The  most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County history  remains today totally uncontrolled.  Five have been killed, at least 1000 structures destroyed, with another 13,000 buildings being threatened. Being fought by 110 fire engines and over a thousand firemen. More than 16,000 acres burned just in the Pacific Palisades area, approaching  20,000 acres when you add the other three sites . There were periods of my life when I lived in Oxnard, which is about 44 miles to this wildfire, and is also under warning.  I don't ever in those days remember anything like this.  Global warming? The city of Los Angeles is only about 20 miles from Pacific Palisades. This area is memorialized by the Beach Boys 1960s hit,  Surfin' USA . Wind gusts of 100 MPH.  A hurricane is 75 MPH. Fire hydrants are using more than four times the normal. Of course,  Donald Trump blamed Governor Gavin Newsom. Air quality in the Los Angeles area is at a hazardous level, w...

About that title today,  Look! Up in the sky!  What is it?   Nope, not Superman.  I'll start with our sun.  A massive  geomagnetic solar storm  was supposed hit Planet Earth on April 14.    So what happened ? A G2 (Moderate) geomagnetic storm began at 12:45 pm EDT (1645 UTC) on 14 April, 2022. G1 (Minor) storm levels first occurred earlier, at 7:59 am EDT (1159 UTC). This activity is associated with the anticipated arrival of an 11 April coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME arrived at the NOAA DSCOVR spacecraft, about 1 million miles from Earth, early on 14 April. While an interplanetary shock ahead of the CME was not clearly observed, total interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength gradually intensified to 20 nT and the Bz component (magnetic field orientation) turned into a prolonged, pronounced southward direction. Enhanced solar wind conditions continue to show the potential for elevated geomagnetic responses to the G1-G2 levels and Wa...