Things to do in Northern California?

[ultrarunner]

Vapor Recovery to capture fumes when dispensing gasoline.

With newer vehicles no issue but for some older cars and gas cans it's just another obstacle to overcome as sticking the nozzle in a gallon gas can prevents flow into the can... so with one hand it is necessary to pull back to fill

 

[Sigarms]

Gas nozzle: vapor recovery. As your tank fills and pushes air out, that air and gasoline vapor is sucked back to the gas pump instead of vented to the air. Another Clean Air measure.

Intended to mitigate this: The dome in the middle left is the State Capitol building in Sacramento as seen from 30 miles up US50 on a hot summer afternoon (Photo 2011).

So the California "nozzle" is designed to stop the gasoline vapor from being pushed out of the car tank into the environment?

I know nothing about gas pumps (other than I use to work at a Exxon as a teen and pumped gas), but how much does it cost to replace the standard nozzel per the nozzle from Nevada for the gas station or oil company?

I'm scratching my head because Charlotte has about 300k more people than Sacramento, and I can't remember it being that hazy driving to Charlotte for work on I-77. What creates the "haze" in Sacramento vs Charlotte?

 

[Sigarms]

A lot of street people around and know a few as regulars

I’ve asked why California and like many it’s the mild climate with months of little to no rain…

One vet from
Michigan and another from Minnesota said winters are brutal…

That does make sense.

The question becomes how does a homeless person with no money actually travel to California? (if paid for by another state to ship the people out, in today's litigious society, I'd most likely sue the state shipping people in).

This is a DUMB question, but exactly how cold does it get it San Franciso and Sacramento in the winter months?

We noticed at night in August on our trip, much more cooler at night in Sacramento vs Fresno.

 

[California]

What creates the "haze" in Sacramento vs Charlotte?

That's the exhaust smog that the California rules (that annoy everyone) are intended to reduce, because breathing that crud is known to reduce life expectancy.

As fewer old cars are on the road now, the smog in that 2011 photo is less common. But the view from that location, coming down from Tahoe to the outskirts of Sacramento, still looks alarming when you think you will soon be breathing it, there and anywhere in the Central Valley where the smog is trapped until the weather changes.

I recall stepping out of the plane in Los Angeles and every breath burned, the same as if you use bleach to clean your shower without adequate ventilation. Kids weren't allowed outdoors for recess on bad air days. You wondered how anyone could live like that.

Trapping the gasoline vapor instead of venting it to the air is one of many measures that has made breathing easier.

 

[California]

... how cold does it get it San Francisco and Sacramento in the winter months?

We noticed at night in August on our trip, much more cooler at night in Sacramento vs Fresno.

Neither get very cold. Expect frost that kills plants, and a slight trace of snow, a few times a decade. The Sacramento area gets enough snow to make the streets slippery maybe every 20 years, melted and gone the same day.

Yes the cool evenings within 100 miles of SF Bay are the ocean fog and cool air sucked in through the Golden Gate after the Valley's hot afternoons.

 

[ericm979]

The smog sits in the central valley because the prevailing winds are from the west and there's high mountains to the east. The same problem is true of the SF and LA areas, only the mountain ranges are different. There being a lot of people in SF, LA and the central valley does not help. Also the central valley has a lot of ag, which generates its own kinds of pollution. For example it gets pretty bad around Sacramento when they're burning the rice fields.

The vapor recovery nozzles are a pain for motorcycle gas tanks and when filling cans but you figure it out after a while. I often can smell the gas fumes when I'm filling one of those and the nozzle is not sealed up against the tank or can, or when using a non vapor recovery nozzle on a car. It's not a huge amount of fuel vapor but multiply by all the millions of cars in CA and it makes a difference.

While I don't agree with all of the CARB regulations (and can go on at length about the problematic ones) there's no question that the air is a lot cleaner now than it was 30 or 40 years ago, even with more people and cars.

Most homeless people stay where they were living when they became homeless because they have family or work there. California has a lot of homeless people because it's really expensive to live here, even in the cheaper places. A lot of them are quietly living in their cars or couch surfing. Of course the homeless with jobs are not the people you see panhandling out on the street, that's just a fraction.

 

[ultrarunner]

2023 study says most are people who lived in California before losing housing at least one month but many are not native California.

171,000 daily homeless in California while CA had 12% of population it hosts 30% of nations homeless and 50% of nations unsheltered.

2/3 report mental health problems and 1/3 use drugs regularly.

Source UCSF Benioff Homelessness Housing Initiative.

Typical SF weather rarely gets out of the 55-65 degree range summer or winter.

Nighttime lows of 40 or less typically happen only 4 times annually… Freezing temps not at all normal for SF

 

[ultrarunner]

The issues are many… those with threatening mental issues generally cycle through pickup and release.

Others tend to camp but trash builds up even when disposal is available…

Sorry to say but a nice clean spot transforms into a garbage dump is often the norm.

Larger camps have a pecking system which often makes newcomers and weak beholding…

Disease is also much more prevalent from lifestyle/living conditions.

The odd thing is pick just about any spot back far enough and squatters were not a factor…

 

[California]

It may seem strange: California has never had a majority of people born here ever since it was part of Mexico.

 

[ultrarunner]

In Kindergarten my class was all California born and by 5th grade better than a third not California born…

Dad was involved with PTA and had lots of demographics…