If we get triple our average rain, this place will come to a standstill. Hillside homeowners are scrambling to forestall mud slides by shoring up their lots with seed bags and ground cover. Ivy, rosemary, things like that. Just in case. Grape production overall is up because of a long, hot season.
Some people here are concerned about a rising public hysteria.
Not true, say the experts. Ocean life shifts Changes off the California coast already are significant. Warm-water species have replaced them. Mahi mahi have been spotted outside San Francisco Bay, one thousand miles north of their usual range. Last month, two fishermen off Westport, Wash., pulled in a 104-pound striped marlin, a species that rarely strays north of San Diego.