LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – I've only ever been a gardener, so I can only imagine the intimate and practical connections and kinship to the great Earth that a Lake County farmer must hold in order to go forward in the fields season after season.

There are a myriad of considerations a farmer must confront, for example soil erosion, water supplies, and depletion thereof. Other considerations include economic pressures and agribusiness.

A glance at the undulating hills surrounding the verdant valleys of Lake County tells us that it's easy to see the huge place agriculture plays here.

Famed pears, walnuts and winegrapes are found in abundance, and have proliferated since the Mediterranean climate attracted settlers and farmers in the 1850s.

It was due to Prohibition, in the 1920s, when the first wave of winegrapes was pulled to make room for more of our pears and walnuts.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Dec. 16, 1885, issue proclaimed, “Without doubt the finest as well as the largest exhibit of fresh fruit in the display is that made by Lake County."

Lake County's Bartlett pears became popular after the New Orleans World's Fair when, in 1889, L. P. Clendenin planted several acres of Bartlett and Winter Nellis pears.

Other farmers followed Clendenin's lead, planting and farming pears. A marketing problem soon arose, since there was no railroad to transport the delectable fruit. As they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” and, after much experimenting took place the farmers found that the Bartlett pears dried well, producing “slabs of amber.”

An apple and pear dryer was constructed by J.B Laughlin and E.P. Clendenin, and then more pear-drying sheds were established in Upper Lake, Scotts Valley and in Big Valley.

With the popularity of dried Lake County pears came canned pears, around 1923. There were approximately 20,000 tons of pears grown in 1928, and still production was rising.

We are lucky to have in our midst those who come from pioneer pear farmer stock, such as the Holdenrieds. Myron Holdenried's great-grandfather, Louis Henderson, had the foresight to plant pears in 1890. Those same orchards are still thriving today.

According to the Kelseyville Pear Festival's Facebook page, the first commercial orchard was planted on four acres in Big Valley by Thomas Porteus. Others soon followed suit, and by 1919 there were about 700 acres of pears in Lake County.

Known as the “Pear Capital of the World,” there were more than 85,000 tons of pears processed in Lake County, with the majority grown in Kelseyville in 1999.

Today we have the Lake County Pear Association, which was established in 2005 to thank for promoting our delicious pears.

One of agricultural highlights is the annual Kelseyville Pear Festival, in which pears and their products proliferate all day long, with thousands of festival attendees reaping the rewards of the harvest.

The Kelseyville Pear Festival and Parade occur downtown Kelseyville on the last Saturday in September, and is sponsored by the Kelseyville Business Association.

Lake County's pear orchards add greatly to our county both economically, and visually with their appealing beauty. Ukiah in Mendocino County and Clarksburg in the Sacramento River Delta area also produce pears in California along with Lake County, and altogether the three regions produce more than 150,000 tons of pears annually.

According to Scully Packing Co., the Lake County pear crop outlook is excellent this year.

The tentative harvest dates listed on the company's Web site are listed below:

– Bartlett: July 20.
– Red Crimson: July 29.
– Organic Bartlett: July 31.
– Mountain Bartlett: Aug. 5.
– Golden bosc: Aug. 10.
– French butter: Sept. 3.
– Seckel: Sept. 3.
– Comice: Sept. 3.
– Forelle: Sept. 3.

Most farming communities are close-knit, and our pear farmers are no different. They commit themselves to hale-and-hearty business relationships, friendships and labor practices by working hard to care for this rural way of life.

For more information about the Kelseyville Pear Festival visit www.pearfestival.com .

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several new dogs and one marked as urgent because he has been at the shelter waiting for a long time.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of boxer, Cane Corso mastiff, Catahoula Leopard Dog, Chihuahua, husky, mastiff, pit bull, shepherd and terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Female terrier

This female terrier has a medium-length tricolor coat.

She is in kennel No. 2a, ID No. 12723.

Female terrier

This female terrier has a medium-length tricolor coat.

She is in kennel No. 2b, ID No. 12724.

Female pit bull

This female pit bull has a short white and brindle coat.

She is in kennel No. 5, ID No. 12601.

‘Lucy’

“Lucy” is a female pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 7, ID No. 12719.

‘Benny’

“Benny” is a young male shepherd with a short brindle coat.

He’s in kennel No. 8, ID No. 12717.

Male Chihuahua

This male Chihuahua has a short tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 13, ID No. 12583.

‘Nova’

“Nova” is a female Cane Corso mastiff with a short black coat.

She is in kennel No. 17, ID No. 6579.

Female husky mix

This female husky mix has a short tricolor coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 12685.

‘Koda’

“Koda” is a male pit bull terrier with a short red coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 12609.

Female pit bull terrier

This female pit bull terrier has a short brown and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 12708.

‘Beau’

“Beau” is a male Catahoula Leopard Dog with a blue merle coat.

