Skepticism about the El Niño weather this winter abounds. Although rainfall on the Hill exceeded historic averages for the period from July 1 through Jan. 31, the storms were neither relentless nor overwhelming. The early January snowstorm dropped more than a foot of snow, nearly 2 feet in some areas; still, February has felt much…

During the Sept. 10 Mountain Emergency Service Committee meeting, Kathleen Henderson, Riverside County emergency services coordinator for the mountain, discussed the work of the new Emergency Management Department that the Board of Supervisors established in May and was effective July 1. The agency has created a website (www.rivcoready.org/) to help county residents prepare and plan…