Rain Tonight, Huge Rain Predicted For Mon-Tues

Rain will fall in Malibu tonight … probably starting around 4 in the morning. 

This will be a solid rainstorm … maybe an inch by tomorrow… maybe more.

But all eyes are on what is shaping up to be the largest storm of the season … setting  up for Sunday into Tuesday.

Storm trigger one:  a very tight low pressure system with very strong winds .. strong enough to cause damage north of 

Storm trigger two:  a plume of water in the atmosphere …. an atmospheric river  … a fire hose of warm water extending from south of Hawaii towards Southern California.

UCLA meteorology professor Daniel Swain: 

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“Storm number two is a little bit more of a wild card, but it actually has a higher potential to reduce some major and significant either wind and or blood related impacts. 

“Although the wind impacts are mostly up in the northern part of California and the rain or flood in packs from storm number two or more likely in central and southern California, I’m about Santa Barbara County all the way south..”

Storm trigger three: The mountains along the coast will lift the atmospheric river aloft … and squeeze copious amounts of water as the clouds go up.

That’s called orographic enhancement … and it means we could see 4 to 8 inches of rain starting Sunday.

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“It is possible that some sections of the central and northern southern California coast, between late Sunday, and Tuesday, will see, prolonged periods of either heavy to very heavy rainfall, almost continuously, for that. Period a very moist, tropical or subtropical moisture plume will be forced on sure by these winds.”

The computer models are still chewing on the forecast … and a wide range of forecast possibilities remain. 

The exact timing, rates and amounts are still uncertain.

it is very likely that this will be a serious 2 to 3 day storm system .. and that is for Monday and Tuesday.

The rain storm that will hit tonight will be a major storm itself.

An extended period of high surf will impact the beaches. 

Surf will build tonight, and high surf may persist through Sunday or Monday. 

The largest waves are expected Thursday and Friday. 

West facing beaches should see surf of over 8 feet, with the local coast peaking at 12 feet … maybe even 15 feet.

Tides are not especially high this week … however.

 

Big Mysteries: Will Caltrans OK Traffic In Center Left Turn Lane?  Will City Actually Close Lanes To Cut Traffic?

As KBUU News reported last week … the city of Malibu has decided to keep four lanes open at all times in the construction zone … where the city is installing fiber optic lines underneath Pacific Coast Highway. 

The city put out a press release yesterday … says the same thing.

The city plans to reroute traffic into the center turn lane area … keeping two lanes open in each direction at all times. 

But the city press release also has one giant asterisk … Caltrans has to approve that.

And in the past … Caltrans has never approved traffic plans that split two lanes … with one rerouted into a turn lane like that.

In the past … we’ve asked Caltrans if such an arrangement was allowable … and the answer has always been no. 

Will Caltrans change its policy??? 

Stay tuned. 

The city says doing the work at night would have added one million dollars to the cost … and been very noisy for the people living along the highway.

The daytime lane closures have raised loud howls of complaints from drivers stuck in the traffic. 

This … at the same time that the city council is considering closing lanes on purpose … at times … to intentionally slow down and reduce traffic. 

Part of the problem with the current delays has been the klutzy implementation. 

For example … traffic signal patterns were not adjusted.

Traffic was held uop needlessly at the Big Rock signal … red lights and no cross traffic … with only one lane open each way.

And the barricades were set up for nine hour periods over long stretches of PCH  … with no occasional relief to bleed off backed up traffic. 

And Z traffic drivers … commuting through Malibu … were only given generic “expect delay” warnings that frankly have been flashing away with nonspecific messages for months. 

The city is promising to finesse the situation. 

Caltrans has to approve.

What could go wrong???

 

Homeless Woman Accused Of Ocean Park Blvd Killing May Have Tried To Kill Before: LAPD

Additional charges have been filed against the homeless woman who allegedly shot and killed a man as he sat in his car on Ocean opArk Boulevard near Santa Monica Airport last week,

Police in Los Angeles believe the woman committed armed robbery and attempted mnurder in LA. 

Kayla Delise Mackie is accused of killing of Venice resident William James Edwards III on January 25th … … last Thursday.

