...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM PST WEDNESDAY SIERRA NEVADA ABOVE 7000 FEET...
* WHAT...Heavy snow Sierra Nevada above 7000 feet. Additional snow accumulations between 1 and 5 feet. Higher elevation could see up to 7 feet of snow. Winds gusting as high as 50 mph.
6 day forecast shows Sierra precipitation
“Weak AR” for Central California Over the next week, the vigorous storms that hit Northern California in the past few days will ebb .An impressive AR led to Tahoe getting a nice blanket of snow with Sierra Snow Lab reporting nearly 3 feet in the past 7 days.
But now the Southern Sierra should get its turn with a round of precipitation including rain and snow. That includes up to 7 inches in the Sequoia National Park area.
NWS LA says “the next rain event will take on the features of a weak atmospheric river, with zonal flow aloft allowing for a stream of moisture transport.”
NWS Hanford posts “A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for the Sierra Nevada above 6,500 feet through 4 PM Tuesday. Accumulations of 10 to 24 inches are possible with up to 4 feet at the higher elevations. Wind gusts could reach up to 50 miles per hour. The probability of receiving 24 inches of snow by 10 PM Saturday is 55% for Tuolumne Meadows and 55% for Tioga Pass.”
On Saturday ski resort China Peak posted “As of 8:30 AM 4-6″ of wet snow. We’ll see the snow level move around for the next 48 hours, sometimes all snow, sometimes a combination of rain and snow, with the storm intensifying over the weekend, could be a fair amount of snow by the time we hit next week. We’ll update throughout the weekend with snowfall totals and look forward to opening on Friday, November 29.”
Here’s what Open Snow predicts for China Peak…just short of five feet
For skiers- Mammoth Mountain is already open posting a Dump Alert: 12-14″ of new snow last night.
The latest GSF forecast shows the AR streaming into Central California this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Shasta Reservoir could get 15 inches of precip over the next week. On average they get about 60 inches in a year. If you live in nearby Redding California, you will live under an umbrella. Central California coast will get its first good rain.
Sierra Snowlab near Tahoe says “Big model predictions of #snow over the next 10 days, ranging from 3.5 to 7 feet. There’s uncertainty with the first part of the storm (tomorrow noon to Thurs night) regarding rain vs snow at the lab.
We’re expecting 10-20″ of snowfall by Friday am with more coming later Fri.”
Five day models suggest more than 4 feet of snow at Tahoe resorts
Not all of California is going to get this wet between now and the end of Thanksgiving. But Redding California- right next to California’s largest reservoir(Shasta)- could see almost 9 inches of rain over that time according to one forecast.
NWS Sacramento is predicting it to start today, November 17 with snow expected in both Shasta and Lassen national park mountains.
Here is what UCLA scientist Daniel Swain writes in the past day:
Signs of some “big time” weather for TBD portions of U.S. West coast over next 10 days. A major AtmosphericRiver, & perhaps a short sequence of very wet ARs, will affect some section of coast between NorCal & WA–perhaps bringing very heavy rain accumulations. #CAwx #ORwx [1/6]
Advanced manufacturing facility expansion and enhancements will boost annual feta production capacity, adding 20 full-time local jobs TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 29, 2024) – Lactalis USA announces a major investment in its Tulare, California facility that will allow it to significantly increase the volume of Président Feta cheese produced in the United States. This comes as feta cheese continues to grow in popularity with American consumers. The $55 million investment creates Lactalis’ largest feta production line in the United States. Lactalis USA is a subsidiary of Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy company. This new, 38,000 square foot manufacturing line will bring additional capacity for Lactalis USA feta production in the United States at its facilities in Tulare and Belmont, Wisconsin. The project creates 20 full-time positions in Tulare along with 100 temporary or contract positions during construction. The construction timeline spans from 2023-2027, with the line becoming partially operational in May of this year. When completed in 2027, Lactalis USA will have increased its U.S. feta production capacity to address current and future customer and consumer demand. “We are expanding to increase our cheese production capacity at our facility,” said Esteve Torrens, chief executive officer, Lactalis USA. “This investment into new jobs and expanding operations supports our local communities and demonstrates Lactalis’ long-term view for business success in the United States. This expansion helps us meet the growing demand for Président Feta cheese in the United States, which is good news for our retail customers and consumers who continue to choose Président Feta for cooking at home and creating new occasions to enjoy feta.” The Tulare manufacturing facility is one of the most advanced of Lactalis’ 11 manufacturing facilities across the United States, incorporating the latest technologies from Lactalis Group. This new production line is outfitted based on a complete 3D ergonomic analysis to support worker well-being and safety, in addition to automated air flow control and in-line production. Lactalis USA produces a variety of products at its Tulare facility including Kraft® Parmesan, Knudsen® Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream, and Kraft sweet whey powder.
