Goodbye California Coastal Fog, Goodbye Redwoods
In Southern California they call it the “June Gloom” — the gray layer of heavy fog that drapes itself across much of Los Angeles in late spring. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we just call it “summer”: The months-long cycle of overcast mornings and chilly evenings that supposedly* prompted Mark Twain to complain that “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.” While coastal California’s summer fog has long annoyed residents and tourists alike, the regular rush of cool, wet air helps sustain coastal ecosystems, including the state’s iconic redwoods. Now, thanks to human development, that weather phenomenon is at risk.
According to a story published last week in the journal Geophyiscal Research Letters, coastal fog in the Los Angeles region is on the decline. In the last 60 years, according to researchers, summer fog in the LA area has decreased by 63 percent. The culprit? The so-called “urban heat island effect” — a phenomenon in which the ambient temperature of cities is much higher (especially at night) than in surrounding undeveloped areas because of all the heat that builds up in our streetscapes of concrete and asphalt.
“We used cloud data from the last 67 years, and we can see that there have been huge declines in fog that have happened and that should continue happening,” says Park Williams, a researcher at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Williams based his findings on detailed, sometimes hourly, weather readings from Southern California’s many airports, and matched that against census data on population density to chart development across the region. He and his colleagues were then able to demonstrate a link between the heat island effect and the diminishment of coastal fog. “This is a really solid process that is going on, and we have enough confidence to predict that it will continue.”
Beachgoers might be pleased by the findings. More sunny days, what’s not to like? But Williams and other scientists caution that most coastal California ecosystems — from chaparral slopes to the oak-studded prairie grasslands to the towering redwoods — have evolved to rely on water they get from coastal fog.
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http://www.care2.com/causes/goodbye-california-coastal-fog-goodbye-redwoods.html
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Driving across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge yesterday was "interesting" to say the least 
Last edited Wed Mar 11, 2015, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)
I can remember the days when the fog was so thick you could barely drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and wow how those old fog horns used to blow, so loud you'd almost jump out of the car seat if you happened to drive under one of them when it went off like a sonic boom. They were replaced c. 1990 or so with these crappy whistle type things that are still there and the fog horns in San Francisco lost their lure for me. As for the fog itself, I don't know how much less it has become in S.F. but when I left, I had noted a decline in those good old "Jack the Ripper" nights that were so very frequent at one time.
In the north of the state, the redwoods are still growing quite well and luckily the ones in the preserves are being fairly well cared for and the recent attempt by CalTrans to cut down some of the old growth that runs along the freeway that goes through Richardson Grove State Park failed alas and CalTrans had to give up on their attempt to open up highway 101 by cutting old growth trees down so more commerce can travel northwards. Hence, it seems that no one much is just dying to relocate north because thanks to what the timber industry has done, there is no work to be found. If it weren't for the two colleges up north, this region would be close to being a near ghost town environment as there are few old growth redwood trees left to cut down and the second growth trees look like toothpicks against one of them.
As for the climate, there is a decline in the fog in the north of the state but there are still plenty of those "Jack the Ripper" nights and fog as thick as pea soup is still often seen.
As for the trees, some are as old as 4-5,000 years old, well some do eventually die of natural causes which brings the Dyerville Giant to mind. That was the largest tree around for a long time and it went down in a huge Alaskan storm that hit the region some 15+ years ago.
More about the Dyerville Giant can be found here:
>>The domino effect that caused the champ's demise actually began a week earlier, when a venerable redwood standing 50 yards from the Dyerville Giant finally surrendered to gravity. On the way down it glanced off a second 1,000-year-old tree, causing it to lean. One week later, that tree went down, taking the Dyerville Giant with it in a thunderous finale. The assaulting tree's momentum carried it to the ground first, and the champion, as if in revenge, collapsed on top of it.
