 |
| Large woody debris flow on El Paso Canyon road (photo by Jesse Lewis). |
California is burning up all around us, but so far
Tejon has been fortunate to avoid the tragic fires burning across the west. The summer has proved to be very dry out here
on Tejon but the weekend of July 18th-19th the sky
darkened and erupted in thunder, lightning and torrential downpours. The rugged terrain of the Tehachapi’s
captured the rainfall, funneling it down the steep and narrow canyons draining
into the San Joaquin Valley. As the water
grew in volume and force it took out roads, trees, fences, entire hillsides and
anything else in its path. El Paso
Canyon and Tunis Canyon suffered the worst damage. Walls of water left trees coated in mud 6 to
8 feet off of the ground. The force and
evidence of the event was mind blowing.
 |
| Washout on El Paso Canyon Road (photo by Jesse Lewis). |
On the Ranch, the Conservancy monitors eight weather
stations spread out across the 270,000 acres that make up the Ranch. From our
lowest elevation sites in the San Joaquin Valley (500 feet), up to our highest
elevation in the Tehachapi Mountains (6800 feet), and over to our high desert
grass and shrublands of the Antelope Valley in the extreme western Mojave
Desert (3000 feet), there’s an extraordinary diversity of elevation and
aspect. For this season’s weather
summary we are looking at the months of May, June and July. I have included a map that shows the locations of the weather stations and the amount of precipitation that fell at each station during the two day storm in July.
 |
Scoured out creek bottom (photo by Jesse Lewis). each station recorded during the July 18-19 storm. |
White Wolf
San Joaquin Valley, elevation 2,250 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
63.4
|
90.5
|
42.6
|
0.61
|
June
|
70.3
|
89.0
|
54.2
|
0.0
|
July
|
79.3
|
106.0
|
57.2
|
0.43
|
Comanche Point
San Joaquin Valley, elevation 575 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
68.6
|
98
|
47
|
0.73
|
June
|
82.4
|
106.5
|
50.7
|
0.01
|
July
|
82.8
|
106
|
61.2
|
0.72
|
Tejon Conservancy Office
Tejon Pass on the Grapevine of the I-5, elevation
3,527 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
57.6
|
91.3
|
35.7
|
0.48
|
June
|
71.9
|
100.8
|
39.0
|
0.11
|
July
|
71.3
|
98.5
|
49.4
|
1.43
|
Michener
Ridgeline of mountains north of Gorman, elevation 4,710
feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
57.1
|
87.4
|
36.9
|
0.5
|
June
|
70
|
90.4
|
45.9
|
0.11
|
July
|
71.8
|
93.7
|
51.7
|
2.66
|
Martinez Ridge
Backbone mountain ridge of Tejon Ranch, elevation
6,130 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
48.1
|
78.1
|
27.2
|
0.88
|
June
|
64.4
|
87.0
|
41.9
|
0.10
|
July
|
63.6
|
84.3
|
44.6
|
1.78
|
Los Alamos
Western Antelope Valley, elevation 3,350feet.
Average
temperature (°F)
|
Maximum
temperature (°F)
|
Minimum
temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation
(inches)
|
|
May
|
59.9
|
91.0
|
38.0
|
0.68
|
June
|
75.7
|
98.7
|
50.0
|
0.08
|
July
|
74.5
|
99.0
|
55.0
|
1.91
|
Antelope Canyon
Antelope Valley, elevation 3,630 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
60.9
|
92
|
38
|
0.36
|
June
|
77.4
|
98
|
47
|
0.34
|
July
|
75.4
|
99
|
55
|
1.47
|
Little Oak
Eastern Antelope Valley, elevation 4,320 feet.
Average temperature (°F)
|
Maximum temperature (°F)
|
Minimum temperature (°F)
|
Precipitation (inches)
|
|
May
|
58.3
|
88.0
|
34.0
|
0.61
|
June
|
74.7
|
95.6
|
52.2
|
0.03
|
July
|
73.2
|
92.9
|
54.2
|
1.11
|
 | |
| This wildlife camera survived. Other cameras were not so lucky and have yet to be found (photo by Jesse Lewis). |
 |
| Landslide on El Paso Canyon road (photo by Jesse Lewis). |
