Don Shor, who owns Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis and has a 13-acre farm in Dixon, has tracked local weather for more than 40 years. Today on Davisville we talk about this year’s extraordinarily strong El Niño and how to get ready for the big rains it might bring to the Davis area this winter.
“I actually dug a 600-foot bioswale [on my farm] a couple years ago. I don’t think you have to do that,” he says, but you should identify where water is likely to flow when waves of rain saturate the ground where you live.
The conversation mentions a few useful weather resources including the Weather West blog by climate researcher Daniel Swain, "Ten things to do right now to prepare for predicted severe El Niño impact” from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources -- No. 1 is to "get the facts and share them" -- and the searchable MyHazards 2.0 map from the state Office of Emergency Services that shows general flood risks.
Don hosts the Davis Garden Show with Lois Richter, where he often talks about the weather, and Jazz After Dark, both on KDRT-LP 95.7 FM.
The North Davis pond, normally dry in autumn, was swollen with storm runoff on Dec. 23, 2021, the date of this photo. In the prior 10 days, Davis had received at least 7 inches of rain, or about twice as much as the city usually receives in all of December.
