Good morning; It’s Wednesday June 5. I’m Paul Thornton, and here’s what we’ve been doing in Opinion recently.
A dreaded “heat dome” has formed in the western part of the US, pushing daytime temperatures in much of California dangerously above normal for early June. Unfortunately, the next few days of extreme heat only a a preview of what’s to come in the years and decades ahead, as climate change intensifies everything from drought to, yes, heat waves.
The consequences for humanity will be grim: In a “business as usual” scenario, where greenhouse gas emissions continue at current levels, 53 million Americans in disadvantaged communities will be exposed to dangerous heat by 2050, according to a report by the ICF Climate Center. This is the long-term threat of higher temperatures and the arrival of the first seasonal heat wave requested by the editorial board of The Times to demand more action from Governor Gavin Newsom and other state leaders to protect vulnerable Californians from extreme heat.
That said, readers in most of Southern California may be wondering, “Is it hot?” As I write a few miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, the afternoon sun finally reappears after another morning of “June gloom”, what I consider to be the only truly distinguished winter on the Southern California coast. The pattern since early May has been this: Low clouds persist overnight and in the morning, sunshine appears in the afternoon (if at all), and temperatures rarely reach 75 degrees. Even with the heat dome nudging us, we’ll get to around 80 this week.
This is why I like June gloom (and “May gray”): It’s LA’s natural AC, a seasonal reprieve from the extreme heat that comes to us too. Mild clouds are pretty normal for us this time of year – and in these extremes, normality and blandness seem pretty cool.
Do we get June gloom in Southern California already explained in detail elsewhere, but in one sentence: Air and land heat faster when summer approaches from cold water on our coast, causing low-lying clouds to form most persistently on the coast, but also often miles inland. You can see this phenomenon dramatically depicted in satellite photos from Tuesday shows almost the entire country basking in the oppressive sunshine, except for a sliver of the coast of Southern California where about half of the country’s population lives. The clouds fall on the Transverse Mountains, high mountains that roughly delimit the interior desert from the coastal basins and valleys.
Just behind that wall, Bakersfield wilted at 108 degrees; on top of that, at 6,800 feet in elevation, Big Bear City will be reaching the mid 80s this week. But overcast downtown Los Angeles will hover around 80 for the next few days. foreseeable future.
However, the National Weather Service that project Southern California is more likely to have warmer-than-average summers than cooler ones, so summer is coming. Unfortunately, climate change means that the sea layers that give us gray Mays and gloomy Junes are likely fire for good in winterdepriving us of the natural air conditioning that makes the heat in LA a little more tolerable.
As they say, hot as it is, climate change means this could be the coldest summer of your life. Those who complain about gloomy skies today may remember their grandchildren with stories of June drizzle and playing outside all day. I appreciate what we have now – a perfect confluence of conditions that produced a season only we can see in LA – and finish the June gloom before it disappears.
I live in Northern California. Why do I have to travel hundreds of miles to take the SAT? Some 96% of four-year colleges still consider SAT and ACT scores in admissions decisions, but the lack of testing sites in California has caused students, such as Sebastian Gillmore, to travel long distances just to take the exam. Gillmore writes: “Having parents with the financial and flexibility in their work schedule to take me to test sites far from home is an advantage that no one else has. The lack of test sites in California is not only an inconvenience, but also an equity issue. A shout-out to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which offers the SAT at all traditional high schools during the school day for free.
California should not accept skyrocketing electricity bills. Here’s how to fight back. California households have seen electricity rates nearly double in the last decade, threatening to undermine public support for ditching fossil fuels and electric cars and appliances. The editorial board of The Times offered four ideas to MPs to prevent rising costs. “It’s time to start talking seriously, before the affordability crisis turns into a payer revolt.”
Enjoy this newsletter? Consider a subscription to the Los Angeles Times
Your support helps us deliver the most important news. Become a subscriber.
The Supreme Court’s most important January 6 decision will be tainted. Two of the justices’ wives – flag-loving Martha-Ann Alito and “Stop the Steal” foot soldier Ginni Thomas – have shown their pro-Trump bias in ways that their husbands can’t, and certainly won’t, ignore, writes columnist Jackie Calmes. “When the court will soon rule on the case on January 6, the decision will be historic not only for the substance but because there are two judges who are involved in the conflict. Shame on them.”
Claudia Sheinbaum’s election in Mexico is history. But should we celebrate? Sheinbaum is a political protégé of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has undermined Mexico’s democratic institutions and raided pension funds to increase payments to the elderly (and therefore boost his popularity) at the expense of younger workers. “Mexican populists, in short, have no friends for them,” writes Kristina Foltz. “Sheinbaum’s election means we are still waiting for the arrival of Mexico’s democratic spring.”
More than this week in Opinion
From our columnist
From the Op-Ed desk
From the Editorial Board
Letter to the Editor
