Here are the coldest dates on average of the year for your area

• January 12, 2024

Time to chill

We’re having some colder days, but Southern Californians know better than to complain about our climate. Today we put our mild winter weather in perspective. On average, the coldest day of the year for Southern California is behind us, except for areas with higher elevation or the low desert.

Coldest date of the year

To give you a better idea of the coldest time of year for your area, on average, climate experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information have created maps showing the coldest days of the year.

You can zoom in to find your area’s coldest date with NOAA’s interactive map here.

The maps are derived from the 1991-2020 U.S. climate normals — NOAA’s 30-year averages of climatological variables including the average low temperature for every day. From these values, scientists can identify which day of the year, on average, has the lowest minimum temperature.

In the West, the coldest day of the year usually occurs in December.

In the East, the coldest day of the year is typically later in the season, thanks to cold air from snow-covered parts of Canada dipping down.

While the map shows the coldest days of the year on average throughout the United States, this year’s coldest day may vary from the normal based on actual weather and seasonal climate patterns. For prediction of your actual local daily temperature, and to see how it matches up with the climate normals, check out your local forecast on Weather.gov.

Snowpack

This chart shows how the cumulative statewide snowpack is tracking relative to the historical average. This allows us to see how well the snowpack is doing to date, as well as how much snow may still be needed to reach the average peak snowpack around April 1.

Percentage of normal to date: 42%

Percentage of April 1 average: 19% (up from 15% Wednesday)

You can find daily updates on the snowpack here.

Notable date

On Jan. 15, 1932, almost 2 inches of snow fell in downtown L.A., the most recorded in the city on a single day.

Wind chill

Wind chill is calculated baed on air temperatures and wind speed. This chart shows temperature, wind chill calculations and frostbite times. Frostbite times reflect how quickly exposed body tissue can be damaged by cold.

Cold in Southern California is rarely dangerous. but there have been some severe weather events. In January 1913, temperatures dropped to 10-15 and ruined citrus production in the state. The freeze was the coldest in Southern California history and led to the U.S. Weather Bureau establishing the fruit frost forecast program. A freeze in the Central Valley in December 1990 lasted five days, with temperatures not rising above 25 degrees, inflicting an estimated $3.4 billion in damage on the produce industry.

Sources: NOAA, California Nevada River Forecast Center

​ Orange County Register 

Popular plant-based San Diego County restaurant opens its first Orange County location

• January 12, 2024

Jessica and Davin Waite, the husband-wife team behind The Plot, a plant-based/seafood restaurant in Carlsbad and Oceanside, have been leaders in San Diego’s food scene for over a decade. Their inventive and sustainable seafood and plant dishes have attracted a loyal following and acclaim from critics, scoring best-restaurant accolades in San Diego Magazine (Best New Restaurant of the Year in 2020) and VegNews (Best San Diego Vegan Restaurants of 2022), to name two.

Now you can find it in Orange County.

On Friday, Jan. 5, The Plot opened in Costa Mesa inside The Camp, a green and eco-friendly retail space. The Costa Mesa location will be The Waites’ first eatery outside of San Diego County.

“There’s so much stigma about what vegan food is,” said co-founder Jessica Waite, whose husband, Davin, started preparing plant-based food for her. “His food was just so good. And I didn’t have to carry my own condiments around anymore.” This helped spark the idea for The Plot, which first opened in Oceanside in 2020, then an express version in Carlsbad followed in 2023. (The Waites also own and operate Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub, Shoots Fish and Beer, and Brine Box, all of which can be found in Oceanside.)

SEE ALSO: Orange County restaurants opening in 2024 to put on your radar

While the couple have seemingly opposing culinary practices — Jessica is a vegan and a name within the sustainability movement while Davin, an omnivore, is regarded as an skillful sushi chef who honed his skills in Hokkaido, Japan — their combined creative efforts are what, in part, make The Plot a success.

“Most of our chefs either eat seafood or to some degree meat, but are excited to create bad-ass plant food,” she said.

