Long-term weather forecasting gets complicated The future may be uncertain, but the past was clearly visible at Thursday evening’s Mountain Disaster Preparedness meeting. Alex Tardy, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s San Diego office, described several recent weather events, such as the drought, the summer and winter temperatures, and rainfall, with superlatives —…

Historians, researchers, and people exploring genealogy will have an new window to the past thanks to a new law Secretary of State Debra Bowen sponsored and the governor approved last Friday. California voter rolls will be available to the public after 100 years. Personal identifiers, such as Social Security and drivers license numbers, were not…

Fire is a constant threat in the San Jacinto Mountains. But 10 years ago, on Oct. 26, 2006, it became very personal to the town and people of Idyllwild. The Esperanza Fire was a wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that started at 1:11 a.m. in a river wash near Cabazon. Raymond Lee Oyler set the blaze which…