He’s in kennel No. 24, ID No. 12677.

‘Cash’

“Cash” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short black and white coat.

He has been marked as urgent because he has been at the shelter since June.

Shelter staff said Cash does well with others, loves people and walks well on a leash.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 12413.

‘Buddy’

“Buddy” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short tricolor coat.

He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 12508.

Male boxer

This male boxer has a short black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 12512.

‘Bear’

“Bear” is a male Cane Corso mastiff with a short brown coat.

He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. 11456.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

 

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Birds are some of the most attractive creatures on earth. Who doesn’t like to watch a Blue Jay, Cardinal or Baltimore Oriole going about its business?

But the beauty of birds isn’t just their looks – it’s also their noises. Bird songs are among nature’s most distinctive and musically satisfying sounds. Why do birds spend so much time and energy singing?

There are two main purposes, and they are connected. First, male birds sing to mark territories. A singing bird is saying, “This place is mine, and I’m willing to defend it, especially from others of my species.” He may patrol his chosen space and sing often, either from the middle or the edges of what he considers his turf.

The second purpose of singing is to attract a mate for nesting. Female birds often choose their mates based on some blend of visual and vocal cues. Even male birds with beautiful breeding-season plumage can have trouble finding mates if their songs don’t measure up.

Each bird species typically has its own unique song. That allows an individual bird to hear a song and recognize whether the singer is from its own species.

Birds are most vocal during nesting season. For example, in Florida where I live, Cardinals live year-round. They usually start singing in January, just a few weeks after the days begin to get longer. After the nesting period is over, birds sing much less and their territories break down.

Many species of North American birds migrate with the seasons instead of staying in one place all year. As they fly south in the fall, they make little “chip” notes or “contact calls” that allow them to stay in touch with other birds.

In many species only male birds sing, but in others, both males and females sing. And some birds don’t sing at all. For example, vultures and storks can barely produce any sound – let alone something musical enough that we would call it a song.

Learning to identify birds by their songs is as much fun as spotting them by sight. In fact, good ears are often as important as good eyes in appreciating the birds you encounter. Take off your headphones and listen to your neighborhood birds – especially when they are active in the morning or evening. You’ll be surprised by what you hear.

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

David Steadman, Curator of Ornithology, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A new Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

The bands are created by differences in the thickness and height of the ammonia ice clouds. The colorful bands, which flow in opposite directions at various latitudes, result from different atmospheric pressures. Lighter bands rise higher and have thicker clouds than the darker bands.

Among the most striking features in the image are the rich colors of the clouds moving toward the Great Red Spot, a storm rolling counterclockwise between two bands of clouds. These two cloud bands, above and below the Great Red Spot, are moving in opposite directions.

The red band above and to the right (northeast) of the Great Red Spot contains clouds moving westward and around the north of the giant tempest. The white clouds to the left (southwest) of the storm are moving eastward to the south of the spot.

All of Jupiter's colorful cloud bands in this image are confined to the north and south by jet streams that remain constant, even when the bands change color. The bands are all separated by winds that can reach speeds of up to 400 miles (644 kilometers) per hour.

On the opposite side of the planet, the band of deep red color northeast of the Great Red Spot and the bright white band to the southeast of it become much fainter. The swirling filaments seen around the outer edge of the red super storm are high-altitude clouds that are being pulled in and around it.

The Great Red Spot is a towering structure shaped like a wedding cake, whose upper haze layer extends more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) higher than clouds in other areas. The gigantic structure, with a diameter slightly larger than Earth's, is a high-pressure wind system called an anticyclone that has been slowly downsizing since the 1800s. The reason for this change in size is still unknown.

A worm-shaped feature located below the Great Red Spot is a cyclone, a vortex around a low-pressure area with winds spinning in the opposite direction from the Red Spot. Researchers have observed cyclones with a wide variety of different appearances across the planet. The two white oval-shaped features are anticyclones, like small versions of the Great Red Spot.

Another interesting detail is the color of the wide band at the equator. The bright orange color may be a sign that deeper clouds are starting to clear out, emphasizing red particles in the overlying haze.

The new image was taken in visible light as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program, or OPAL. The program provides yearly Hubble global views of the outer planets to look for changes in their storms, winds and clouds.

Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed Jupiter when the planet was 400 million miles from Earth, when Jupiter was near "opposition" or almost directly opposite the Sun in the sky.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Cal Fire said on Saturday its law enforcement officers have determined the cause of the Golf fire burning on Mount Konocti.

The fire began just before 1 p.m. Thursday on Soda Bay Road at Golf Drive, in the Black Forest.

Cal Fire said its investigators were immediately dispatched to the Golf fire and began working to determine the origin and cause of the fire.

After “a meticulous and thorough investigation,” Cal Fire said it has determined that the Golf fire was caused by an improperly discarded cigarette.