The beet “reuben” sandwich. (Photo courtesy of The Plot)

The sustainability aspect of The Plot, which means a little- to no-waste method of preparation, results in innovative ways of making dishes. For example, their banana crème brûlée uses the pulp of the fruit to for the dessert, but the peel is used to make a plant-based carnitas for separate dish. And sweet potato skin peels, instead of being discarded after roasting, are used to make either a dashi or crisped then crumbled atop a dish.

“From stems to leaves to root, we use everything; it’s a creative way to bring in more flavors and textures,” explained Jessica.

The Plot will source from local growers like Black Sheep Farms in Tustin, The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano and the Waites’ own regenerative Plot Garden in Oceanside. The Plot will feature a plant-based lunch and dinner menu, retail items, kombucha and craft beer, biodynamic wines by the glass or bottle and even a non-alcoholic cocktail program.

The plant-forward, comfort-food dinner menu (4-9 p.m.) includes cräb cakes made with lion’s mane mushrooms, biscuits and gravy, shepherd’s pie, cheesy truffle fries and roasted yuzu yam. The brunch menu (weekends 11 a.m.-3 p.m.) features cinnamon roll that uses the house sourdough brioche, spam and kinchi bowl (made with red lentils and beet brine), chicken and waffles (organic tofu), chilaquiles, patty melt (lentils and wild rice) with fries and more.

And, yes, the entire menu is prepared without meat; The Plot’s plant-based proteins are all made in-house from scratch.

Find it: 2937 Bristol St., suite E100 in Costa Mesa.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers announce plans for ‘DodgerFest’ fan event on Feb. 3

• January 12, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Apparently the team that spent $1.2 billion on players this winter can’t give things away for free anymore.

The Dodgers announced plans Friday for their annual fan event on Feb. 3 at the stadium. Traditionally free, admission this year for DodgerFest will cost $10. Tickets went on sale Friday on the team’s website.

Parking is still free. Gates will open at 10 a.m. and the event is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

As usual, the event will feature interviews and autograph-signing availability with current and past players. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani is among those expected to participate along with first baseman Freddie Freeman, second baseman/outfielder Mookie Betts and others.

There will also be live entertainment and activities for fans to enjoy. Stadium concessions and team stores will be open in the outfield areas.

For more details, visit www.Dodgers.com/dodgerfest.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kings look to shake worst slump in nearly 5 years

• January 12, 2024

The Kings haven’t had much horsepower or torque during their seven-game winless slump, their longest in almost five years, but their engines might be better tuned Saturday in the Motor City, where they’ll face the Detroit Red Wings.

Once the NHL’s most potent offense, the Kings have squeezed out just 14 goals in their seven losses.

Their scoring futility has been remarkably consistent, with just two three-goal efforts during the funk. One came in a defeat by these same Red Wings. The other was a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals that went awry in the dying gasps of regulation, much as their 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers did Thursday. In that affair, they had their hearts torn out by Sam Reinhart’s power-play goal with less than a full second to play in overtime.

In five of their past six losses, they’ve retroceded at least one lead, including stumbles that came twice in overtime and twice more in a shootout. They were shut out in the sixth defeat, and their inability to find the back of the net has persisted across situations.

“We’re not scoring goals easily right now, whether it’s five-on-five, four-on-four, three-on-three or in the shootout. So, those have to come eventually,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

Team captain Anze Kopitar’s outlook was similar, hopeful while maintaining a realistic view of a tailspin that has already helped the Edmonton Oilers narrow a 13-point gap behind the Kings to just three.

“Right now, it feels like we’ve got to play a perfect game. Good or pretty good is not good enough right now, so it’ll take a team effort to get out of it,” Kopitar said. “We’re getting better, we’re not as sloppy, we’re playing faster, we’re playing more physical, winning more battles, but we’ve got to find another gear to get out of this.”

While they may not have come up with the perfect game just yet, the Kings have enjoyed almost perfect health, losing very few man games to injury and maintaining lineup continuity, even through their current slog.

