July 27, 2025 • 34 mins
One grenade killed three LA County Sheriff's deputies last week and a second grenade is still missing; LA is no longer the worst city in America when it comes to traffic, but it's still bad, and Michael says there's a solution if you're willing; There's some good news for Hollywood productions, but not enough; and LA weather has been near perfect this month, but will it last or is the heatwave hitting the rest of the country turning its eyes towards us?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
We get another hour together. Let's spend it wisely. If
you missed the first hour, be sure to look up
the podcast. It's on the iHeartRadio app or wherever else
you get your podcast. You can also stream it from
the website. And I do hope you like it. I
hope you tell your friends about it. I hope you
share it. We do this every Saturday night, recapping the
(00:26):
big stories of the week, talking to newsmakers and talking
a little bit about what might come in the week ahead.
And we have another jam packed hour ahead. But again,
if you missed the previous hour, we talked a lot
about homelessness, President Trump saying he's sick of all of
the drug addicted and mentally ill homeless people on our
city streets, including of course significantly Los Angeles. And we
(00:50):
saw a leadership change at the LA Homeless Services Authority,
and we heard from an LA City councilwoman who says
there needs to be more changes in the way local
governments address homelessness because we're spending a lot of money
and we are not getting the big results that we're
paying for and expecting. And I've also asked you to
(01:11):
weigh in by opening up the iHeartRadio app and clicking
on the talkback button.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Let's hear from Rob Hi Michael. Great show.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I honestly don't know why mayor Bass or any of
these idiots are still in power.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
They should all be voted out.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
They're all useless. It's all a grift to give money
to their supporters through LASA, through their corporate donors or whoever.
We cannot track any of this money.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's a joke. Get rid of her.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Rob. We appreciate you listening and thank you for participating
in the conversation. And now we'll go to Ern.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Hey Michael, it's Vern in Ritando. First, i'd like to
say thank you for what you do with your show.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Thank you so.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
In regards to Bass lost in the homeless debacle, this
recent census taking of the homeless.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
When you were on with co Belt, he was right.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
The number that homelessness has gone down is the number
of people the homeless dying on the streets every day.
That's really sad.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It is an interesting point to raise. I have heard
this mentioned. We do not have any actual statistics. But
what is interesting you'll hear from somebody like John Cobelt,
who is no fan at all of LASA, of Mayor Bass,
of most local government officials, who will say, look, we've
got seven people dying on the streets. If you add
(02:42):
that up, it seems to be where you're you're finding
the decrease in the homeless population the way we've seen
a decrease the past two years. But you also hear
from homeless advocates citing the same statistics as a way
to demonstrate how dangerous it is to be homeless in La.
(03:02):
Seven people a day, they say, die on the streets
because they're out there homeless. If it's seven a day,
I mean, quick math, what does that? That's more than
two thousand? So is that real? And I suppose you
also have to take into consideration that, unfortunately, there might
(03:26):
be people who were not homeless last year who become
homeless this year, and then that kind of offset some
of the numbers. I'm not sure. It's a very tough formula.
The way they come up with this homeless count that
they do every year, typically in January. This year was
in February because of the wildfires. It's similar to the census,
where a group of folks, in this case volunteers, not
(03:49):
paid people like the censes, but volunteers go around to
known areas where homeless people are and count them. It's
not as strenuous as the senses where they will keep
I worked for the census back in twenty ten. I
was curious. I did it. It was interesting work, but
you have to keep going back to houses that do
not respond because they want this count to be accurate.
(04:11):
I don't think you get that same type of intensity
from a three day effort to count all the homeless
people in La County. So a lot of questions surrounding
this count. Anyway, you can also weigh in by opening
up the iHeartRadio app and clicking on that talkback button.
We had a tragedy last Friday in East La at
(04:31):
a training facility used by the La County Sheriff's Department,
where an explosion took the lives of three veteran deputies.
And then yesterday, a week later, La County Sheriff Robert
Luna hosted a news conference late in the afternoon and
said this.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
One of the two grenades taken into custody detonated on Friday,
and one of the grenades is unaccounted for.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
A grenade is unaccounted for. So we've learned that what
led to this explosion was a grenade, and there were
apparently two grenades. One exploded in deadly fashion and one
is missing.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
One week after the explosion killed the three La County
Sheriff's arson investigators, the ATF confirming it was a grenade
collected in Santa Monica the day before that exploded. He
was believed that grenade was inert. The now, Sheriff Robert
lunas as a second grenade that was collected is missing.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
The fact is right now there's a second grenade that
we're not one hundred percent sure where it's at.
Speaker 8 (05:35):
Now.
Speaker 7 (05:36):
The warning is out to the public here for anyone
who finds it to call nine one one alec Stone,
ABC News Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A warning to the public that there may be a
grenade somewhere out there. Here's more of what Sheriff Luna
had to say.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
A resident had reported finding what appeared to be two
hand grenade type devices inside a tenant storage unit in
the building underground parking garage. Santa Monica Police Department officers
responded and the Sheriff's Arson Explosive Detailed detectives arrived, did
(06:12):
their investigation, at least their preliminary investigation, and next raid
the devices and believed that they were both inert. An
extensive search of the entire training facility perimeter was conducted.
