Now that we're officially in a drought and water rationing is being waved like a red flag, we thought we'd share this note from Mr. Weather Altadena himself, Bill Westphal:
Interesting article in the Pasadena Star News today. Seems the County is going to seed the clouds again in the hopes of increasing rainfall. Read the article here:
http://www.pasadenastarnews
.com/ci_9535981 They have been using the same company off and on for many years. North American Water Consultants actually began in Altadena according to the article. I'm curious why it's going to take them so long to start (2010).
I seem to recall many years ago where the seeding actually caused more rain than expected.
Maybe Bob Kuhn from the Three Valleys Municipal Water District is right and we should invest a little more in improving ways to capture the water or flood control?
Rainfall Seasons generally run from July 1 through June 30. At least that's the way the National Weather Service does it. So I decided to do it that way also.
I took a look at the figures from my Weather Station in Altadena. I've been collecting data since March 2003. Detailed readings are available at:
http://www.westphalfamily.com
/wxdata.html Here are the total rainfall amounts for the complete seasons I have so far:
2003-2004 14.72"
2004-2005 56.66"
2005-2006 22.37"
2006-2007 6.52"
2007-2008 24.65" (Year to date)
The 2006-2007 Season was really light but the rest don't seem that bad. Rain in June is pretty scarce so we're probably done for this season. But I have my fingers crossed.
Bill Westphal
bill@westphalfamily.com
Altadena WeatherCam