The victim was described by Santa Monica police as a respected music producer and father of two young boys.

Santa Monica police are now saying they made a mistake in failing to activate an alert system to notify Santa Monica residents 

The Office of the Chief of Police told, d the Santa. Monica Daily Press “as the incident was still unfolding, we prioritized social media as a means of getting verified information to our community. In retrospect, we regret that with the resources we had in place we did not initiate an SM Alert.  This was simply an oversight that was addressed the same day.”

 

CPUC Rejects SCE Plan To Help Get Rid Of Pollution-Causing Gas Devices

The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected Southern California Edison’s plan to help families trade in their gas appliances for electric.

And that had drawn even more criticism from environmental groups. 

The local power company had planned to offer rebates … to entice people to replace leaky and illness-causing gas stoves and heaters with electric appliances. 

People would buy more electricity … but would generate a lot less pollution than burning so-called natural gas in their houses.

Nihal Shrinath is a lobbyist with the Sierra Club.

He says the rebates would have taken between 25 to 75-percent off the cost of an electric heat pump or heat pump … and water heater.

:11  “That’s not taking into account the fact that these electric appliances tend to be three to four times more efficient than gas appliances and so, customers would see almost immediate positive rate impacts on their bills.”

The C-P-U-C argued that the 750-million-dollar, four-year plan would have raised rates too much in the short term. 

One way or the other … the system is a ripoff for people who rely on natural has … the Sierra Club lobbyist says. 

:10  “Right now, we’re not in a great situation where we risk only affluent customers electrifying – and low-income customers kind of holding the bag, so to speak, for an increasingly obsolete gas system.”

The bottom line is that natural gas stoves and heaters  emit pollution when they are active … and leak methane when they are turned off. 

And there are still financial incentives to switch over to electric stoves and heaters. 

The federal government offers tax credits … visit website ‘RewiringAmerica.org’ for information on that.

And the site ‘SwitchIsOn.org’ has California specific state incentives.

 

Big Hearing Tonight At 6 Re: Santa Monica Giving Up Political Power Top Malibu

A reminder…

That very important hearing …. For Malibu residents to give testify about splitting the Santa Monica Malibu school district into geographic voting districts … is tonight.

It’s at 6 p.m. in the Santa Monica College Malibu campus … room 103. 

You can also join the meeting via Zoom … new have a link on the KBUU Newswire.

https://lacoe-edu.zoom.us/j/86198100117?pwd=azZIcHY4b1dqcVBqOVVhem8wVi9CUT09

Password: 028856

More Layoffs At LA Times, As Guild Blamed For Whiter Staff

 

Layofff Continue at the LA Times.

The number has now grown to 120 … as seniority lists are in play … number that grew by 5 overnight.

The LA Times Guild says they had a total of 400 members, but 94 Guild members were laid off this week. 

The Guild said that people of color were disproportionately laid off in part because they are more likely to be young and hired recently. 

Of those 94, 63 belonged to at least one of the Guild’s subgroups: the Black Caucus, the Latino Caucus, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus, or the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia Caucus.

LA Times leadership agreed that employees of color were “disproportionately more vulnerable,” because the union chose to prioritize seniority over diversity.

In other words, the LA Times says that the seniority rule in its contract with the Guild is what led to more journalists of color being laid off. 

The LA Times Guild says the seniority rule exists to ensure that employees can build careers at the Times, and that the company had other options than to lay people off.

That report … according to the Nieman Foundation. 

Meanwhile … veteran Los Angeles Times journalist Hector Becerra has been named managing editor of the newspaper.

Interim Executive Editor Terry Tang announced the appointment Tuesday.

The newsroom has been rocked this month by significant layoffs, a one-day strike by journalists and several high-level departures.

Becerra, a native Angeleno who grew up in Boyle Heights, becomes the highest-ranking Latino editor in The Times’ long history. His appointment is effective immediately.

He joined the paper nearly 25 years ago, first working for the Orange County edition before being promoted to the main newsroom in downtown Los Angeles, where he worked as a general assignment reporter for more than a decade.