There was fright when Phillip Danault exited the match in the first period Thursday but he was able to return and finish the game, albeit while “banged up,” he said. Pierre-Luc Dubois, who dinged the iron with a potential game-winner for a second consecutive game Thursday, surmounted a scare earlier this season when it was his leg rather than the puck that banged hard into a goalpost. He was out for only the remainder of that same match Nov. 16. Vladislav Gavrikov endured a stint on injured reserve, but returned in relatively short order. He missed five games and Blake Lizotte missed six, while Arthur Kaliyev was absent once due to illness (he missed two other games while suspended and was scratched for another).

Otherwise, the Kings’ scratches have been healthy ones, apart from winger Viktor Arvidsson, who has yet to play this season after undergoing back surgery. Even with Arvidsson’s 38 games off the ice, the Kings were the seventh least-injured team in the NHL, and if one were to exclude Arvidsson’s man games lost, the Kings would have the second-fewest man games lost in the league behind St. Louis, per NHL Injury Viz.

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By contrast, Detroit has had just six players play in all their games and sits closer to the NHL median in man games lost. Among those who have dressed in every game for Detroit are leading scorer Alex DeBrincat and workhorse defenseman Moritz Seider, their top minute muncher.

Though he wasn’t healthy to start the campaign after undergoing a hip resurfacing procedure, former Chicago Blackhawks dynamo Patrick Kane signed with Detroit during this season and has laced up in all 17 games since his Dec. 7 debut. He has posted 14 points, including an assist against the Kings in a 4-3 win on Jan. 4 in which he nailed their coffin shut with a shootout-clinching goal.

KINGS AT DETROIT

When: Saturday, 4 p.m. PT

Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

How to watch: Bally Sports West

​ Orange County Register 

How Abraham Lincoln and David Gilmour’s guitar collided at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall

• January 12, 2024

Rows of glass display cases filled the Shrine Expo Hall, holding priceless relics of rock and roll, pop culture, and American history.

Guitars, drums and a piano played by the Beatles during legendary performances. A handwritten letter from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson.

The 1969 Fender Mustang guitar that Kurt Cobain played in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video. The original manuscript of Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road.”

All of these and more on display for a single day Thursday, Jan. 11, highlights of the collection of Jim Irsay, owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, and a passionate collector of music memorabilia and American pop culture and historical artifacts.

But the one piece missing speaks to the uniqueness of how Irsay views his collection and how it should be used. Inside the display for David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, a placard on the wall showed where his famous Black Strat, purchased in 1970 and used by Gilmour for decades until Irsay purchased it at auction for nearly $4 million in 2019. At the time, it was the most-ever paid for a guitar.

A few hours later, it reappeared on stage inside the Shrine Auditorium, where the all-star band Irsay puts together when his collection travels to a few cities each year, was thrilling a full house of fans who’d come to see legends both on display inside the cases and live in concert.

“One of the great things about Jim and his collection, you can buy something like the Mona Lisa and all you can do is hang it on the wall and look at it,” said blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who served as the bandleader for the night. “But with these instruments, you can take ’em down and still make art with them.”

Shepherd and the band then played Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar,” with actor-musician Danny Nucci singing, and “Comfortably Numb,” with R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Tom Bukavic sharing vocals, though the real star of both was the Black Strat and the liquid notes Shepherd teased from its strings in his soaring solos.

Irsay, who normally plays with the band, and Stephen Stills, who was booked as a guest star, both bowed out due to illness. But Irsay and the band, which included star session drummer Kenny Aronoff and a handful of guys from John Mellencamp’s band, had plenty of power on its own and with other guests.

Wayne opened the show singing a few of his songs before blues legend Buddy Guy strolled on stage, dapper in dressy overalls and a white shirt with black polka dots and French cuffs, singing and playing three songs including “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues.”

After Mills sang R.E.M.’s (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville” and “Superman,” Ann Wilson of Heart came to deliver powerful versions of the Who’s “Love Reign o’er Me” and her own band’s “Barracuda.”

