General Subjects > Blogs and Diaries

2019 - Robert's botanical adventures in Northern California

(1/63) > >>

Robert:


4 January 2019
1300 UTC

2019 got off to a good start. On 2 January I was able to visit the Cosumnes River Preserve in the Central Valley of California. The preserve is located about 25 miles (40 km) south of Sacramento, California. I met my friend Mort, who I see once or twice a year these days, at the preserve and we spent the afternoon hiking in some of the less visited portions of the preserve.

A goodly portion of the preserve is still agricultural land (now leased to rice farmers). During the winter months, the agricultural land is kept flooded to provide habitat for wildlife, predominantly migratory waterfowl (i.e. birds). Crowds of people arrive to view the birds. Both Mort and I dislike crowds so we set off to areas of the preserve where there were fewer people.

The local and migratory wildlife are the prime beneficiaries of this preserve. Some past efforts were made to restore some of the native flora. When we first started visiting the preserve decades ago many seedling Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata) were planted in some of the open fields. The smaller trees in the foreground of this photograph are the results of these initial restoration efforts. Unfortunately, they were planted in a straight-line grid, which is still very evident in some locations.



There are many wetlands and sloughs in the preserve.



Another view of one of the many wetlands.



There are also large expansive tracts of open land on the preserve. Sadly the land is still highly degraded from a native floristic perspective. 99% of the plants seen in this photograph are non-native invasive species.

Mort and I had a pleasant hike and we eventually parted ways back to our homes. Now that the holiday season is over, I can get back to my many projects. Today, I will be back on Peavine Ridge getting started with the next phase of one of my projects.

I also have to deal with the U.S. government shut down. At this phase, I am still dependent on government web sites as sources of specific real-time data.  As an example, I can still find data concerning direct beam solar radiation (W/m2), however wind shear profiles and soil temperature – soil moisture content data is currently unavailable. Currently, I use this data as an acceptable proxy until I can obtain something better (i.e. buy more data recording instruments).

In addition, now that the holidays are over I have time to better focus my attention to the hemispheric and synoptic weather patterns. At the best, I made some cursory looks at the evolving weather patterns during the holidays. There have been some very interesting weather developments over the past two weeks or so. As I can, I will report on some of the more noteworthy events and how they pertain to our local environment and our Sacramento garden.

Robert:


5 January 2019
0500 UTC

I indeed made the trip to Peavine Ridge on Friday, 4 January. It was an extremely mild day in the Sierra Nevada, 56 F (13.3 C). Until a day or two ago, we were finally having some cold winter-like weather in our region. This kept the few traces of snow on the ridge intact until the next storm arrives tomorrow. We certainly need the precipitation. As of 1 January we are running 54% of average at the El Dorado County farm. Some of the earlier storms reached our Sacramento home before they were shunted northeastward. Our Sacramento home has 89% of average precipitation as of 1 January.

The next in a series of storms is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We will certainly get some precipitation, however exactly how much is a bit questionable in my mind. I have to admit that I am not completely impressed by the dynamics of the storms scheduled to arrive. Here on the eve of the first storms arrival, I still see some mixed signals. If the storm does not completely materialize 100% as expected, I will not be surprised. It will not be the first storm to disappoint this season. I will have another look in the morning and hope that my skepticism is unfounded.

Here are a few statics from the El Dorado County farm that may put our recent cold snap in perspective:
> The coldest night in December occurred on the 31st, 26 F (-3.3 C). The record low for this date is 21 F (-6.1 C), which occurred in 1990. The 30-year mean (1985 to 2015) for this date is 34.11 F (1.17 C), with a standard deviation of 8.845 F. 26 F is at the low end of the spectrum, but this temperature is certainly not unusual.
> The average temperature for December 2018 was 44.50 F (6.94 C). The 30-year mean for December is 44.16 F (6.76 C), almost exactly average.

It was nice to get some cold weather, however the cold snap was nothing out of the ordinary.



The, more or less, consistent lack of snow in recent years (except 2016-17 was a banner season) at this elevation on the ridge has me concerned, especially in the 2014 King Fire burn areas. The presence or absence of snow highly alters the surface reflectivity, or albedo, of open, burned over sites (such as the one pictured). Obviously, the absence of snow alters heat fluxes, and the surface energy balance (proportion of sensible heat, latent heat, and ground conduction), which in turn alters evapotranspiration rates, soil moisture content, spring runoff and the whole hydrosphere, biosphere. I am easily amused monitoring these things and there are a number of simple methods to measure some of the above variables.

In addition, I have my concerns at how easily invasive plant species have recolonized the burned over sites. With my initial plant surveys I have noted many native plant species recolonizing the burned over areas, however to date, the invasive species (especially grasses) are very dominant.