Considering the fate of most old-growth, the Dyerville Giant was lucky to meet a natural end. Germinating 1,000 years before Columbus, enduring centuries of floods, storms, fires, and earthquakes, it was spared the axe in 1926 by the efforts of the Save the-Redwoods League. The League purchased 9,000 acres of redwood forest with contributions totaling $2 million (equivalent to $300 minion today). Two years later the area was designated as the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. In 1931 the League honored its founding members by naming Founders Grove, a small section of the park that included the Dyerville Giant.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+fall+of+the+Dyerville+giant.-a011830826
Fear not as the Californians in the north aren't about to let anything ruin the remains of this jewel of a place, people and jobs or no people and no jobs. Who cares? The redwood trees are more important is a widely held view unless you are a unemployed logger or an old codger that worked in the timber industry and just loved cutting down those old growth trees. Luckily, this is a dying breed of cat and few still think as they did during the days of the spotted owl controversies which greatly impacted this region on a social and political level c. 1990 and many did not care to admit that the hey-days of cutting down old growth trees was long gone already. It took the demise and greed of the timber industry for them to open their eyes and see what has been done and gee, no pensions seem to be around anymore. They packed up and left is what they did, leaving their damage and contamination behind as evidence that cannot be ignored nor destroyed. 
If writing about forests in the north, look to Oregon where there is that 1/4-mile rule for clear-cutting from human sight and the roads that are traveled or so you cannot see the devastation that the clear-cutting over the years has done. It is shameful and it is quite sad at best. 
& recommend.
ON EDIT: The Mark Twain quote cited should read: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent Was a Summer in San Francisco
I believe Mark Twain was writing for the Morning Call at that time, the year my great grandfather was born in San Francisco: 1864! 
The drought has me seriously worried. I moved to the East Bay from Sonoma County, cuz of grand babies here.. But I miss it up north.
One thing of many, one is constantly reminded of the "state of the climate" at any time of year, but obviously most particularly in the Winter where one only needs to glance around at the creek and river levels, the surrounding hills and open space - just how green is it in February? the Drought in 77 and 78 has finally been mentioned in local news as the worst drought in a generation and I remember that one well. but it only lasted 3 years, which was dreadfully long. The impact of this current drought will be far worse in so many ways.
Here in the East Bay, no one has a genuine sense of just how dire the situation is, with cement and housing covering all of the landscape. My landlord's maintenance person washes his car at least twice a week and constantly over waters the lawn despite restrictions, rate increases and admonishments from me.
Praying for a freak Spring/Summer with a few heavy rains, but we all know that the major source of water is the snow melt in the sierras .. so even a freak summer rain or two will not do much for the situation though it would be welcomed.
I'm sad for my granddaughters and their generation. it's all happening right in front of our eyes. 
Last edited Wed Mar 11, 2015, 11:27 PM - Edit history (2)
It has been costly for me in particular.
It was in the summer months that a "heat wave" hit the region and along with it came a variety of problems like:
Insects that you've never seen nor heard of in your life! YIKES!
which was just a couple of weeks ago. Cat was old, and suffering other ailments that come with Felines in old age, but the flea infestation was likely the ultimate killer. Although I should mention that they put her down with ceremony and at home. It was still devastating none the less.
Prior to her passing, my daughter had attempted some sort of powder substance spread on the floors as some sort of ultimate remedy, since the normal "advantage" flee repellent applied monthly was no longer working after years of suitable effect.
I don't know how the drought is tied into it, I was of a mind to presume that the fleas had developed a resistance to the repellent after generations ..(through mutation)
I'm glad you were able to eradicate the moth infestation! Still wondering how the drought would be connected?
I go to SF a few times a week - I still love that city, the climate and PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!
The climate was like the gulf region in the south (and no I kid you not as I have a friend from that region and he said to me, "Gee this is just like the Gulf!" .
The conditions were perfect and the larvae was there in wait.
And then, it hatched and these white things were all over the place, in the garage, in the house, nests found on the undersides of aged furniture, EVERYWHERE!
They should have said the Sequoias, as found in Kings Canyon and the like.
http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm
I visited Grants Grove in the 1980s and it was really beautiful!
These trees do not grow as tall but are still huge by any stretch of the imagination.
However, it was not long after that that the biggest tree in Grant's Grove fell as well.
However, as you point out, there are no redwoods in the south.
They grow in a very specific region of the north coast and it is 500 miles in length and yes, that is the end of it.
Some ask, "Where did all of the redwood go?". Answer: To Japan it went after WWII to "rebuild" and perhaps to say I'm sorry for what America has done to you dare I suggest ...