About Lactalis USA in California Lactalis has a significant footprint in California with three locations and approximately 500 employees. The company has manufacturing facilities in Tulare and Turlock along with a corporate office in San Fernando. Lactalis manufacturers Kraft® Parmesan, Président® Feta, Knudsen® Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream, and Kraft sweet whey powder in Tulare, and specialty ethnic food and beverage products, including cheeses, yogurts, spreads and dips in Turlock under the Karoun®, Parmalat®, Gopi®, Arz®, Queso Del Valle®, Damavand® and Yanni® brands. About Lactalis USA Lactalis USA is committed to enriching lives by producing nutritious and great tasting dairy products. The company offers an unrivaled house of beloved dairy brands in the United States including Galbani® Italian cheeses, Président® specialty cheeses and gourmet butters, Kraft® brands in natural and grated cheeses, Breakstones® cottage cheese, ricotta and sour cream, Cracker Barrel® cheese, Black Diamond® cheddar cheese, Parmalat® milk, siggi’s® and Stonyfield Organic® yogurt brands. In the United States the company has approximately 4,000 employees, is present in eight states with 11 manufacturing facilities and corporate offices located in New York City and Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill., Bedford, N.H., and San Fernando, Calif. Lactalis USA is part of Lactalis Group, the world’s leading dairy company, a French family business founded in 1933 in Laval, France.
VISALIA, Calif. — October 28, 2024 — California Dairies, Inc. (CDI) today announced it will cease operations at its Los Banos, California manufacturing facility, effective immediately. The entire facility will close, affecting approximately 38 employees.
“Closing the Los Banos plant was a difficult decision, one that was not made lightly,” said Brad Anderson, president and chief executive officer. “This decision was driven by the evolving dynamics of the marketplace and shifting milk supplies. We value the contributions of our dedicated employees in Los Banos and recognize the impact this has on them and the community. We are committed to supporting them through this transition. The Los Banos plant and its employees will hold a special place in our company’s history.”
The Los Banos facility will cease operations immediately and will enter a period of shutdown. CDI will be working closely with impacted employees to assist them with this transition.
The Los Banos manufacturing facility has been in operation since 1925. It was first operated as part of San Joaquin Valley Dairymen, before merging with Danish Creamery and California Milk Producers in 1999 to become California Dairies, Inc. CDI continues to have a significant presence, not only in California, but throughout the United States and internationally.
The City of Tulare is in possession of two parcels of land located between K Street and Highway 99 just south of Commercial Avenue.
The city has received interest from Knight Transportation, the owner of surrounding properties, to purchase the five acres of city owned property to expand their current trucking operations.
The Planning Commission will take up the proposal on October 28.The property will soon have access to the new AgriCenter Interchange being constructed by CalTrans.
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission find that the declaration of the properties as surplus and disposition of properties for industrial development is consistent with the 2035 General Plan, adopted October 7, 2014, in accordance with Government Code Section 65402.
The sale will then be taken up by the city council.
According to the truck company website”The Tulare terminal broke ground in 2004 and officially opened up in 2005 and at the time of its inception was the largest terminal within Knight Transportation. Conveniently located right in between the Bay Area in northern California and Los Angeles, the Tulare terminal has become an ideal rest stop for Knight drivers whether they are heading south from PNW or north from Southern California. Our terminal has grown to include dedicated short haul routes throughout California, a regional fleet and our OTR fleet. We currently have the largest fleet at Knight Transportation, consisting of 208 trucks and 225 drivers. The Tulare terminal includes a full service shop and weekly orientation classes.”
There’s no place like home! Food inflation (at home) is back down to where it was pre-Covid epidemic in 2019 says the latest government statistics.
There’s more good news in that groceries are getting more affordable when you consider the increase in wages in recent years. It takes less time at work to afford a week’s worth of groceries similar to what it was pre Covid.
There’s both good news and bad news in the US food economy even as inflation drops. Here are a few tidbits.