This included x rain all Special Enforcement Bureau vehicles, a
grid search from the blast site and surrounding areas, and
(06:36):
a thorough inspection of evidence lockers, the gym, office spaces
and surrounding shrubbery. In addition to conducting the post blast investigation,
the ATF will be assuming full control into investigating the
whereabouts of this other device that is missing.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Earlier yesterday, the bob of those three detectives who died
in the blast were removed from a Los Angeles County
Medical Examiner's facility and driven in a somber procession of
officers and law enforcement vehicles to a funeral home in Covina.
Those three deputies who were bomb squad detectives at more
than seventy years of combined experience with the Sheriff's Department.
(07:20):
We are still waiting on details on their funeral services.
You can imagine that that will be a very somber occasion,
and we will bring you a lot of details about
if it's something that the families want to have made public.
It was quite a scene yesterday seeing seeing the procession
(07:40):
again on the highways. It was a dramatic scene a
week before when their bodies were removed from the scene
and taken to the Medical Examiner's office, and then that
scene repeated itself yesterday as they were taken from the
Medical Examiner's office to that funeral home. We will lighten
things up a bit next. Apparently law So Angeles does
(08:00):
not have the worst traffic in America anymore. There's another
city on top. We're still number two. Spoiler alert, but
we'll talk about how that is. And I'm gonna tell
you something that you might not like to hear. There is,
for a lot of us an answer to the terrible
traffic we sit in in Los Angeles each and every
(08:22):
single day. You're not gonna like it. You're not gonna
like it, but it's real.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks, from KFI News.
We've got another forty five minutes or so. Together, let's
make the most of it. And if you are sitting
in traffic listening to me, you have my sympathy. But
there is good news about traffic. I suppose good news
in this fact that it's it's not as bad as
(08:53):
it is in Washington, d C. The nation's capital, is
now ranked as have the worst traffic in America, according
to Consumer Affairs. Consumer Affairs reports that the average daily
commute time in DC is thirty three point four minutes.
LA's average daily commute time is a brisk thirty and
(09:16):
a half minutes, not so bad. The average length of
weekday congestion in DC is six hours and thirty five minutes.
Now hours is longer. The average length of weekday congestion
seven hours and fifty one minutes. And the annual rate
(09:38):
of fatal car crashes in DC is five point nine
to five per one hundred thousand people, making them ninth.
In LA it's seven point three three per one hundred
thousand people. So that's a lot more. But then they
average all of these and other metrics together to come
up with this formula that leads to these rankings, and
(09:59):
washing in DC is now number one, but Consumer Affairs
says LA still has the longest weekday congestion, nearly eight
hours long. In LA's urban form exacerbates its infamous congestion.
The report says the city is never quite dense enough
(10:20):
to make walking and public transportation effective, but it's never
sufficiently low density to make driving a pleasant experience either.
One of the analysts says, there's just no escaping the traffic.
There's always enough people there to crowd the roads. It
isn't that the truth. I've said that very thing. There's
no escaping it. You may even hear me, no matter
(10:44):
where you are in southern California, hear me barking in
the newsroom at my fellow journalist, that there is no
escaping Los Angeles traffic. You might have a short cut
here or there, but it's not consistent. The crowd finds you,
and just when you think you're cruising, boom tail lights,
(11:06):
red lights, accidents, crashes. It's really something. And if you're
a long long time resident or a lifer here in
the LA area, you don't need some guy who just
got off the boat like me telling you traffic's bad.
And you know how to suck it up and deal
(11:28):
with it, probably better than I do. But I guess
I'm still fresh enough to look around and think it
doesn't have to be like this. I'm gonna work on
a special. I'm just gonna put it out there. I'm
gonna work on a special because we need to. We
need to figure this out because it seems to me
(11:50):
that a lot of our traffic problems are our own
fault the freeway designs. That this is just me, amateur
city planner. I suppose are just a resident, a guy
who the freeways are so poorly designed. The entrance ramps,
the off ramps, locations of them are just terrible. It's
(12:11):
a mess everywhere you turn, and it's miserable because I
know when I leave here tonight, I'm going to hit
traffic somewhere on the way back to downtown LA. But
as I told you before we went to break, there
is an answer, and it's an answer you probably won't like,
(12:33):
and it's not a fully sufficient answer yet. And that's
what irritates me. When you hear me pop on the
shows with John Coe Belt or Tim Conway, Mo Kelly,
Gary and Shannon, Oftentimes they joke with me about where
I chose to live when I moved here two and
a half years ago. I live in downtown, but the
(12:55):
reason is because I sold my car back home in
Kentucky before or I came out here, and I did
that on purpose. I wanted that money to extend my
runway as I came out here to figure out what
was going to happen for me, and I lived downtown,
I was like, yeah, I'm not gonna need it. LA
has a subway, LAS trains, plenty of buses, and if
(13:21):
I'm downtown, I'm centralized. I can branch out to whatever
direction life takes me. And I wasn't wrong. But you
also don't need me to tell you about the problems,
even though I do, and we'll continue to. Much like
the homeless infrastructure, you don't have local officials who govern.