When needing to discard a cigarette, Cal Fire reminds members of the public to use a deep, sturdy ashtray and place it away from anything that can burn.

“Do not discard cigarettes in vegetation such as mulch, potted plants or landscaping, peat moss, dried grasses, leaves or other things that could ignite easily,” Cal Fire said.

“Before you throw away any cigarette butts and ashes, make sure they are out. Dousing them in water or sand is the best way to do that. Never throw cigarettes out of vehicles, always discard them in an ashtray or a container designed for cigarette disposal,” the agency’s report on the fire’s cause said.

Cal Fire’s latest report on the fire’s conditions put it at 20 acres with containment at 80 percent.

One firefighter on the incident has suffered a minor injury, officials said.

No structures have been destroyed or damaged.

All evacuations were lifted on Friday, and on Saturday the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the road closures on Soda Bay Road in Buckingham were lifted as of noon, but motorists were asked to remain alert for emergency personnel and equipment that may still be working in the area.

Crews on Saturday continued to construct control line and extinguish hot spots within the fire
Area, Cal Fire said.

The firefighting work has been aided by better weather conditions, including higher humidities and lower temperatures, officials said.

Cal Fire said overnight winds tested the control lines with no extension outside the perimeter.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Firefighters are close to reaching full containment on the wildland fire that began burning on Thursday afternoon on the side of Mount Konocti.

Cal Fire said Friday evening that the Golf fire was up to 75 percent containment, with the agency rolling back its estimate of the size from 33 acres to 20.

The acreage change was the result of accurate mapping during daylight hours, combined with getting a better picture of the site that had been obscured by dense canopy and heavy timber, Cal Fire said.

The fire began just before 1 p.m. Thursday at Soda Bay Road and Golf Drive in the Black Forest, pushing up and away from the Buckingham subdivision but moving uphill aggressively in a direction that put the homes in Riviera West and Riviera Heights in its path.

That led to an evacuation order for Riviera West and evacuation warning for Riviera Heights on Thursday afternoon, with Pacific Gas and Electric asked to cut power to 260 customers in Riviera West.

No homes were damaged or destroyed, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office lifted both the evacuation order and the warning early Friday afternoon, shortly afterPG&E reported that the power had been restored to Riviera West homes.

By Friday afternoon, most road closures also had been lifted, with the exception of Soda Bay Road from Golf Drive to Crystal Drive.

Along that stretch of road on Friday, numerous fire engines, crew transports and the trucks belonging to overhead personnel filled the roadway while firefighters continued to hike into the steep hillsides of the Black Forest to strengthen containment lines.

Fire Prevention Specialist Bruce Lang of Cal Fire was at the scene on Friday afternoon, with the fire leading to him having to cancel the Smokey Bear birthday party he was set to lead at Clear Lake State Park later in the evening.

Lang said the fire had been driven both by steep terrain and winds on Thursday.

“Mount Konocti can give you some problems with the winds,” he said.

There have been long standing concerns about fire danger on the mountain and the danger it poses to the thousands of homes along its base and slopes. On Thursday, as the fire began to push toward homes and evacuations were called, those fears seemed about to come true.

However, Lang said the combination of air resources – including the tankers that dropped retardant and the helicopters that made countless water drops, pulling water from nearby Clear Lake – plus the ground crews helped stop the fire before it could cause major damage to homes or wildland.

On Friday, Lang said they couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions. That was thanks to a low pressure system moving across interior Northern California, which offered cooler and more humid weather conditions, along with little daytime wind, conditions that Lang said were highly favorable to the firefighting work. Earlier that day, he said there had even been a light sprinkling of raindrops.

On Soda Bay Road, below the firefighting line, it was hard to see through the terrain and trees to where personnel were at work.

Across the way, at the Buckingham golf course, where golfers were busy on the course throughout the afternoon, a thin white column of smoke could be seen rising from the fire area, which stood out from the hillside both because of the burned area and due to the lines of pink fire retardant dropped the previous day by the tankers.

Up close, thanks to the retardant lines, parts of the Black Forest, including some of its landmark jutting boulders, had turned pink. The pink retardant also was across the road and on nearby homes. Piles of fire hose also dotted the side of the road.

In recent days, crews had been doing vegetation removal along Soda Bay Road near where the fire started, and on Friday there remained numerous green dumpsters filled with cut branches, alongside large slash piles. Several area residents have contacted Lake County News about their concerns that the vegetation removal, including the use of chainsaws, was connected to the fire.

Cal Fire said the cause remains under investigation.

The resources that remained assigned to the fire as of Friday evening included 15 engines, three water tenders, three helicopters, five hand crews, two dozers and 155 personnel, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said firefighters will continue strengthening the containment lines throughout the night.