A UC study says $20 fast food wage did not increase prices much nor reduce employment
Despite fears that increasing the minimum wage to $20 for fast food workers in California would hurt business, a UC Institute for Research on Labor and Employment study says the new standard has raised average pay of fast food workers by nearly 18 percent, but did not affect employment adversely. It did increase fast food prices, on a one-time basis only, by about 3.7 percent, or about 15 cents for a $4 item.
Assembly Bill 1228, in effect as of April 1, raised wages for hundreds of thousands of employees who had been earning an average of $16.21 per hour.
As of July, the state had around 750,000 fast food jobs 11,000 more than when the law took effect, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Popeyes, have recently launched new lower priced value meals to attract customers.
Too many french fries
Lamb Weston, the largest producer of french fries in North America and a major supplier to fast-food chains, restaurants and grocery stores, is closing a production plant in Washington state. The company announced last week that it would lay off nearly 400 employees, or 4% of its workforce, and temporarily cut production lines in response to slowing customer demand.Demand for french fries has declined as consumers dine out less due to inflation
A recent survey found that 68% of consumers are trading down from restaurant meals to food from grocery stores to avoid rising costs. The survey found restaurant food prices rose 5.1% annually, versus 1.2% for grocery prices.
But this month potato prices are down.That could lower french fry prices going forward. Since midsummer, wholesale potatoe prices are down about 25%.
Fall baking prices trend lower
Whipping up those holiday cookies and cakes could catch a break this fall as wholesale prices for both butter and eggs moderate.
CME market butter prices are down to $2.67 a pound this week and egg prices in California have declined to around three dollars a dozen from five dollars a dozen earlier this summer. Add in the sugar where the price is down about 18% in the past year.
Grape farmers face a mixed picture
Shipments of table grapes are up this fall. Good news for farmers, but wine growers are facing what is called a brutal harvest.
USDA shipment numbers for the week of Aug. 25-31 showed total U.S. grape shipments of 4.52 million 19-pound cartons (85.87 million pounds), up 15% from the same week a year ago. California provided more than 99% of all fresh grape shipments, according to the USDA, with very light volume provided by Canada, Mexico, Italy and South Korea.
Through the end of August, season-to-date domestic shipments of central California table grapes totaled 25.4 million containers (482.6 million pounds), up 20% from the same time a year ago.
California Farm Bureau reports wine grape growers are not having a good season with low prices in part due to reduced demand for wine.
A downturn in wine sales worldwide has shaken California’s winegrape sector. After years of growth, U.S. sales have declined for three straight years, with experts forecasting the downward trend to continue.
There are plenty of culprits: a shift in messaging from health experts about how safe it is to consume low levels of alcohol; the industry’s failure to win over younger demographics; market share lost to seltzers and ready-to-drink cocktails; and home inventory left over from pandemic-time “pantry loading.”
The shrinking market has left wineries oversupplied and California’s vineyard acreage out of step with demand.
“It’s not going to be a favorable year for winegrape growers, particularly those who didn’t have contracts going into harvest,” said Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, a grower-owned marketing group that sells winegrapes for 400 growers across California.
Growers typically sign contracts with wineries before planting a vineyard. The contracts provide reliable sales and pricing for their grapes. When they expire, often after five or 10 years, growers negotiate new contracts or sell uncommitted grapes on the spot market.
But this year, with wineries needing to shed inventory, few are buying uncontracted grapes.
“They’re either not buying,” Bitter said, “or they’re setting a very low price and saying, ‘Take it or leave it.’”
Out-of-contract grapes may account for more than a third of the state’s crop,it is estimated. This year, most of those grapes—especially red varieties grown in the Central Valley—could end up on the ground.
Wine drinking is down but so is beer consumption -Oktoberfest feature non alcoholic beer
At this year’s Munich Oktoberfest event some of the booths are featuring alcohol free beer brands.
One report notes that the head brewmaster for Weihenstephan, the world’s oldest brewery, has a secret: He really likes alcohol-free beer.
” Even though he’s quick to say he obviously enjoys real beer more, Tobias Zollo says he savors alcohol-free beer when he’s working or eating lunch. It has the same taste but fewer calories than a soft drink, he said, thanks to the brewery’s process of evaporating the alcohol.
“You can’t drink beer every day — unfortunately,” he joked last week at the Bavarian state brewery in the German town of Freising, about 30 kilometers north of Munich.
