Good morning, it’s Wednesday, June 5th. I’m Paul Thornton here with some recent thoughts from our opinion column.
A frightening “heat dome” has formed across the western US, causing daytime temperatures in much of California to be dangerously higher than average for early June. Unfortunately, the extreme heat of the next few days is just a preview of what’s to come in the years and decades to come as climate change intensifies everything from droughts to severe floods and, of course, heat waves.
The consequences for humanity will be dire. According to a report from the ICF Climate Center, under a “business as usual” scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate, 53 million Americans living in disadvantaged areas will be exposed to dangerously hot conditions by 2050. In light of the long-term threat of rising temperatures and the arrival of the first seasonal heat waves, The Times editorial board called on Governor Gavin Newsom and other state leaders to do more to protect Californians from extreme heat.
But most readers in Southern California might be thinking, “What’s the heat?” As I write this a few miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, the only truly distinctive season on the Southern California coast is once again in the “June gloom,” and the midday sun has finally returned. Here’s the pattern we’ve seen since early May: low clouds hang around all night and all morning, with the sunshine peeking out in the afternoon (if at all), and temperatures rarely rising above 75°F. Even with the heat dome pushing against us, we’ll likely be in the 80s this week.
This is why I love the June gloom (and “May grays”). It’s LA’s natural air conditioner, a seasonal respite from the heatwaves that get to us. The low clouds are bland and normal to us this time of year, and in a time of extremes, a bland, normal sky feels so good.
The reasons for Southern California’s overcast weather in June have already been explained in detail elsewhere, but in a nutshell, as summer approaches, the air and land warm more rapidly than the cold coastal waters, so low clouds form most persistently along the coast, but are also common several miles inland. Satellite images from Tuesday dramatically illustrated the phenomenon, showing nearly the entire state bathed in intense sunlight except for a small sliver of coastal Southern California, where about half the state’s population lives. The clouds end abruptly in the Transverse Range, a high mountain range that roughly separates the inland desert from the coastal basins and valleys.
Just behind that wall, Bakersfield is freezing with 108-degree heat, and above it, at 6,800 feet, Big Bear City will reach the mid-80s this week. But in overcast downtown Los Angeles, temperatures will hover around 80 degrees Fahrenheit for the next few days for the foreseeable future.
Still, the heat is coming, with the National Weather Service predicting that Southern California will likely experience a warmer than normal summer rather than a cooler one. Unfortunately, climate change means that the marine layer that brings gray May skies and June gloom will disappear entirely in the future, eliminating the natural air conditioner that makes Los Angeles summers a little more bearable.
As the saying goes, it may be hot now, but climate change may make this summer the coldest of our lifetimes. Those who complain about overcast skies today may one day tell their grandchildren stories of June drizzles and playing outside all day. I want to cherish what we have now – the perfect combination of conditions that create Los Angeles’ only distinct season – and welcome the overcast June weather before it’s gone.
I live in Northern California. Why should I travel hundreds of miles to take the SAT? About 96 percent of four-year colleges consider SAT and ACT scores for admissions, but a lack of testing sites in California means students like Sebastian Gilmore travel long distances just to take the test. “Having parents who can afford it and have the flexibility in their work schedules to get me to a testing site far from home is an advantage many others don’t have,” Gilmore wrote. “The lack of testing sites in California isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s an equity issue.” The Los Angeles Unified School District offers the SAT for free during school hours at all traditional high schools.
Californians don’t have to put up with rising electric bills. Here’s how to fight back: California household electricity prices have nearly doubled over the past decade, threatening to undermine public support for phasing out fossil fuels and electrifying cars and appliances. The Times editorial board offers lawmakers four ideas to curb soaring electric bills: “It’s time to start a serious discussion before rising electricity prices turn into a ratepayer revolt.”
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The Supreme Court’s pivotal January 6th decision will be tainted. Two of the justices’ spouses, flag-loving Justice Martha Ann Alito and Justice Ginnie Thomas, a foot soldier in the “Stop the Steal” movement, have demonstrated pro-Trump bias in ways that could not have gone unnoticed by their husbands, columnist Jackie Calmes writes. “When the Supreme Court soon rules on the January 6th case, its decision will be historic not just for its content but for the fact that it involved two such polarizing justices. Shame on you.”
The election of Mexico’s Claudia Scheinbaum is historic. But should we celebrate it? Scheinbaum is the political successor to outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has undermined Mexico’s democratic institutions and plundered pension funds to boost payouts to the elderly (and increase his own popularity) at the expense of younger workers. “Mexican populists, in short, are not on the side of the people,” writes Cristina Voltz. “Scheinbaum’s election means we’re still waiting for Mexico’s democratic spring.”
More from this week’s opinion piece
From the columnist
From the Opinion Desk
From the Editorial Board
Letter to the editor