Severe Storm Warning 3

Posted on January 7, 2003 in Weather

High above the curved roof tiles, I can hear the rumble of the wind. It almost sounds like it has lifted itself over the hilltop. Then, like a whale breaching and landing on a reef, it hits the asphalt with a thump and rattles the windows.

The Weather Channel was down when I checked before, giving as its temperature reading our afternoon high of 73 degrees. I checked just now and it said that the temperature was 70 degrees. Over the temperature hangs the ominous emblem:

And I rush to sniff the air. All I can smell in the room is the soapy scent of the air freshener. Outside, the wind bears no odor and the mountain stands black against the sky. I notice the words “Reported at Chino”, which is well over the hill, at the foot of the page.

Our zip code sprawls over many acres. Though the population lives on the seaward side, The Weather Channel reports conditions in the Santa Ana River Canyon. The report for the City of Lake Forest says that local conditions are “fair”. If a firedrake slithers over the landscape, it must be consuming the other side of the mountain or the yellow grass of the Chino Hills. It will be a wise thing, today, to watch the ridgeline, check the news, and listen for the blast of the fire engine speakers telling us to grab what we love and leave our homes.

I am sanguine but cautious.