Looking back at 2019 from a weather standpoint, things were a bit on the wild side at times. So, the Journal reached out to climate specialist Matthew Kidwell in the Eureka office of the National Weather Service, who compiled what he saw as the most notable weather incidents to take place last year. Along with […]
Science
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High Surf Warning This Week
Starting today and building up in height through Thursday, the Eureka office of the National Weather Service is warning that “large, steep” waves will be washing up local beaches and over jetties this week. According to NWS, the waves will begin building 17 to 20 feet today and should reach up to 25 feet by Wednesday, […]
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Yurok Tribe Celebrates Solar Power System
The Yurok Tribe is celebrating the installation of a solar power system and has announced that another is being planned in an effort to bring electricity to the roughly 40 percent of families in the Weitchpec and Pecwan areas who do not have access to the grid. According to a press release, the 28 kW […]
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Five Things to Know About Microgrids
More than 1 million Californians were left in the dark for days recently as their big utility companies shut off power for fear of sparking wildfires. Frustrated by those outages, some homeowners say they’d like to turn their backs on the companies in favor of smaller providers who might do a better job of keeping […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Best of the Bugs
After almost five years doing a weekly blog it had to happen. With rainy, cold weather and the fact that over the last several years I’ve already written about most of the noteworthy entomological subjects hereabouts, this week I didn’t see any new critters worth photographing or writing about. So I think I’ll do what […]
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No Local Crab Before the New Year
The commercial Dungeness crab season off of Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte counties has been delayed again at least until Dec. 31 due quality tests that “continue to show crab are below the minimum testing guidelines.” According to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife release, another round of testing will take place around Dec. […]
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HumBug: Preserved for Posterity
I recently did something I haven’t done in a long time. I went looking for glow worms in my backyard. Locally I’ve found them to be amazingly common in the leaf litter beneath our local redwoods but lately they had been absent from our usual haunts. This time though, I was greeted by at least […]
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North Coast Night Lights: Looking for a Monocerotid Unicorn
The other week I was finally made aware of the existence of an elusive annual celestial phenomenon nicknamed the Unicorn meteor shower, or Alpha Monocerotids. So dubbed in part no doubt for its mercurial habits, the name is also eponymous for the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, from which the meteors appear to radiate. The constellation […]
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‘Bomb Cylone’ May Have Set a Low Pressure Record; Good News, Bad News in the Forecast (With Video)
High wind speeds hit most of the North Coast region yesterday, according to meteorologist Scott Carroll at the National Weather Service in Eureka, with speeds hitting 69 mph at the Crescent City Airport. Carroll also said that gusts up to 80 mph hit at 1,700 feet south of Ferndale, 70 mph at 2,900 feet southwest […]
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HumBug: Revisiting Old (Poisonous) Friends
Back on Oct 2., 2016, I posted an article on the infestation of western black widow (Latrodactus hesperus) spiders at the Carlotta Post Office. Just this week my wife and I had occasion to visit the area again. Guess what? As we strolled along the walkway directly in front of the post office, I nearly […]
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High Tides, Stormy Weather on Tap for Thanksgiving Week
Extremely high tides and stormy weather are set for the week of Thanksgiving, according to the National Weather Service office in Eureka. Tides ranging from 7.9 feet to more than 8 feet will arrive from Sunday to Thursday, which — combined with elevated surf and southerly winds — could result in “some minor coast flooding,” […]
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HumBug: Late Butterflies, Hornets and Moths
A quick walk along the Van Duzen River turned up one each variegated meadowhawk and shadow darner dragonflies neither of which allowed me to get close enough to get a photo. It’s OK, I have hundreds of shots of the meadowhawk and dozens of the shadow. We got glimpses of a California sister butterfly, a […]