(13:45):
Metro talks seriously enough about those problems. They'll address the
fact that a horrible crime happens when it happens, but
it's beyond that. I often talk about this, especially with
mo Kelly. He loves to talk about Metro. He's mean
to Metro. I use Metro. There are experiences on the
(14:09):
public transit here that are not reflected in statistics, but
are unpleasant. You may not be assaulting, thank goodness, statistics
show you you won't be. It is statistically rare, but
(14:30):
there might be somebody else on the train who makes
you feel like you're going to be or there's a
bad smell. You know, you feel unsafe even if you
are safe a lot of times. But there has been
a lot of good stuff happening, so I want to
give Metro it's flowers. A lot of work needs to
be done still, but there's been some good news recently
(14:52):
that Lax Metro station is open. You can take the
train to the airport, and when the people mover finally
gets open out there, you'll be able to hop on
that directly from the Metro train, which is great. And
Metro stats show that traffic on its K line, which
takes you there, is going through the roof much higher
(15:12):
than it ever was. People are using it. They've also
announced four new stations opening on the A line. This
is the longest line on the train station on the
train system, runs from Long Beach all the way to
a SUSA, but there will be four new stations opening
beyond a SUSA, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority says
(15:35):
it will go all the way to Pomona when those
stations open in September. That's great news. The Purple Line
one of the older lines that goes from Union Station
through Koreatown. It's been shut down for more than two months.
It reopened today and the reason it was shut down
is because they're extending that one too, and they needed
to close it for a while. This thing will eventually
(15:56):
go all the way to Westwood. The second phase is
going to open, believe in the fall, and that will
take you to mid Wilshire, the Miracle Mile area. But
then eventually it will go all the way to Westwood.
But they do have to clean it up. They have
to make you feel good about it. But I know
(16:18):
I can take from downtown Los Angeles to get to
this station in Burbank. I can hop on that Bee line,
get off at Studio City. It takes twenty minutes on
the train, and then hop on a Burbank bus and
it drops us off right here in front of our building, thankfully,
(16:38):
and I don't have to worry about merging and changes
in traffic patterns. It's not bad. I recommend it. You
got to give it a try, but I'm not going
to tell you do something that you're not comfortable doing.
We'll talk more about that very very soon.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
De Mare.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
Let's talk Hollywood. Any bit of good news on the
production front. Heather Brooker, glad to see you. You've been away.
Speaker 9 (17:19):
I have been away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I was wondering if you even worked here anymore.
Speaker 9 (17:22):
Every once in a while they let us leave and.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Go on vacation.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I know, but that means more work for me, And
not only is that frustrating, but I'm jealous because you
were in France.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I was was it amazing?
Speaker 10 (17:32):
It was so amazing, Like you know, people talk about
the food in France and you know the culture there
and it's We had such a lovely time with my family.
We walked everywhere, and I know you'll appreciate this. They
have amazing public transportation. Their metro there is spectacular and
super easy to write on. We felt very safe going
on it. Lots of food, lots of fun, it was, Yeah,
(17:56):
just a really great time.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
The struggle that is ongoing with the Hollywood film end.
We know, there was some good news, as it was
portrayed by state and local officials that the tax credits
in California are going to be more for people looking
to make movies, making television. They're going to be more
available to people that previously did not have access to them.
But it almost feels like the horse has left the
barn in many other states, and that is certainly true
(18:21):
in places like text and we're going to talk about
how they're getting aggressive on us. But there was a
glimmer of good news. Recently, Film LA came out with
a report that says.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
What that says that television production is seeing a slight increase,
which is good news. But you know, I want to
point out too that a lot of what happens in
the industry is very cyclical. Like it's not uncommon for
in the springtime to see a little bit of a
bump in television production because that's the nature of seasonal televisions.
(18:52):
That is, when they're going in and they're filming you know,
maybe pilots or news shows. A lot of shows go
back into production for a few months before they all
break for the summer. I will not be surprised if
in a couple of months we'll see another report that
says television dropped, you know, during the summer months. That's
very typical of television production.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
So while I want to be hopeful, and I know
a lot of people are looking at this like, Okay,
that's that's great.
Speaker 10 (19:16):
Any production that's happening in LA is great. But the
real test here is in the other areas of production
that are still on the decline. Feature films, commercials, other
non TV categories. Those felt films fell twenty one percent,
dropping to just five hundred and fifty three shooting days.
(19:37):
Commercials are down fifteen percent, Other projects are down seventeen percent.
The TV production did go up by seventeen percent, which
is great, but when you look at it as a
whole picture, we're still down far below where we should
be and where we were years ago.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I mean last year we were already talking about a
decline in productions, and what this is showing is that
the decline has further declined.
Speaker 9 (20:01):
Further declined.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yes, so that's year over year feature films down twenty
one point four percent, commercials down fifteen percent, even things
still photographer still, photography, student films, documentaries, online content, music
videos down seventeen point three percent. And what you say,
with that little bit of positive news coming out of
(20:22):
TV productions being up that these could be one offs?
You said, pilot, right, this is something where this is
a production hoping to have more shoot days down the road.
But they got to start with one thing, right.