Along with Cal Fire, cooperating agencies include the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the Black Forest, Kelseyville Fire Protection District, Lake County Fire Protection District, Lakeport Fire Protection District, South Lake Fire Protection District, Marin County Fire Department, city of Colusa, Williams Fire Protection Authority, City of Lake County Sheriff’s Office, PG&E and the California Highway Patrol.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Local health and Vector Control officials reported that two mosquito samples collected in Lake County tested positive for West Nile virus this week.

The mosquitoes, Culex tarsalis (western encephalitis mosquito), were collected near Lower Lake on Aug. 6.

“This is the first detection of West Nile virus this year in Lake County,” said Jamesina Scott, Ph.D., district manager and research director of the Lake County Vector Control District. “Mosquitoes develop in water, so you can protect yourself and your family from mosquito bites by dumping out standing water. Take a walk around your yard today and look for places that might hold water like buckets, toys, and boats and dump out any water you find. If you have a pond, livestock watering trough, or water feature that can’t be drained, then contact the District and we can provide free mosquito-eating fish to prevent mosquitoes from growing there.”

“If you plan to be outside when mosquitoes are active, use insect repellent applied according the directions on the label and reapply as directed,” said Dr. Erin Gustafson, Lake County Deputy Health Officer.

Dr. Gustafson also encourages residents, “Wear long pants and long sleeves, and residents can treat items, such as boots, pants, socks, and tents, with permethrin or buy permethrin-treated clothing and gear. Residents should also sleep under a mosquito bed net if air conditioned or screened rooms are not available or if sleeping outdoors.”

The district asks residents to reduce their risk of contracting West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases by:

– Dumping or draining standing water to prevent mosquitoes. Mosquitoes need water to complete their life cycle.
–Defending yourself. Use repellents containing DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, or Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus. Follow the label directions.
– Avoiding the outdoors when mosquitoes are present, typically dawn and dusk.

So far this year, West Nile virus activity only has been detected in Lake County in the two mosquito samples.

West Nile virus in humans

Statewide, 21 California counties have detected WNV this year, mainly in mosquitoes. As of Aug. 2, six human cases of West Nile virus illness have been reported in California residents this year.

No vaccine or specific antiviral treatments for West Nile virus infection in humans are available.

Most people – 80 percent – with West Nile virus do not develop any symptoms.

About 1 in 5 people who are infected develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint, pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. Most people with this type of West Nile virus disease recover completely, but fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.

About 1 in 150 people infected with West Nile virus will develop severe illness which causes inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.

Symptoms of severe illness include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness, and paralysis. Recovery from severe illness can take several weeks or months. Some effects to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) might be permanent.

In about 1 out of 10 people who develop severe illness affecting the central nervous system, the infection can be fatal. People over age 60 and those with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, and people have received organ transplants are at greatest risk of severe disease.

The most recent confirmed case of human WNV infection in Lake County was in 2016.

See your healthcare provider if you develop the symptoms described above. Your healthcare provider can order tests to look for West Nile virus infection. To learn more about testing, visit the CDC’s Healthcare Providers page.

Vector Control offers information, resources

Mosquitoes that transmit WNV develop in the water in out-of-service swimming pools and spas, animal watering troughs, ornamental ponds, rain barrels and other sources of standing water.

Residents can get mosquito-eating fish for these sources free of charge from the Vector Control District. Swimming pools and spas that aren’t being maintained can produce thousands of biting mosquitoes every day. Residents can help reduce mosquitoes in their neighborhoods by reporting unmaintained pools to the District, Dr. Scott recommends.

Anyone with questions or who would like help with a mosquito problem, including reporting a neglected pool or spa, should contact the Lake County Vector Control District at 707-263-4770 or visit the district Web site at www.lcvcd.org .

For more information about West Nile virus, visit http://www.westnile.ca.gov/ .

Information about mosquito repellents can be found on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/faq/repellent.html .

 

As an environmental scientist, I’ve done plenty of hiking in the western U.S. – always with a map, water bottle and list of water sources. In dry areas it’s always smart to ration water until you get to a new source. Sometimes a stream has dried up for the season, or a pond is too scummy to drink from, so your supply has to stretch further than planned.

On one memorable hike, I found that a water source was dry. The next one, three miles later, was dry too. And the one after that had a dead bear carcass in it. While one dry water source was tolerable, several in a row created a serious problem.

Something similar is happening to snow resources in the western United States. Scientists have long known that the warming temperatures associated with climate change are diminishing the region’s snowpack, with more precipitation falling as rain, rather than snow. That’s a problem because snowpack is a critical resource, acting as a natural reservoir that stores winter precipitation.

In a newly published study, my colleagues John Abatzoglou, Timothy Link, Christopher Tennant and I analyze year-to-year variations of future snowpack to see how frequently western states can expect multiple years in a row of snow drought, or very low snow. We find that if climate change continues relatively unabated, consecutive years with snow drought conditions will become much more common, with impacts on cities, agriculture, forests, wildlife and winter sports.