The rest of the night moved swiftly through Kevin Cronin doing lively takes of REO Speedwagon numbers such as “Take It On the Run” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” then Peter Wolf of J. Geils Band doing the ’80s MTV hits including “Centerfield” and “Love Stinks.”

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top then wrapped up the show with three bluesy rockers including “Sharp Dressed Man” and “La Grange.”

The exhibition included many more fascinating artifacts than those mentioned above.

The American history cases included more letters from Washington, including one actually penned by his aide Alexander Hamilton, and Jefferson. Items related to Abraham Lincoln included a pair of tickets and a pocketknife given to him by a Philadelphia organization, which had its case made from wood from the original support for the Liberty Bell, and also a pair of tickets to Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. on the night Lincoln was assassinated.

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Kerouac’s manuscript for “On The Road” was famously written on a 120-foot-long roll of paper, a little more than 30 feet of which was unfurled inside a long, narrow case. A first-edition copy of Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums,” which had belonged to the writer Hunter S. Thompson sat inside a case next to an inscribed original edition of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.”

Music displays included a piano used on tour for 20 years by Elton John, the handwritten journal Jim Morrison of the Doors kept in Paris, shortly before his death, and the red cape worn on stage by James Brown.

Parked outside the Shrine, as fans streamed back to their cars, they passed one more significant piece of the collection, the Great Red Shark Chevy convertible once owned by Hunter S. Thompson, shining brightly in the street lights.

​ Orange County Register 

Rams’ offense preparing for raucous Lions fans

• January 12, 2024

THOUSAND OAKS — Sometimes, generational events mean that you don’t know what to expect when they occur. Other times, though, it’s easy to predict. And you can count Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game between the Rams and the Detroit Lions among the latter category.

The Lions will host their first home playoff game in 30 years. And there’s no question how Detroit’s success-starved fans will respond when it arrives Sunday night at Ford Field.

“I’ve played in a lot of loud venues throughout my career,” said Rams quarterback and former Lion Matthew Stafford, “but I’m sure this one will be up there.”

The Rams have spent the week at practice blaring music from their speakers in some attempt to mimic the noise they expect at Ford Field, a domed stadium that will only magnify the roar of the roughly 65,000 fans expected at the game.

“You can’t even hear yourself think, really,” running back Kyren Williams said of the practice atmosphere this week. “It might be kind of overboard, but I’d rather be overboard than not enough.”

Under the not-so-dulcet tones of Eminem, Busta Rhymes and M.O.P., the Rams have worked on silent counts at the line of scrimmage and different forms of communication inside and out of the huddle.

Veterans like right tackle Rob Havenstein are coaching up teammates making their playoff debuts on how to stand in the huddle: Turn sideways so an ear is pointed at Stafford as he makes a play call.

If you still don’t hear it, then grab a teammate and ask as you head to the line of scrimmage.

The same goes for checks and protection assignments at the line of scrimmage.

“Just really echoing things down,” Havenstein said. “You almost gotta play a game of telephone now and then.”

The Rams may have to resort to other methods of communication, too, from reading lips to non-verbal gestures to get their messages across.

As they try to get on the same page, all eyes will be on Stafford. But given the challenges of calling out an audible at the line of scrimmage, there will be an onus on players to take stock of the defense to predict what changes the quarterback might make before the snap.

“So then when we are getting an audible or something from him, we can anticipate what that is,” receiver Cooper Kupp said, “even if we aren’t able to hear it exactly but we’re able to kind of make out the ideas behind what we’re trying to get done and then communicating with each other. In our offense, there’s usually someone saying right next to you and we’ll be able to talk to each other and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Head coach Sean McVay expects Sunday’s atmosphere to be similar to the NFC championship game following the 2018 season, in which the Rams went to New Orleans and beat the Saints in the Superdome. It was that experience that taught McVay to allow players to take the lead as they determine the best methods of communication on the field.