Speaker 10 (20:32):
So, you know, the traditional television model from you know, ten,
you know, twenty years ago, used to be that every
spring you would have was called pilot season. This is
when the studios, the major studios would say, we want
to test out these shows, these pilots. So they green
light the pilot and it gets cast, it gets shot,
(20:53):
and if it goes well and the studio has faith
in it, they buy twenty episodes. You know, however many episodes,
and it moves forward and then you have a production
for X amount of years on that show. But because
of the nature of streaming and streaming content and the
way that we're consuming these shows now there really isn't
a specific pilot season anymore. I mean, some of the
(21:13):
big student the big networks still do it, like your
ABC's you know, CBS, NBC, they still have those few
months in the springs where they produce their pilots and
their big shows in order to be able to launch
them and sell them for the fall season.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I mean, there used to be your time right where
actors who lived outside of LA would come in and
stay here for a while, hoping to get an audition,
hoping to land apart.
Speaker 10 (21:34):
Yeah, and that's that's how prevalent it was, the pilot
pilot season was, and how many available opportunities like there
used to be like hundreds of pilots made and shows
that we're hoping to get greenlit and go, and now
it's almost none. It's almost none. So comparatively, everything is
(21:55):
still down. Any little bit of hope and increase is good.
This tax credit that was approved is great news. We're
not going to see an overnight change. That is going
to take time because it takes time to produce a
TV show and movie and you know, so.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
On California has more than doubled its tax credit program
for the entertainment industry. It used to be three hundred
and thirty million per year. The industry said that's not enough.
We're struggling now. It is seven hundred and fifty million dollars.
But like I said, moments ago, has the horse left
the bar and other states are already offering lucrative tax credits.
Countries are offering lucrative tax credits, and I didn't realize
(22:32):
Texas did not have one. Texas and California have a
deep rivalry going on right now of competing for residents,
competing for industries, and now Texas is going to the
rodeo here for Hollywood as well. Let's take a listen
to this ad campaign. I just wish we could bring
some of these productions home to Texas.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
We'll get down here, come home.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
Yeah, she makes a good point.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Why should all these other states take advantage of this
investment but not Texas?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
We shouldn't have to shoot Georgia born in Mexico.
Speaker 9 (23:04):
Or South Carolina or Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh glooma. Why don't we just keep that money in Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
This was launched earlier this year called True to Texas,
a campaign featuring Dennis Quaid, Renee Zellweger, Billy Bob Thornton,
well known actors who have worked many times in Hollywood.
Speaker 9 (23:20):
Well known Texans, well known tax.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
But asking Hollywood to come to their homestead. A lot
of productions are taking place there, and despite some conservative
lawmaker's trepidation at embracing Hollywood values, it did pass. And
now Texas has a three hundred million dollar tax credit
for every two years that's going to be guaranteed for
ten years that starts in September. I mean, what do
(23:44):
we make of this?
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Well, I mean, I think this was, you know, one
of the concerns that a lot of proponents of the
California tax credit we're afraid of, like if we raise
the bar, are other state's going to raise the bar?
And at some point are we just chasing more and
more and more incentives as every state also increases their incentives.
(24:06):
I think any chance to have film production is good
for if you're in the film industry, if whether you're
an actor, whether you're in productive production side of thing,
any opportunity to work is good. Obviously, we're here in California,
and southern Californians in particular.
Speaker 9 (24:22):
Would rather see the production stay here.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
I think that you know, they're they're kind of dubbing
this Hollywood South, like jokingly calling it Hollywood South. With
this Texas push, I think Texas sees an opportunity. Finally,
I also was surprised to see that they didn't have
much of an incentive or tax incentive for filming. But
I think Texas wisely sees an opportunity to make money
(24:46):
for their state. And they've got huge actors Woody Harrelson,
you know, Matthew McConaughey, as you mentioned, and they all
want to they all live in Texas.
Speaker 9 (24:56):
They want to stay and work in Texas.
Speaker 10 (24:58):
There's a ton of other actors that are in Texas
that want to stay there and have the opportunity to
work there. And so the Texas government has now sees
that and says, okay, let's take advantage of some of
these California What are these California folks and there movies
and TV shows? Why don't we take advantage of that
here in Texas.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's too hot for my blood. But we shall see
how this goes. Heather Brooker, thanks so much for chatting
Hollywood with us.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Again.
Speaker 9 (25:21):
Thanks Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
The weather has been spectacular this July. Why is that?
And will it last? We're talking weather with the National
Weather Service.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Next, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI News,
wrapping things up on this Saturday night in southern California.
And it is another beautiful Saturday night here. We've been
pretty lucky across much of the Southland this summer, with
temperatures below normal. Northern California too. It's really cold up there. Meanwhile,
a lot of America is cooking, suffering, sweltering here, but
(26:01):
that's their problem. I was paying my LADWP bill last
week and I thought, huh, this is pretty good. I've
only had the AC on maybe four or five times
all season. I hope it lasts, and I want to
know if it will. So let's talk with National Weather
Service meteorologists Rose Schoenfeld. Rose, thanks so much for taking
(26:23):
some time for KFI. Hi there, you know what I
was really taking in the weather. And our studio is
here in Burbank, and it can be a little hotter
in the San Fernando Valley than where I live in downtown, LA.
But it's just been astonishingly great for July. And I
was thinking, am I nuts? Is this unusual what we're
experiencing right now? This mostly pleasant and mild July.
Speaker 8 (26:48):
Absolutely, this is a little bit on the more unusual side.
