Re-entering the Valley's atmosphere
I just spent a week on the Central Coast in the Capitola area, dodging those 104-degree Valley temperatures. It's a nice change of pace to wake up at the coast to morning fog and then have it burn off by noon. And talk about good timing. It's only supposed to be 88 in Fresno today.
There must have been a lot of Valley folks at the coast Sunday because the drive home on Highway 152 was crowded with cars sporting Valley license plate frames.
The one thing that always strikes me in the summer is coming down the hill on 152 near the San Luis Reservoir and hitting that spot where you meet the Valley heat. I have written about this before. I call it returning to the Valley's atmosphere, much like the Space Shuttle returns to the Earth's atmosphere with heat shields flying off its sides. I picture heat shields flying off my car when I hit the Valley heat at that spot just west of Los Banos.
It was 76 degrees and then within a few miles it was already 92 degrees. As I got closer to Fresno the temperatures continued to climb. Welcome to the Valley.
By the way, I was stunned by how little water there was in the San Luis Reservoir. It was another reminder that we need to solve our water problems to meet the needs of a growing population, agriculture and the environment.