Snow droughts affect ecosystems and people

Snowpack is a critical resource in the western U.S. and Canada. Snow melts and runs off in spring and summer, when cities, farms and forests need water. It supports animals such as wolverines that depend on snow, and underpins winter sports industries.

Multiyear snow droughts are akin to drawing down a bank account for some of these important systems. For example, lower snow years typically have longer summer periods with low soil moisture. Trees and other plants may be able to survive these stresses for one year, but longer stretches could lead to increases in forest mortality.

These periods also test western reservoirs, many of which are managed for dual purposes: Storing spring runoff for times of high water demand, and holding space for potential floodwaters. The amount of space allocated to storage versus flood control varies by time of year.

Water managers may need to update these rules to account for higher chances of snow drought or changes in the timing of snowmelt runoff. Rainfall is also a factor, and at least in California, total precipitation is projected to become increasingly variable from year to year with climate change.

Snow droughts also affect the winter tourism industry. Ski resorts in lower-elevation areas with increasingly warm winters may be able to survive one year of poor snow conditions, but multiple low-snow years in a row may threaten their viability.

Projecting future snows

In our study we defined snow droughts as years with snowpack low enough to have historically occurred only one out of every four years or less. Such events occurred recently in the Sierra Nevada between 2012-2015 and the Cascades in 2014-2015.

Researchers created the dataset we used by first running 10 global climate models – computer programs that simulate historical and future climate based on a number of factors, including atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Like all climate projections, our estimates include some uncertainty. Each global climate model produces slightly different results; by analyzing all 10, we can be more confident in our conclusions when most of them agree on projected changes.

These models produce data with a resolution of hundreds of kilometers. That doesn’t provide detailed information about conditions in the mountainous parts of the western U.S., where conditions vary dramatically over much smaller scales. To solve this problem, the modelers used a process called downscaling to develop results with much higher spatial resolution – in this case, to grid cells that measured about six kilometers on a side.

Then they loaded this climate data into a hydrologic model that estimates daily snow accumulation and melt. We used the results from this hydrologic model to calculate changes in snowpack in future conditions, relative to historical conditions.

Fewer big snow years

Today, back-to-back snow droughts in the western U.S. occur around 7% of the time. By mid-century, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, our results predict that multiyear snow droughts will occur in 42% of years on average.

In addition to projecting more frequent snow droughts, we also found that peak snowpack is projected to decline and become less variable in a warming climate across much of the mountainous West. This will mean there will be fewer very high-snow years to offset the impacts of low-snow years.

Another feature of changing snowpack is the timing of when it accumulates and melts. Generally, as the climate warms snow is melting earlier, which leads to earlier spring runoff and less water available in summer.

In our study, we also found that in many places the timing of peak snowpack is projected to become more variable from year to year. We developed an interactive tool that allows users to explore this data on their own.

Planning for the future

Our results are based on a future in which the world continues to rely on fossil fuels. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions would limit the impacts on western snowpack that we project.

On the hike where all of my water sources were dry, I was saved by a kind stranger. The trail intersected a road, and a passing driver gave me some water. Global climate change won’t be solved so easily: Addressing these issues will require major coordinated efforts to limit future warming and manage Earth’s natural resources strategically to provide for society’s needs and environmental conservation.

Adrienne Marshall, Postdoctoral Fellow in Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

There are various ways you can inherit from a decedent’s estate: As a beneficiary under a will or trust, as a designated death beneficiary (i.e., insurance policies, retirement plans, etc.), as an heir or as a surviving joint tenant.

All ways, however, require that you must first survive the decedent.

Sometimes the persons involved either die simultaneously, i.e., too close in time to determine clearly who survived the other, or die very close in time to each other. This typically occurs in accident scenarios.

How does California law handle such scenarios? The answer depends.

Did the decedent have estate planning documents? If so, then what does the decedent’s will or trust say? With married couples, their will(s) or trust(s) may provide that either one spouse or neither spouse is presumed to have survived the other.

If the decedent was married, any community property owned by the deceased spouse (other than in a trust) is distributed as if each spouse had survived the other spouse, unless it can be proven by clear and convincing evidence that either spouse survived the other.

Similarly with assets owned as joint tenancy with right of survivorship, the estate of each deceased joint tenant receives an equal share of the asset, unless it can be proven by clear and convincing evidence that a joint tenant survived the other.

A different rule applies to any assets that pass by way of intestacy, i.e., where the decedent died without a will. That is, when it can be established by clear and convincing evidence that one person survived another person but the period of time is less than 120 hours (5 full days), then California law presumes that each such person survived the other.

For example, consider a parent who dies intestate, is survived by two children, but one child dies only four days after the parent’s death, i.e., less than 120 hours. California law presumes that the deceased child did not survive the mother. Accordingly, the sole surviving child estate receives the entire parent’s intestate estate.