July tends to be kind of that in between transition
months here where we go from more June gloom into
more of that fall weather for us where we start
to see those high temperatures. So for our July this
year here, we've had a pretty cold spell, especially starting
(27:09):
right around July eleventh or so, we've been mostly either
right around normal or below normal really since then. That's
that's mostly caused by a different series of low pressure
systems that have lingered either north of our region to ourselves,
essentially bringing that overall temperature aloft just a little bit lower.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
For our region.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
So we haven't kind of a chance for a high
pressure ridge to really let heat build, at least not
in the last little while here.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I often hear meteorologists use terms like a low pressure system.
Just tell us what that means in layman's terms as
it relates to our current temperature streak.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
A low pressure system generally is featuring rising air and
more cloudy conditions often can come with more unsettled weather.
In a winter system, it could bring winter sea warm conditions,
and then here in the summer it generally is going
to bring more marine layer clouds generally cooler temperatures and
even if the right orientation chanceform monsoon precipitation things like that.
(28:13):
So we've had a series of different loaves that have
brought different lettle effects of the region. Monsoons last week
and right now we're just seeing that deep marine layer
from that low pressure.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So when we hear the terms thrown around May gray,
June gloom, that's marine.
Speaker 8 (28:27):
Layer, Yeah, exactly. So the marine layer is going to
be the strongest across much of the LA region, particularly
during June gloom. I mean, that's the title month there,
and that's because that sun angle for us is actually
one of the highest of the year. It's really peaking,
but we don't see that heat out here by the
coast because at the same time, that sun angle is
(28:50):
allowing our deserts our inland areas to really heat up,
and that creates essentially pull, It pulls at the surface
at the marine layer clouds at the ocean conditions to
bring that cooler air and clouds further inland to essentially
balance out the atmosphere because it's always trying to mix
(29:10):
and keep things from being too different right next to
each other.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You mentioned the desert, and of course southern California. You know,
if you're watching a TV meteorologist on any of the
LA based television stations, they have to give forecasts for
basically five or six different regions because of how diverse
the weather is. Are we seeing that variance and maybe
even lower than usual high temperatures in each corner of
(29:34):
Southern California?
Speaker 8 (29:36):
Yeah, yeah, we actually because we are in an overall
trossing low pressure system these last few days. In going
forward in the forecast, we are generally below normal across
the region, at least for LA County here where I'm looking.
Sometimes that can be unusual. Sometimes we end up with
below normal temperatures that the coast across LA County, some
(29:58):
valley areas, and then in the desert we can actually
be above normal and really hot. That might be a
scenario where we have eventually dense fog at the coast
and those really stubborn clouds that can stay all day,
particularly during that June season. Right now, we're just in
a generally cooler pattern overall for the region.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Yeah, we are seeing those clouds in the morning. We
are seeing that fog in the morning and I guess basically,
it is unusual to have that marine layer this time
of year.
Speaker 8 (30:25):
It is a little unusual. Usually we'll see some, but
we have had more marine layer deeper inland extent into
the valleys into Bourbank area than normal for July.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
All right, two more things before we let you get
back to weather work. How long is this going to last?
Because I'm really digging it.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
Yeah, us too, And it's certainly good for our fire season,
so it keeps that at bay. Even if we're not
getting precipitation. Just having that marine layer moisture across a
lot of the valley areas is overall good for that season.
We are looking at fairly below normal temperatures all the
way through the weekend, and then early next week temperatures
will start to nose up again. Some areas may be
(31:08):
starting to approach normal by early next week there, but
still not looking at any chance for a significant heat
wave or anything, at least not in the next ten
days or so.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I know that the work you do is based in
rigorous science, but there's a lot of armchair meteorologists out there,
even in my workplace, who say, because we're having such
a cool July oh boy, August and September are going
to be brutal. Is there any scientific basis to that
type of statement, whether it be about summer or well,
(31:41):
the summer was very hot, so winter will be very cold.
I mean, is there any scientific pattern to that or
is that wishful thinking?
Speaker 8 (31:52):
Well, I guess generally from the weather forecasting side, what's
happened previously, generally speaking, won't really warm or change the
odds for what will happen in the future. I would
want to mention though, that for much of the LA area,
August and September tend to be the hottest months, often
even hotter than July, particularly right around that late August
(32:16):
or early September time period. It's kind of that perfect
trifecta here of enough sun transfer, more offshore flow reducing
that marine layer impacts in general heat to build in
the area. So we are still heading towards our typically
warmert season. So they are correct that we should be
prepared in those next coming months here. But in terms
(32:38):
of July right now impacting what we're looking forward to later, generally,
there is not really seemed to be that much of
a correlation. There are some general climate type trends like
if you've heard of La Mina al Mino, that can
tilt the odds for a whole season based on certain
global circulation type patterns. But hopefully that your question there.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yeah, it does. Indeed, I'm going to keep my fingers
crossed that even August and September are really beautiful this year.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I think we deserve it, absolutely, all right.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Rose Schoenfeld, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
Stay cool out there in Ventura County.
Speaker 9 (33:18):
You too, well.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It looks like the forecast is warming up for next week.