The natural regeneration of coniferous species is taking place. Pictured are a few Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi) seedlings that germinated and grew last year.



The slash piles are numerous and unsightly. It is sad that no use could be found for this timber and it is just left to rot.



In appropriate areas (away from people), some dead timber is left standing. This provides habitat for wildlife such as woodpeckers and other avian species.

Robert:


Some of the smaller slash piles were torched. The black carbon will add long-term fertility to the soil by increasing the cat ion exchange capacity. I will continue to monitor the sites. It is very interesting that after 4 years there is still much bare, exposed mineral earth that has not been recolonized by plants.

Robert:
6 January 2019
0300 UTC

For me it was a very interesting weather day. Yesterday, I expressed my skepticism concerning the dynamics of the storm scheduled to arrive today. My subjective assessment was correct; the storm arrived with gusty winds, but very little precipitation in our part of California. Our gauge here at the farm registered 0.11 inches (2.79 mm). When I checked the Northern California rain totals, it was only the northern portion of the state, for the most part, that received notable amounts of precipitation. The next storm, scheduled for tomorrow, looks much more promising at this time. As stated in my last posting we need a goodly amount of precipitation just to get back to average to date. As I write this posting, we are receiving postfrontal showers created from orographic lift.  :)    8)

Anyone who knows me knows that I like doing puzzles. For some time now, I have expressed my frustration with long-range (out 192 hours) numerical weather forecast models. A recent project has been to incorporate concepts of the subjective long-range synoptic classification system developed by English climatologist Hubert Lamb with aspects of the numerical forecasting models. With the addition of satellite and radar imaging as well as knowledge of mesoscale and hemispheric patterns, I will have quite the puzzle to assemble. I am a strong believer in subjective WX analysis (i.e. the skills of a competent, experienced WX forecaster) and this is my solution.

Robert:
8 January 2019
0500 UTC



It was a delightful overcast day today. The day was made even better when I visited the canyon of the South Fork of the American River and Rock Creek.

The night before was very stormy and windy. In some location wind gusts were reported to near 50 mph. This storm was much more productive with precipitation, however the brunt of the precipitation fell to our north, south and west.

A few of the reported local 24-hour precipitation totals:
> Folsom 1.26 inches
> Ben Bolt 0.65 inches
> Pilot Hill 0.88 inches
> Sly Park 0.99 inches
> Pacific House 1.28 inches
Morattini Flat, 7,108 feet reported 2.42 inches liquid equivalent (all snow, most likely 2-3 feet).

Here at the farm we recorded 0.98 inches and 0.11 from the previous storm the day before. It would have been nice to receive more. Currently, our precipitation to date at the farm stands at 7.92 inches, which is 57% of average to date (7 January). To put our precipitation totals in perspective, we will need to receive 1.88 inches per week for the next 12 weeks to get back to average to date for 1 April. January, February, and March are our most productive precipitation months in this part of California, so obtaining or even exceeding average precipitation for the rainfall season is completely possible. Unfortunately, the 1.09 inches we received this week will leaves us far short of average if the trend continues.

At our Sacramento home, the precipitation totals are much different. I will be able to tally the amounts tomorrow, but I already know that we are now very close to average precipitation to date in Sacramento.

The good news is that more stormy weather appears to be on it way. The last look I had at the northern hemisphere IR satellite image pictured a series of storms crossing the Pacific in our direction. The storm scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday looks impressive at this time (about 12 hours ago – yes, I have other things to do than look at the weather).  ;D



The Toyon berries, Heteromeles arbutifolia, were marvelous and everywhere throughout the canyon. I especially enjoyed the raindrops clings to the berries.



The silvery foliage of Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons is striking. I finally have a number of plants well established in our Sacramento garden. The Bush Lupines are very compatible with a number of our native Castilleja species, both being long lived and free blooming for long periods, when living together. I actually had a successful crop of Castilleja attenuata, Valley Tassel’s, last season. This was my first success with an annual Castilleja species. I have to admit that they were not very impressive, however some of our other annual Castilleja species are dramatic. Something for me to work on.



Good forms of White-leaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos viscida ssp. viscida, have conspicuous silvery foliage with brilliant red new growth in the spring. The chestnut bark increases in beauty as the plants age. Currently, I have some phenomenal forms of this species growing at our Sacramento home. They are very tight and compact in their growth habit, with foliage that is very silvery and noticeably smaller than the standard species. The new growth on the seedlings is brilliant red. I hope that I can share photographs this season.



The Goldback Ferns, Pentagramma triangularis, have been dormant all summer and are now in full growth.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page