A beneficiary who survives long enough to inherit, however, might still die before he or she had received complete distribution of his or her inheritance.

Accordingly, a trust may provide for distributions to alternative beneficiaries. Otherwise, without such planning, the undistributed inheritance becomes part of the deceased beneficiary’s estate, where it passes accordingly to the beneficiary’s will or according to intestacy (to the heirs). This possibility is one reason why everyone needs a will even if they have a trust.

A probate of the beneficiary’s estate may also be required as a result of the undistributed inheritance. No probate is required if the beneficiary’s estate passes entirely to his or her surviving spouse or if it has a gross value under $150,000.

An interesting real world example involves a married couple whose death certificates say they each died on the same day. They owned a residence as community property by right of survivorship worth less than $300,000. As a result, each deceased spouse’s estate was under $150,000 in total gross value and no probate was required.

The legal and factual analysis associated with the distribution of a decedent’s estate varies from case to case. Anyone confronting the above issues should consult a licensed California lawyer before reaching any conclusions.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.

August 1972, as NASA scientist Ian Richardson remembers it, was hot. In Surrey, England, where he grew up, the fields were brown and dry, and people tried to stay indoors — out of the Sun, televisions on.

But for several days that month, his TV picture kept breaking up. “Do not adjust your set,” he recalls the BBC announcing. “Heat isn’t causing the interference. It’s sunspots.”

The same sunspots that disrupted the television signals led to enormous solar flares — powerful bursts of energy from the Sun — Aug. 4-7 that year.

Between the Apollo 16 and 17 missions, the solar eruptions were a near miss for lunar explorers. Had they been in orbit or on the Moon’s surface, they could have experienced high levels of radiation sparked by the eruptions.

Today, the Apollo-era flares serve as a reminder of the threat of radiation exposure to technology and astronauts in space. Understanding and predicting solar eruptions is crucial for safe space exploration.

Almost 50 years since those 1972 storms, the data, technology and resources available to NASA have improved, enabling advancements towards space weather forecasts and astronaut protection — key to NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon.

Space isn’t empty

Today, Richardson is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He studies high-energy particles that burst from the Sun in the wake of giant solar eruptions.

In addition to flares, huge clouds — called coronal mass ejections — containing a billion tons of solar material occasionally blast from the solar surface. Increasingly, scientists think coronal mass ejections play a dominant role in driving the Sun’s most powerful radiation: solar energetic particles, or SEPs.

SEPs are almost all protons, flung at such high speeds that some reach Earth, 93 million miles away, in less than an hour. “When a high-speed boat goes through water, you can see the wave ahead of it,” Richardson said. “The shock waves ahead of fast coronal mass ejections accelerate particles before them.”

Radiation is energy packaged in electromagnetic waves or carried by particles. The energy is handed off when the wave or particle runs into something else, like an astronaut or spacecraft component. SEPs are dangerous because they pass right through skin, shedding energy and fragmenting cells or DNA on their way. This damage can increase risk for cancer later in life, or in extreme cases, cause acute radiation sickness in the short-term.

On Earth, humans are safe from this harm. Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, deflects most solar particles. The atmosphere also quells any particles that do make it through. The International Space Station cruises through low-Earth orbit, within Earth’s protection, and the station’s hull helps shield crew members from radiation too.

But beyond Earth’s magnetic reach, human explorers can face the harsh radiation of space.

“The danger of radiation is always present, whether you’re in orbit, in transit, or on a planetary surface,” said Ruthan Lewis, a Goddard architect and engineer for NASA’s human spaceflight program. “From mitigation techniques to protection and enclosures, we’re considering this in every environment astronauts will be in.”

Space lifeguards

In a room filled with expansive computer screens and blinking lights at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, scientists work daily shifts to monitor space weather conditions for astronauts on the space station. Known as space environment officers, they’re the lifeguards of space: Instead of tidal waves and rip currents, they keep watch for the ebb and flow of space radiation.

Each day, the scientists — who are part of Johnson’s Space Radiation Analysis Group — check the space weather forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. They alert mission control of potential solar activity. If solar energetic particles are ramping up and the space station happens to be passing outside Earth’s magnetic protection, they might recommend postponing activities that require leaving the safety of the station. Anywhere astronauts go, the group will keep watch over their space environment.

During a future Artemis mission, if a solar radiation squall were to occur while astronauts are beyond Earth’s magnetic bubble, they might tell the crew to build a temporary shelter. “Our strategy in space is to make use of whatever mass is available,” Johnson scientist Kerry Lee said. “We’re redistributing mass to fill in areas that are thinly shielded and getting crew members closer to the heavily shielded areas.”

The more mass between the crew and radiation, the more likely that dangerous particles will deposit their energy before reaching the crew. On the Moon, astronauts could pile lunar soil, or regolith, over their shelters, taking advantage of their environment’s natural shielding materials. But where spacecraft design is concerned, relying on sheer bulk for protection soon grows expensive, since more mass requires more fuel to launch.