The La Metro will see temps back in the mid eighties,
the valleys will maybe start to see ninety again. But
maybe on the other side of that, maybe the week
after next maybe these cool temperatures will come back. I
certainly hope so, and I hope you stay cool out
there regardless. I certainly thank you for joining us here
(33:43):
for Michael Monks Reports. You can catch us here every
Saturday from seven to nine and then anytime as a
podcast on your iHeartRadio app. My thanks to Stefan Cobb
basis working as technical director today and I Lean Gonzalez
and the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'll be bringing
you the news as usual every day next week, and
I'll look forward to talking to you again then and
(34:04):
next Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'm Michael
Monks and this is KF I am six forty
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
We get another hour together. Let's spend it wisely. If
you missed the first hour, be sure to look up
the podcast. It's on the iHeartRadio app or wherever else
you get your podcast. You can also stream it from
the website. And I do hope you like it. I
hope you tell your friends about it. I hope you
share it. We do this every Saturday night, recapping the
(00:26):
big stories of the week, talking to newsmakers and talking
a little bit about what might come in the week ahead.
And we have another jam packed hour ahead. But again,
if you missed the previous hour, we talked a lot
about homelessness, President Trump saying he's sick of all of
the drug addicted and mentally ill homeless people on our
city streets, including of course significantly Los Angeles. And we
(00:50):
saw a leadership change at the LA Homeless Services Authority,
and we heard from an LA City councilwoman who says
there needs to be more changes in the way local
governments address homelessness because we're spending a lot of money
and we are not getting the big results that we're
paying for and expecting. And I've also asked you to
(01:11):
weigh in by opening up the iHeartRadio app and clicking
on the talkback button.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Let's hear from Rob Hi Michael. Great show.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I honestly don't know why mayor Bass or any of
these idiots are still in power.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
They should all be voted out.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
They're all useless. It's all a grift to give money
to their supporters through LASA, through their corporate donors or whoever.
We cannot track any of this money.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
It's a joke. Get rid of her.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Rob. We appreciate you listening and thank you for participating
in the conversation. And now we'll go to Ern.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Hey Michael, it's Vern in Ritando. First, i'd like to
say thank you for what you do with your show.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Thank you so.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
In regards to Bass lost in the homeless debacle, this
recent census taking of the homeless.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
When you were on with co Belt, he was right.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
The number that homelessness has gone down is the number
of people the homeless dying on the streets every day.
That's really sad.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It is an interesting point to raise. I have heard
this mentioned. We do not have any actual statistics. But
what is interesting you'll hear from somebody like John Cobelt,
who is no fan at all of LASA, of Mayor Bass,
of most local government officials, who will say, look, we've
got seven people dying on the streets. If you add
(02:42):
that up, it seems to be where you're you're finding
the decrease in the homeless population the way we've seen
a decrease the past two years. But you also hear
from homeless advocates citing the same statistics as a way
to demonstrate how dangerous it is to be homeless in La.
(03:02):
Seven people a day, they say, die on the streets
because they're out there homeless. If it's seven a day,
I mean, quick math, what does that? That's more than
two thousand? So is that real? And I suppose you
also have to take into consideration that, unfortunately, there might
(03:26):
be people who were not homeless last year who become
homeless this year, and then that kind of offset some
of the numbers. I'm not sure. It's a very tough formula.
The way they come up with this homeless count that
they do every year, typically in January. This year was
in February because of the wildfires. It's similar to the census,
where a group of folks, in this case volunteers, not
(03:49):
paid people like the censes, but volunteers go around to
known areas where homeless people are and count them. It's
not as strenuous as the senses where they will keep
I worked for the census back in twenty ten. I
was curious. I did it. It was interesting work, but
you have to keep going back to houses that do
not respond because they want this count to be accurate.
(04:11):
I don't think you get that same type of intensity
from a three day effort to count all the homeless
people in La County. So a lot of questions surrounding
this count. Anyway, you can also weigh in by opening
up the iHeartRadio app and clicking on that talkback button.
We had a tragedy last Friday in East La at
(04:31):
a training facility used by the La County Sheriff's Department,
where an explosion took the lives of three veteran deputies.
And then yesterday, a week later, La County Sheriff Robert
Luna hosted a news conference late in the afternoon and
said this.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
One of the two grenades taken into custody detonated on Friday,
and one of the grenades is unaccounted for.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
A grenade is unaccounted for. So we've learned that what
led to this explosion was a grenade, and there were
apparently two grenades. One exploded in deadly fashion and one
is missing.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
One week after the explosion killed the three La County
Sheriff's arson investigators, the ATF confirming it was a grenade
collected in Santa Monica the day before that exploded. He
was believed that grenade was inert. The now, Sheriff Robert
lunas as a second grenade that was collected is missing.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
The fact is right now there's a second grenade that
we're not one hundred percent sure where it's at.
Speaker 8 (05:35):
Now.
Speaker 7 (05:36):
The warning is out to the public here for anyone
who finds it to call nine one one alec Stone,
ABC News Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A warning to the public that there may be a
grenade somewhere out there. Here's more of what Sheriff Luna
had to say.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
A resident had reported finding what appeared to be two
hand grenade type devices inside a tenant storage unit in
the building underground parking garage. Santa Monica Police Department officers
responded and the Sheriff's Arson Explosive Detailed detectives arrived, did
(06:12):
their investigation, at least their preliminary investigation, and next raid
the devices and believed that they were both inert. An
extensive search of the entire training facility perimeter was conducted.
