Fall 2015 Weather Report

The hopeful, whispered rumors of an El Nino-driven wet winter grow louder as multiple rain events have swept across our parched hills. And what a memorable prelude to the winter it has been, with dramatic floods making the national news, low elevation snow keeping mountain drivers on their toes, and a thrilling flush of green in our grasslands emerging even before local holiday decorations. 

A tinge of green lightening the drab of all dormancy in Tunis Canyon. Photo courtesy of Scot Pipkin.

Whether you live locally or not, you probably heard about our brief but intense October rainstorm which sent torrents of water down adjacent steep slopes, ripping open ephemeral drainages, and cementing both Interstate 5 and Highway 58 (and hundreds of travelers) in thick mud flows up to 6 feet deep. Here at the Conservancy headquarters where our proximity to the roar of the interstate requires shouting outside our office, windows and doors were left wide open to hear… Silence. Bird song. Our quiet respite didn’t last long, and luckily nobody was hurt in the flooding, but it was a sharp reminder of the power of weather to quickly transform business as usual. 

Curiously, our eight weather stations recorded only a small blip in precipitation during that regionally significant event. We constantly marvel at the characteristically uncharacteristic patterns of precipitation on Tejon Ranch. With such variable terrain scaling over 6,000 feet elevation and at such a unique topographical nexus between the arid southern San Joaquin Valley, the wedged tail of the massive Sierra Nevada Mountains, the dynamic edge of the very active Transverse Ranges, and the western apex of the Mojave Desert, how a raindrop intercepts this landscape and where it travels is as wildly dynamic and unpredictable as our diverse systems seem to be. 

Above is a schematic illustration of the elevation of our eight weather stations, averaged across the three geographic regions of the Ranch. Below the weather station data is synthesized into three tables, organized by month.

Averaging data from our eight weather stations by geographic region (see illustration and data tables above), it is evident that most of the Ranch intercepted some rain this fall with November, not October, providing the bulk of overall precipitation. Although the singular mid-season deluge appeared significant, the almost weekly storm events throughout the month of November have succeeded in depositing almost triple the amount of precipitation in the San Joaquin Valley—so fascinating! No wonder we are already observing the fresh emergence of plants here—popcornflowers, bluedick lilies, filaree, and grasses. If the trend continues through the winter, as is hopefully projected, we shall keeping our fingers crossed for a memorable wildflower season this spring and a critical boost for our severely drought-stressed natural communities. Here’s to a long cool drink this winter and to the promise of a colorful spring!



Special thanks to Richard and Lisa Chapleau for managing the weather stations and data, and to Richard for analyzing the giant data set! You guys are the best!

Confessions of a Conservancy Docent, by Dr. Richard Chapleau

Hello, my name is Richard Chapleau and I’m a first-year volunteer with the Tejon Ranch Conservancy.  It has been an incredible year, and I’ve been honored to be a part of a group of remarkable people.

So what is it like to be a new naturalist/docent/volunteer with the Tejon Ranch Conservancy?  I’m learning to ask new questions.  I’m gaining new eyes for nature after a lifetime of teaching high school Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.  My wife and I are finishing our first year helping out the team of professional wildlife scientists who work here at the Conservancy. 

 Lisa and Richard Chapleau at the Michener weather station on Tejon Ranch.

Each docent (or in our case, a pair of docents) helps out as they can, and the Conservancy staff members work hard to find projects that align with a volunteer’s interests.  We are both retired science/math teachers, and are comfortable working with computers and analyzing data sets.  So it was a natural fit for us to take over the weather station program at the Tejon Ranch.

Other docents perform a wide variety of tasks.  For example, some volunteers help count the pronghorn (I’ve learned there are no antelope in North America), monitor burrowing owl colonies, clear out old fencing, battle invasive weeds, and lead wildflower viewing hikes. 

At 270,000 acres, the Tejon Ranch is a big, big place.  Every three weeks or so, Lisa and I are privileged to drive out to remote spots and download the data from eight weather stations.  From a low of 562 feet above sea level on the San Joaquin Valley floor to over 6100 feet at Martinez Ridge, we see a variety of environments.  We’ve recently added one more shiny brand new station at the Conservancy office in Lebec. This one hosts a live feed of weather that can be checked online: (http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KCALEBEC6#history).

 

Lisa Chapleau hard at work in the Antelope Valley.

 School teachers are no strangers to working with little money and lots of hand-me-downs.  We wrote multiple grant applications for our schools and classrooms through the years, and it’s much the same here for the folks at the Conservancy.  Although we have eight stations out there, five of them are older models that need a loving touch.  Now and then they might decide to take a few hours off, and we sometimes see “holes” in our spreadsheets when we return to do the analysis.  But we’re upgrading weather stations as funding permits.

That’s a little of what we do here, but to be honest, what I enjoy the most is the different people I meet here and listening to the stories of their conservation work.  How can you not fall in love with a pristine place, full of brilliant poppies, soaring condors, bubbling springs, and breathtaking views?

 

A stormy view down Tunis Canyon, San Joaquin Valley.

One of Lisa's beautiful Tejon-themed quilts, hanging in our office.

Dr. Richard Chapleau is a retired science teacher who lives in the Antelope Valley, neighboring Tejon Ranch. He and his wife Lisa Chapleau, a retired math teacher and quilting extraordinare, have been invaluable contributors to Conservancy programs for more than a year. Their combined efforts have involved overseeing weather station maintenance and complicated data sets, managing data for our volunteer program, assisting with tours and service projects, and sharing their skillful proclivities in creating live music, artful quilting, and homegrown delicious eggs with our office on a regular basis. We couldn't ask for more generous, talented, and kind-hearted neighbors! Truly extraordinary!

Weather Summary Update: Summer 2015; by Dr. Phoebe Prather

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 18^th-19^th 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).

 Locations of weather stations across Tejon Ranch and the amount of precipitation
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).