“I think it’s just learning in terms of how important the communication is and having a good, streamlined process where the players have ownership,” McVay said. “Ultimately, Matthew, as soon as something’s coming in through the headset, then he knows exactly what it is and how efficient can we be with the overall communication and how decisive can we be as coaches and myself with some of the decisions where 40 seconds or 25 seconds out of those quarter changes or clock stoppages? That’s going to be super important for us.”

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Injury report

Rams safety Jordan Fuller (ankle) did not participate in practice Friday and will be questionable for Sunday’s game. McVay said the Rams will continue to give him the opportunity to play against the Lions if he progresses enough to be ready to go.

“He is a guy that because of his experience, because of his ownership, you want to give him all the time that he needs,” McVay said.

Whether or not Fuller plays, the Rams’ game plan will stay the same as players like Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake stand in the wings ready to fill in.

Offensive lineman Joe Noteboom (foot), linebacker Troy Reeder (knee), tight end Tyler Higbee (shoulder) and offensive lineman Kevin Dotson (shoulder) are all listed as questionable for the game, too, but McVay said he expects Dotson and Higbee to be ready to play.

​ Orange County Register 

Alabama is close to hiring Kalen DeBoer from Washington to replace Nick Saban, AP source says

• January 12, 2024

Alabama is negotiating with Washington coach Kalen DeBoer and is close to hiring him as the replacement for Nick Saban, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said Friday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a deal was not completed yet. The talks were first reported by ESPN.

DeBoer, 49, is a former NAIA coach who led Washington to the national championship game in just his second season.

DeBoer would replace Saban, who announced his retirement Wednesday after leading the Crimson Tide to six national championships in 17 seasons.

DeBoer signed an extension after going 11-2 in 2022, raising his salary to $4.2 million with incremental increases to $4.8 million in the last year of the contract in 2028. It also included an increased buyout of $12 million if DeBoer left for a new job.

Washington offered a seven-year deal worth an average of $9.4 million annually to keep DeBoer, the person with knowledge of the situation said.

Athletic director Troy Dannen has said he first approached the coach about a new contract in October, soon after leaving Tulane for the Washington job.

DeBoer hired high-powered agent Jimmy Sexton, who also represents Saban, last year. Saban received an eight-year deal in 2022 worth at least $93.6 million, including some $11.1 million this year.

DeBoer had a scheduled in-studio appearance with KJR-FM — Washington’s flagship station — scheduled for Friday morning. The station announced about two hours prior to the appearance that DeBoer would not be coming on the air.

The fast-rising DeBoer led the Huskies to a 14-1 record that included a Pac-12 championship before losing to No. 1 Michigan 34-13 in the national title game. He was named The Associated Press coach of the year.

DeBoer led the Huskies to a 25-3 record in two seasons after taking over a program that was 4-8 in 2021.

DeBoer led his alma mater Sioux Falls to a 67-3 record from 2005-09 and won three NAIA championships at the small, Baptist-affiliated school in South Dakota’s largest city. He later had immediate success at Fresno State, going 12-6 in two seasons from 2020-21.

At Alabama, he would replace a coach who won a major college record seven national titles, including one at LSU. The Crimson Tide have been in national title contention just about every season since winning their first in 17 seasons back in 2009, Saban’s third year.

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Alabama’s short-term expectations won’t change with a team led by quarterback Jalen Milroe and a roster fortified by a string of highly rated recruiting classes.

DeBoer coached Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Penix Jr. last season and brings an offensive track record to replace Saban, a former NFL defensive coordinator. He was Fresno State’s offensive coordinator in the 2017 and 2018 seasons and held the same job at Indiana for a year before replacing Jeff Tedford.

DeBoer was an All-America receiver at Sioux Falls who helped the Cougars win their first national championship in 1996. He then stayed on as receivers coach, returning in 2000 as offensive coordinator after a stint as a high school coach in Sioux Falls.

​ Orange County Register 

California’s 7-year housing push has yet to boost building, experts say

• January 12, 2024

Despite passage of at least 140 housing bills, California has made little progress in solving its 2.5-million-home shortfall, a panel of experts told Realtors last week.