This included x rain all Special Enforcement Bureau vehicles, a
grid search from the blast site and surrounding areas, and
(06:36):
a thorough inspection of evidence lockers, the gym, office spaces
and surrounding shrubbery. In addition to conducting the post blast investigation,
the ATF will be assuming full control into investigating the
whereabouts of this other device that is missing.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Earlier yesterday, the bob of those three detectives who died
in the blast were removed from a Los Angeles County
Medical Examiner's facility and driven in a somber procession of
officers and law enforcement vehicles to a funeral home in Covina.
Those three deputies who were bomb squad detectives at more
than seventy years of combined experience with the Sheriff's Department.
(07:20):
We are still waiting on details on their funeral services.
You can imagine that that will be a very somber occasion,
and we will bring you a lot of details about
if it's something that the families want to have made public.
It was quite a scene yesterday seeing seeing the procession
(07:40):
again on the highways. It was a dramatic scene a
week before when their bodies were removed from the scene
and taken to the Medical Examiner's office, and then that
scene repeated itself yesterday as they were taken from the
Medical Examiner's office to that funeral home. We will lighten
things up a bit next. Apparently law So Angeles does
(08:00):
not have the worst traffic in America anymore. There's another
city on top. We're still number two. Spoiler alert, but
we'll talk about how that is. And I'm gonna tell
you something that you might not like to hear. There is,
for a lot of us an answer to the terrible
traffic we sit in in Los Angeles each and every
(08:22):
single day. You're not gonna like it. You're not gonna
like it, but it's real.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
This is Michael Monks Reports. I'm Michael Monks, from KFI News.
We've got another forty five minutes or so. Together, let's
make the most of it. And if you are sitting
in traffic listening to me, you have my sympathy. But
there is good news about traffic. I suppose good news
in this fact that it's it's not as bad as
(08:53):
it is in Washington, d C. The nation's capital, is
now ranked as have the worst traffic in America, according
to Consumer Affairs. Consumer Affairs reports that the average daily
commute time in DC is thirty three point four minutes.
LA's average daily commute time is a brisk thirty and
(09:16):
a half minutes, not so bad. The average length of
weekday congestion in DC is six hours and thirty five minutes.
Now hours is longer. The average length of weekday congestion
seven hours and fifty one minutes. And the annual rate
(09:38):
of fatal car crashes in DC is five point nine
to five per one hundred thousand people, making them ninth.
In LA it's seven point three three per one hundred
thousand people. So that's a lot more. But then they
average all of these and other metrics together to come
up with this formula that leads to these rankings, and
(09:59):
washing in DC is now number one, but Consumer Affairs
says LA still has the longest weekday congestion, nearly eight
hours long. In LA's urban form exacerbates its infamous congestion.
The report says the city is never quite dense enough
(10:20):
to make walking and public transportation effective, but it's never
sufficiently low density to make driving a pleasant experience either.
One of the analysts says, there's just no escaping the traffic.
There's always enough people there to crowd the roads. It
isn't that the truth. I've said that very thing. There's
no escaping it. You may even hear me, no matter
(10:44):
where you are in southern California, hear me barking in
the newsroom at my fellow journalist, that there is no
escaping Los Angeles traffic. You might have a short cut
here or there, but it's not consistent. The crowd finds you,
and just when you think you're cruising, boom tail lights,
(11:06):
red lights, accidents, crashes. It's really something. And if you're
a long long time resident or a lifer here in
the LA area, you don't need some guy who just
got off the boat like me telling you traffic's bad.
And you know how to suck it up and deal
(11:28):
with it, probably better than I do. But I guess
I'm still fresh enough to look around and think it
doesn't have to be like this. I'm gonna work on
a special. I'm just gonna put it out there. I'm
gonna work on a special because we need to. We
need to figure this out because it seems to me
(11:50):
that a lot of our traffic problems are our own
fault the freeway designs. That this is just me, amateur
city planner. I suppose are just a resident, a guy
who the freeways are so poorly designed. The entrance ramps,
the off ramps, locations of them are just terrible. It's
(12:11):
a mess everywhere you turn, and it's miserable because I
know when I leave here tonight, I'm going to hit
traffic somewhere on the way back to downtown LA. But
as I told you before we went to break, there
is an answer, and it's an answer you probably won't like,
(12:33):
and it's not a fully sufficient answer yet. And that's
what irritates me. When you hear me pop on the
shows with John Coe Belt or Tim Conway, Mo Kelly,
Gary and Shannon, Oftentimes they joke with me about where
I chose to live when I moved here two and
a half years ago. I live in downtown, but the
(12:55):
reason is because I sold my car back home in
Kentucky before or I came out here, and I did
that on purpose. I wanted that money to extend my
runway as I came out here to figure out what
was going to happen for me, and I lived downtown,
I was like, yeah, I'm not gonna need it. LA
has a subway, LAS trains, plenty of buses, and if
(13:21):
I'm downtown, I'm centralized. I can branch out to whatever
direction life takes me. And I wasn't wrong. But you
also don't need me to tell you about the problems,
even though I do, and we'll continue to. Much like
the homeless infrastructure, you don't have local officials who govern.
