Friday, September 16, 2022

Hurricane drama

We didn't actually experience a hurricane along coastal Southern California late last week but we did get a taste of the remnants of one.  Hurricane Kay started in the Pacific and hit landfall in Baja California.  It moved north as a tropical weather system, sparking reports of 100mph winds and dropping as much as 5 inches of rain in parts of the San Diego area.  As it moved into my own area of Los Angeles County last Friday afternoon (September 9th) we briefly experienced extreme wind, followed by light rain, which eventually became slow and steady rain in the evening hours, breaking our 10-day heatwave.

In addition to delivering 0.61/inch (15.5mm) of rain here, ongoing storm activity to the east of us set the stage for a pretty sunset on Sunday.  We get better views of the sunrise in my location than we do sunsets.  Our back garden faces east and the western view is largely blocked by hills so what we see of sunsets is displayed in the clouds rather than images of the setting sun.

This was the view to the east, overlooking the Port of Los Angeles, as the sun set in the west

Another view, looking roughly northeast from the back garden

and the view looking northwest, framed by the hills that obstruct the setting sun

 

I visited the local botanic garden Monday morning, hoping to see whatever was left of the floral arrangements created on site over the weekend as part of their Music x Flowers exhibit.  Unfortunately, the floral displays had all been cleaned up and carried away, although I was given a small bouquet of carnations when I checked in at the garden's entrance in commemoration of the event.  I noted that there was a lot of debris strewn about, presumably stirred up by the wind that accompanied the storm.  There wasn't much new to see since my prior visit 6 weeks ago but I strolled the garden for an hour nonetheless.

Then I saw this.  More than simple leaf debris, it appears the storm may have brought down this tree
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Closeup of the tree's trunk, which had been torn apart

View of the same tree from its other side.  I've no idea what species of tree this was but it appeared to have a twin nearby.  In any case, its removal will leave a sunny spot in an area that was once in shade.

 

Other trees, still intact, were in full flower.

I believe this is a Chitalpa, an intergeneric hybrid of Catalpa (aka cigar tree) and Chilopsis linearis (aka desert willow).  It's a lovely, graceful thing, if too big for most residential gardens.

The garden had advertised that the floss silk trees (Ceiba speciosa, formerly Chorisia speciosa) were in bloom and they were.  The trees are native to South America.  I saw 5 of them on this visit but I recall there are more in parts of the garden I didn't visit on this occasion.  This one is in the garden's upper meadow.

This one near the visitor entrance gives you an idea of how big the trees are.  The tree's trunks are studded with spikes to deter climbing critters.  After, flowering, the hard shells of the seedpods break open to release their seeds, which are surrounded by a fluffy silk-like material.

The temperatures were far lower than the prior week but humidity levels were still high so I couldn't bring myself to walk deeper into the garden on this visit.  Temperatures have cooled even further since the start of the week.  Dare I say, it's feeling a little like fall here?  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.


All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

14 comments:

  1. We have a rain forecast for this weekend ! I was kind of jealous of your .61 but now I have some to look forward to myself. Rain in Sept is pretty rare in these parts. I keep checking NOAA periodically throughout the day to make sure they don't change their minds, but the likelihood percentage has crept up to 90 for Sunday and it looks like we could get 1/2 to 3/4 here in my location. Maybe I should pay a visit to the dyi carwash just to seal the deal !

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    1. We rarely get any rain between April and October and, when a tropical system does pass through, it doesn't usually deliver much. Our chances were put at over 90% a few days beforehand but dropped down into the 70s as it moved through San Diego so I wasn't hopeful when Mother Nature began spitting at us in the late afternoon; however, I was very pleased with the outcome, especially as we're still operating under an outdoor watering ban. I hope the storm comes through for you up north, Kathy. It looks very unlikely it'll reach us in the southern part of the state.

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  2. Fallen tree maybe Fraxinus (Ash) of some sort.

    Nice sunrises! Almost felt like fall this morning at sunrise. Almost, soon!

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    1. Thanks for the prospective ID, HB. Those were sunset images - minus the setting sun, hidden by the hills on our west side.

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    2. Looks like I flunked Reading Comprehension today....

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    3. No, you were probably just speed reading ;)

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  3. Lovely cloud portraits. I love watching the sun rise through the turning trees at this time of year. I'm jealous of your rain as we are so incredibly dry. Digging in the garden the soil is dry at least a shovel's depth despite drip irrigation throughout the summer. No rain in the forecast either. Yikes!

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  4. Although Kay provided stunning photo ops, it's not at all worth loosing a massive tree: so sad!
    chavli

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    1. Although I didn't bypass the caution tape, I think there's a sister tree of the same kind only a few feet away, Chavli. I was surprised to see them positioned that closely together. If Hoover Boo is right that the downed tree is in the Fraxinus genus, those self-seed readily so one or the other may have planted itself there and, as the garden staff has always been thin, perhaps no one took the time to address the crowding issue until Mother Nature took charge. Hopefully, cutting the fallen tree down will give the nearby tree an opportunity to spread out. That's my glass half-full take on it in any case.

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  5. Oh dear, sorry about the tree damage at the botanic garden, but I'm glad you got some rain and relief. The views you shared are incredible!

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    1. Thanks Beth. We haven't had clouds like that at sunset for some time. The effect of sunset on smog isn't nearly the same ;)

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  6. Replies
    1. That wind was something, Diana! Fortunately, it didn't last long but I seriously thought I was going to be blown off my feet at one point.

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