The city downgraded to a Green Flag alert level yesterday afternoon. There is another storm that will be moving through tonight with a 70% chance of showers, and scattered showers tomorrow. Those in the slide potential areas to stay alert during this unsettled weather.
Now that all the k-rails are in place and many of the canyon residents have done individual mud mitigation efforts on their property, and the Conservation Corp is removing debris from the hillside, it seems that we might be ready for the rainy season.
Just a note on parking clarification during a yellow or red flag alert:
During a Yellow or Red Flag Mud Alert Day, it is unlawful to park any vehicle on the following streets: Mount Wilson Trail; Churchill Road; Skyland Drive; Fern Glen; Fern Drive; Idle Hour; Canyon Crest Drive; Orange Drive; Woodland Drive; Brookside Lane; Sunnyside Lane; Yucca Trail; Holly Trail; Sturvevant; and Elm. Affected residents may park their vehicles on other streets throughout the City. There is no need to call-in vehicles to the Police Dispatcher for overnight parking during the activiation of a Yellow or Red Flag Alerts. Overnight parking restrictions are not enforced during Yellow or Red Alerts.
So if you have extra parking and want to be a good citizen, you might let your neighbor with street only parking use a space during these periods.
I am still puzzled by the upgrade versus downgrade thing. If something is good, like a Green Flag alert, shouldn’t that be called an upgrade? When conditions deteriorate we say that that things are going down. And when things improve we say that things are getting better.
So why when the weather improves do we call the resulting alert a downgrade?
I think it’s because when you look at the charts that they use for the alert systems, green is on the bottom, yellow is in the middle, red is on the top, kind of like the traffic lights. As you move from one level up to the next, you are upgrading. As you move down from one level to the next, you are downgrading. Same with fire alerts, same with terrorism alerts. Don’t know if I’m right or wrong, but that’s my reasoning.