The Johnson team works on developing shielding methods without adding more material. “It’s unlikely that we’re going to be able to fly dedicated radiation-shielding mass,” Lee said. “Every item you fly will have to be multi-purpose.”

For the Orion spacecraft, they’ve designed a plan for astronauts to build a temporary shelter with existing materials on hand, including storage units already on board or food and water supplies. If the Sun erupted with another storm as strong as the Apollo era’s, the Orion crew would be safe and sound.

Other teams across NASA are meeting the radiation challenge with creative solutions, developing technology such as wearable vests and devices that add mass, and electrically charged surfaces that deflect radiation.

Here come the sun’s energetic particles

Protecting astronauts from solar energetic particle storms requires knowing when such a storm will occur. But the particle flurries are fickle and difficult to predict. The nature of the sun’s turbulent eruptions is not yet perfectly understood.

“Ideally, you could look at an active region on the sun, see how it’s evolving, and try to predict when it’s going to erupt,” Richardson said. “The problem is, even if you could forecast flares and coronal mass ejections, only a small fraction actually spawn the particles that are hazardous to astronauts.”

A close-up of the sun during a solar flare shows a seahorse-shaped, orange region lighting up against boiling red.

And, if SEPs do come, it’s hard to predict where they will go. Magnetic field lines are a highway for the charged particles, but as the Sun rotates, the roadways spiral. Some particles are knocked off-road by kinks in the field lines. As a result, they may spread far and wide through the solar system, in a vast, nebulous cloud.

“We still have a long way to go to get to the same position as weather forecasting on Earth,” said Yari Collado-Vega, a scientist at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center, or CCMC, which is housed at Goddard. The CCMC is a multi-partnership agency dedicated to space weather modeling and research. “This has to do with the fact that we just don’t have as many data sets on the Sun.”

Models to predict when SEPs will arrive are in the early stages of development. One uses the arrival of lighter and faster electrons to forecast the torrent of heavier protons that follow, which are more dangerous.

Scientists depend on NASA’s heliophysics missions to advance their space weather forecasting models. It helps to have spacecraft at different vantage points between the Sun and Earth. Launched in 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is flying closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before it. The spacecraft will track SEPs near their origins — key to solving how solar eruptions accelerate particles.

Timing is a factor too. The Sun swings through 11-year cycles of high and low activity. During solar maximum, the Sun is freckled with sunspots, regions of high magnetic tension that are ripe for eruption. During solar minimum, when there are little to no sunspots, eruptions are rare.

While scientists continue to improve their models, NASA’s heliophysics spacecraft do currently provide the observations that NASA needs to give astronauts an “all-clear” — the okay to conduct mission activity. If there are no active sunspots on the Sun, they can reliably say there won’t be a solar squall.

Radiation from next-door galaxies

A second kind of space radiation travels even farther than solar energetic particles. Galactic cosmic rays — particles from long-gone, exploded stars elsewhere in the Milky Way — constantly bombard the solar system at near-light speeds. If solar energetic particles are a sudden downpour, galactic cosmic rays are more like a steady drizzle. But a drizzle can be a nuisance too.

Cosmic rays tend to be more powerful than even the most energetic solar particles. The same spacecraft that would shield a crew from solar energetic particles would not be able to keep cosmic rays at bay, so cosmic rays are a serious concern, especially for long-duration missions like the journey to Mars, which will take six to 10 months each way.

While SEPs are tricky to predict, galactic cosmic rays come at a steady rate. In one second, some 90 cosmic rays strike a pocket of space the size of a golf ball. (Meanwhile, during an SEP shower, there could be 1,000 more particles ripping through that golf-ball-sized space.) This rate helps determine radiation limits and mission durations — NASA’s leading strategy to limiting cosmic ray exposure. NASA tracks astronauts’ individual doses to ensure they don’t breach lifetime limits.

Cosmic rays are comprised of heavy elements like helium, oxygen or iron. The hefty particles knock apart atoms when they collide with something, whether an astronaut or the thick metal walls of a spacecraft. The impact sets off a shower of more particles called secondary radiation — adding to the health concern of cosmic rays.

Cosmic ray exposure is also related to the solar cycle. In the relative calm of solar minimum, cosmic rays easily infiltrate the Sun’s magnetic field. But during solar maximum, the Sun’s magnetic bubble strengthens with increased solar activity, turning away some of the galactic visitors who come knocking.

Destination: Moon, then Mars

Going to the Moon will help NASA collect crucial data and develop the necessary tools and strategies to one day safely send human explorers to Mars. The journey to Mars will take much longer than a trip to the Moon, and crew members will face much more radiation exposure. And, unlike Earth, Mars has no magnetic field to divert radiation.