California’s municipalities issue fewer than 120,000 new home permits each year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. But economists estimate the state needs to build 180,000 to 300,000 homes a year.

“Even with all the legislation, we’re not really getting up to snuff,” said Robert Kleinhenz, director of the Office of Economic Research at California State University, Long Beach. “There’s a lot of room for improvement.”

See also: See what’s behind California’s push to adopt more housing laws

Kleinhenz’ comment came during the Center for California Real Estate’s first event since the pandemic, held Wednesday, Jan. 10, in West Hollywood. The group serves as the California Association of Realtors’ think tank, tackling public policy issues affecting the real estate industry.

Frustrated by a lack of homes for sale and the lowest number of transactions in four decades, CAR members expressed concern about boosting the state’s housing supply.

Estimates for California’s housing shortfall range from nearly 1 million to 2.5 million units. Citing the state’s 2.5 million unit figure, CAR Chief Executive John Sebree asked, “How did we get there, first of all, and what are we doing about it? How we can increase supply?”

The panel of experts had few answers.

California “is still in a multi-decade period of woefully building fewer homes than we should,” said former state Housing and Community Development Director Ben Metcalf, now managing director of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

“The state of California has put out something like 140 distinct pieces of legislation (aimed at) doing something on housing affordability since about 2016 or 17,” he said. “(But) we haven’t seen much benefit from any of that yet, unfortunately, in the permitting numbers.

See also: A detailed look at 12 new laws to boost affordable home construction

Metcalf said there are “a whole host of reasons” why it’s difficult to build new housing in California. Among them: environmental regulations, building codes, high builder “impact fees,” the cost of land, rising labor and construction costs and high interest rates for construction loans.

Related links

California’s housing crisis both wide and deep
Californians: Here’s why your housing costs are so high
California housing shortage triggers cycle of despair
5 things learned covering California’s housing crisis
To keep up with demand, Orange County needs 7,000 new homes per year, state says

In addition, there’s local resistance to new housing, in part because Proposition 13 limits property taxes that housing generates.

“It boils down to the cities that have to approve new housing. And many policies have been passed at the state level to try to get the cities off the mark,” said Kleinhenz, a former CAR economist.

But, he said, “cities don’t necessarily want to build more housing. From a city perspective, housing doesn’t pay because the cost of services isn’t covered by the amount of tax revenue generated from a new household. So, that’s one impediment. Then you’ve got the residents that the city council and planning commissioners and the mayor are representing. They don’t want to have their little corner of the world changed.”

The lack of housing has fueled bidding wars for listings for most of the past dozen years, causing the California house price to triple. At the same time, 2023 was tied for having the sixth-lowest for-sale inventory on record.

See also: Real estate agents, industry providers grapple with slowest market in 35 years

Home sales last year were more than a third below the statewide average.

“I just wonder where we’re going to get the 30% increase in inventory to get the 30% increase in sales? That’s my biggest concern,” said Selma Hepp, CoreLogic chief economist. “California has the most inventory-constrained market in years. People don’t want to move. We don’t have an increase in new construction. But on the flip side, we do have pent-up demand. If we had more inventory, we would have much more … sales.”

California’s homebuilding shortfall

A state housing plan determined in 2022 that California needs to build 180,000 new homes annually to close a shortfall of 2.5 million units by the end of the decade.

However, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis show the state hasn’t built that many homes since 2005. The number of new home building permits has averaged just over 103,000 per year for the past decade.

California’s municipalities have issued just under 555,000 since Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in January 2019, up from 509,000 permits during the five years preceding Newsom’s tenure.

Here’s a breakdown of new home permits for the past decade:

2014: 82,603
2015: 97,611
2016: 100,629
2017: 111,788
2018: 116,411
2019: 109,904
2020: 104,554
2021: 119,558
2022: 113,094
Jan-Oct, 2023: 107,791

​ Orange County Register