Zollo isn’t alone in his appreciation for the sober beverage. Alcohol-free beer has been gaining popularity in recent years as beer consumption shrinks.
At Weihenstephan, which was founded as a brewery in 1040 by Benedictine monks, non-alcoholic wheat beer and lager now make up 10% of the volume. The increase over the last few years, since they started making alcohol-free drinks in the 1990s, mirrors the statistics for the rest of Germany’s beer industry.”
Bird flu continues to spread in Central Valley dairies and some cows die
The count this week is up to 81 California dairies that have been impacted by bird flu to date. The virus does not affect the milk that cows produce that is made safe by pasteurization.
This week,the California Department of Public Health reports that a third possible human case of bird flu has been identified in California. The case was identified in a Tulare County individual who had contact with infected dairy cattle. Specimens are being sent to the CDC to undergo confirmatory testing.
There is no known link or contact between this and the first two cases reported yesterday, suggesting only animal-to-human spread of the virus in California. All three individuals had contact with animals at three different farms. Like the first two cases, this individual also experienced mild symptoms, including eye redness or discharge (conjunctivitis). None of the dairy workers have been hospitalized. The risk to the general public remains low, but people who interact with infected animals, like dairy or poultry farm workers, are at higher risk of getting bird flu.
Experts are still not certain how the virus is spreading, but have settled on the fact that it all started with one animal. While the infected cows typically get better in a few weeks there is evidence that the cows may produce less milk afterwards.Further, dairy farms in California are reporting that the virus is infecting 50% to 60% of their herds, and 10% to 15% of the cows are dying from their infections,according to the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program(CDQAP).
A CDQAP report says at least half of new herd infections have not involved movement of live cows, but the spread happens presumably through contaminated equipment such as trailers or potentially visitors. How much risk is associated with movement of younger and nonlactating cows is under investigation. Sharing of employees with other dairy herds or poultry flocks appears to be a major risk factor. Sampling of wild migratory waterfowl (ducks, geese etc.) throughout the U.S. suggest that these birds are not spreading the disease.
It appears that the lactation curve is being “reset” in recovered cows. A typical example discussed was a cow producing roughly 100 lbs./day, dropping to about 20 lbs. a week later. Production climbed as the cow recovered, plateauing at about 70 to 80 lbs. Whether this approximate 20 to 30% decrease in production represents a permanent change due to scarring of the udder and will persist in the next lactation is unknown. Losses in total herd production varies greatly. The 3-day rolling average in two herds fell by 6% and 16% during the infection period.
Florida citrus industry faces devastation
Hurricane Milton threatens to inflict wind damage in the northern two-thirds of Florida’s citrus belt this week, according to Commodity Weather Group. Orange juice futures rose up to 4.3% on Monday due to the threat to Florida’s citrus industry.
Natural disasters and disease have cut Florida orange production an estimated 92 percent since 2003/04 says USDA.
Cal-Maine Foods,the nation’s largest egg producer, plans to invest $40 million in capital projects to expand the company’s cage free production facilities. Construction of five cage free houses that will replace retired caged facilities in Florida, Georgia, Utah, Texas adding about 1 million cage free layers says Cal Maine. Construction is set to begin at the end of this year with completion and summer of 2025. “We are pleased to announce these new expansion projects, which support our strategy to increase our free-range production in line with customer demand and expanding state requirements for cage-free eggs,” said Sherman Miller, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods, based in Mississippi.
The company’s brands are: Egg-Land’s Best, Land O’ Lakes, Farmhouse, and 4-Grain. The trend towards cage free eggs started in California with the passage of Prop 12 allowing hens more room in their daily lives. Beyond California, the industry has been reluctant to invest in these facilities, but the decision by the US largest producer appears to move the industry in this direction. Advocates like the Humane League say “Cage-free” refers to farm environments where chickens who produce eggs—known as laying hens (or layer hens)—live in open indoor spaces. Overall, cage-free represents an increased quality of life for hens as compared with those held in cages.
How’s that economy? The Standard and Poor’s 500, or simply the S&P 500 is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. About 70 million Americans invest in their employee based 401K plans and often follow the S&P. So when the S&P index grows over 95 percent in the past four years, there is reason to cheer as everyday Americans see their personal wealth compound and grow. The index reached a 52 week high Friday.