“One of the reasons we’re going to the Moon is in preparation for Mars,” Lewis said. Sustained lunar exploration will help determine whether we have the technology needed to protect astronauts on longer-term space travel. “We’ve done a lot of simulations. Now we’re going to start cutting metal.”

Lina Tran works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Authorities said early Friday afternoon that Riviera West and Riviera Heights residents who evacuated on Thursday due to the Golf fire can now return home.

Lt. Rich Ward of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office told Lake County News just after 1 p.m. Friday that the all-clear had been given for repopulation of the two communities, where dozens of homes had been threatened after the Golf fire began burning up the face of Mount Konocti on Thursday afternoon.

The fire on Friday afternoon remained at an estimated 33 acres, with containment at 30 percent, according to Cal Fire.

The fire’s close proximity caused the sheriff’s office to place Riviera West under evacuation order on Thursday afternoon, with an evacuation warning issued shortly afterward for Riviera Heights.

Power had been shut off to the Riviera West subdivision on Thursday, and Pacific Gas and Electric reported that the power to all 260 customers was restored earlier Friday afternoon, ahead of the repopulation.

With the evacuation order lifted for Riviera West, the evacuation warning for nearby Riviera Heights also was lifted early Friday afternoon, Ward said.

Ward said Soda Bay Road will remain closed from Little Borax Road to Crystal Drive for emergency personnel in the area. However, other road closures in the area have been lifted.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office asked area residents to do the following when they return home:

– Be alert for downed power lines and other hazards.
– Check propane tanks, regulators and lines before turning gas on if it has been turned off.
– Check water lines before turning them back on if they previously were shut off.
– Check your residence carefully for hidden embers or smoldering fires.
– Check pilot lights.
– Be cognizant of emergency traffic and first responders in the immediate area.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Firefighters are continuing to work to fully contain a fire on Mount Konocti while authorities prepare to let residents of an evacuated area return home.

The latest report on the Golf fire in Kelseyville, released Friday morning, put the incident’s size up to 33 acres, with containment remaining at 30 percent, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire said it anticipates the fire will be contained later on Friday.

The fire began just before 1 p.m. Thursday on Soda Bay Road and Golf Drive. Cal Fire said the cause remains under investigation.

Despite the fire threatening an estimated 40 homes – prompting mandatory evacuations in Riviera West and an evacuation advisory in Riviera Heights – no structures have been damaged or destroyed, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said crews made good progress through the night despite the steep terrain, heavy timber and thick brush. Crews are advancing and strengthening containment lines continues throughout the day on Friday.

Resources on the incident were rolled back on Friday to 15 engines, three water tenders, three helicopters, five hand crews, two dozers and 155 firefighting personnel, based on Cal Fire’s report.

Riviera West remained under mandatory evacuation overnight, with officials reporting that residents are expected to be allowed to go home late on Friday afternoon. An evacuation shelter was opened for residents at Kelseyville High School.

During the height of the fire fight on Thursday, the power lines to Riviera West had been deenergized, as Lake County News has reported.

PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras told Lake County News that, due to the proximity of the fire to PG&E electric infrastructure, fire officials had requested the company deenergize a section of line for the safety of firefighters and the surrounding community. She emphasized that it wasn’t a public safety power shutoff.

“Power to approximately 260 customers was affected yesterday afternoon,” Contreras said.

Before turning the power back on, PG&E spent Friday conducting an inspection of the area. Contreras said it was expected that power would be back on to the area by 12:30 p.m. Friday.

The Riviera Heights community is under an evacuation advisory, also still in effect until later Friday afternoon, officials said.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office asked area residents to do the following when repopulation occurs:

– Be alert for downed power lines and other hazards.
– Check propane tanks, regulators and lines before turning gas on if it has been turned off.
– Check water lines before turning them back on if they previously were shut off.
– Check your residence carefully for hidden embers or smoldering fires.
– Check pilot lights.
– Be cognizant of emergency traffic and first responders in the immediate area.

Lt. Rich Ward said road closures are remaining in place until Friday afternoon depending on the need for fire personnel, resources, equipment and PG&E personnel.

Closures are as follows (and are shown in the map above):

– Soda Bay Road at Riviera West Drive;
– Crystal Drive at Soda Bay Road;
– Soda Bay Road at Little Borax Lake Road;
– Greenway Drive at Little Borax Lake Road;
– Golf Drive at Greenway Drive;
– Madrone Drive at Soda Bay Road.

Soda Bay Road closure will be reevaluated Friday afternoon, Ward said.

Ward said Buckingham residents will only be allowed access via north Soda Bay Road through the community of Soda Bay into Buckingham.

Rivera West residents will only be allowed access via Highway 281 from the Clear Lake Riviera community side, he said.

Only emergency personnel and equipment will be allowed access between the communities of Buckingham and Riviera West, according to Ward.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.