sticker.
By the way, the current temperature here in Malibu is 72. Normal high is 60.
1-22-2007 @ 7:38PM
eadward s. partyka said...
i agree with the comments about the weather being unpredictable.ypu can prove anything you want by taking one comment or sentance out of context.these are people with a neo-conservative mind.however i cannot understand why people call the fox propaganda,fox news,isn't that an oxymoron?