Just like last year, the above-average rains this fall seem to point to a wet winter despite the La Niña conditions in the equatorial and eastern Pacific.

It’s no wonder people along the Central Coast are interested in rainfall totals these days.

Last Saturday I had the honor to attend the Marine Birthday Ball, celebrating the 236-year anniversary of the Marine Corps, at the Atascadero Lake Pavilion.

The butterfly effect refers to the unpredictable consequences of small changes — the idea of a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world, causing a large storm to occur some time later in another area of the globe. In much the same way, the ever-increasing amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas that is put into the atmosphere could have consequences we cannot predict. Possibly one tragic example is the Western monarch butterfly that winters along the beaches of the Central Coast. In 1990, nearly a quarter of a million of these orange-and-black-winged creatures could be found at Pismo State Beach in December. This year only about 25,000 monarchs are expected, according to Tim Storton, a local monarch butterfly expert.

If you do nothing but hang out by the ocean, you might think temperatures never change much in San Luis Obispo County.

It was windy, hot and dry on Oct. 20, 1991 at Alameda Naval Air Station near Oakland. We kept the cargo door open for the entire duration of our flight in our Navy H-3 Sea King helicopter as we practiced hovering near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Weather affects all forms of agriculture, from the raising of animals to the growing of crops.

Near the end of a long cross-country flight, you discover that the marine layer has rolled in from the Pacific and covers the San Luis Obispo County Airport. As you make your final approach and descend into a soup of gray mist, an air of anxiety often fills the cockpit before you break through the cloud ceiling near the runway.

More than 1,200 fourth- grade children throughout San Luis Obispo County will have the opportunity to attend the San Luis Obispo Farm Bureau’s Great Ag Adventure at the Paso Robles Event Center on Wednesday, during National 4-H Week.

Long-range weather predictions are notoriously inaccurate. Most weather models will give you predictions out no more than 10 days. However, what if you want guidance for months out?