(13:45):
Metro talks seriously enough about those problems. They'll address the
fact that a horrible crime happens when it happens, but
it's beyond that. I often talk about this, especially with
mo Kelly. He loves to talk about Metro. He's mean
to Metro. I use Metro. There are experiences on the
(14:09):
public transit here that are not reflected in statistics, but
are unpleasant. You may not be assaulting, thank goodness, statistics
show you you won't be. It is statistically rare, but
(14:30):
there might be somebody else on the train who makes
you feel like you're going to be or there's a
bad smell. You know, you feel unsafe even if you
are safe a lot of times. But there has been
a lot of good stuff happening, so I want to
give Metro it's flowers. A lot of work needs to
be done still, but there's been some good news recently
(14:52):
that Lax Metro station is open. You can take the
train to the airport, and when the people mover finally
gets open out there, you'll be able to hop on
that directly from the Metro train, which is great. And
Metro stats show that traffic on its K line, which
takes you there, is going through the roof much higher
(15:12):
than it ever was. People are using it. They've also
announced four new stations opening on the A line. This
is the longest line on the train station on the
train system, runs from Long Beach all the way to
a SUSA, but there will be four new stations opening
beyond a SUSA, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority says
(15:35):
it will go all the way to Pomona when those
stations open in September. That's great news. The Purple Line
one of the older lines that goes from Union Station
through Koreatown. It's been shut down for more than two months.
It reopened today and the reason it was shut down
is because they're extending that one too, and they needed
to close it for a while. This thing will eventually
(15:56):
go all the way to Westwood. The second phase is
going to open, believe in the fall, and that will
take you to mid Wilshire, the Miracle Mile area. But
then eventually it will go all the way to Westwood.
But they do have to clean it up. They have
to make you feel good about it. But I know
(16:18):
I can take from downtown Los Angeles to get to
this station in Burbank. I can hop on that Bee line,
get off at Studio City. It takes twenty minutes on
the train, and then hop on a Burbank bus and
it drops us off right here in front of our building, thankfully,
(16:38):
and I don't have to worry about merging and changes
in traffic patterns. It's not bad. I recommend it. You
got to give it a try, but I'm not going
to tell you do something that you're not comfortable doing.
We'll talk more about that very very soon.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
De Mare.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's Reports. I'm Michael Monks from KFI News.
Let's talk Hollywood. Any bit of good news on the
production front. Heather Brooker, glad to see you. You've been away.
Speaker 9 (17:19):
I have been away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I was wondering if you even worked here anymore.
Speaker 9 (17:22):
Every once in a while they let us leave and.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Go on vacation.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I know, but that means more work for me, And
not only is that frustrating, but I'm jealous because you
were in France.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I was was it amazing?
Speaker 10 (17:32):
It was so amazing, Like you know, people talk about
the food in France and you know the culture there
and it's We had such a lovely time with my family.
We walked everywhere, and I know you'll appreciate this. They
have amazing public transportation. Their metro there is spectacular and
super easy to write on. We felt very safe going
on it. Lots of food, lots of fun, it was, Yeah,
(17:56):
just a really great time.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
The struggle that is ongoing with the Hollywood film end.
We know, there was some good news, as it was
portrayed by state and local officials that the tax credits
in California are going to be more for people looking
to make movies, making television. They're going to be more
available to people that previously did not have access to them.
But it almost feels like the horse has left the
barn in many other states, and that is certainly true
(18:21):
in places like text and we're going to talk about
how they're getting aggressive on us. But there was a
glimmer of good news. Recently, Film LA came out with
a report that says.
Speaker 10 (18:29):
What that says that television production is seeing a slight increase,
which is good news. But you know, I want to
point out too that a lot of what happens in
the industry is very cyclical. Like it's not uncommon for
in the springtime to see a little bit of a
bump in television production because that's the nature of seasonal televisions.
(18:52):
That is, when they're going in and they're filming you know,
maybe pilots or news shows. A lot of shows go
back into production for a few months before they all
break for the summer. I will not be surprised if
in a couple of months we'll see another report that
says television dropped, you know, during the summer months. That's
very typical of television production.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
So while I want to be hopeful, and I know
a lot of people are looking at this like, Okay,
that's that's great.
Speaker 10 (19:16):
Any production that's happening in LA is great. But the
real test here is in the other areas of production
that are still on the decline. Feature films, commercials, other
non TV categories. Those felt films fell twenty one percent,
dropping to just five hundred and fifty three shooting days.
(19:37):
Commercials are down fifteen percent, Other projects are down seventeen percent.
The TV production did go up by seventeen percent, which
is great, but when you look at it as a
whole picture, we're still down far below where we should
be and where we were years ago.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I mean last year we were already talking about a
decline in productions, and what this is showing is that
the decline has further declined.
Speaker 9 (20:01):
Further declined.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yes, so that's year over year feature films down twenty
one point four percent, commercials down fifteen percent, even things
still photographer still, photography, student films, documentaries, online content, music
videos down seventeen point three percent. And what you say,
with that little bit of positive news coming out of
(20:22):
TV productions being up that these could be one offs?
You said, pilot, right, this is something where this is
a production hoping to have more shoot days down the road.
But they got to start with one thing, right.
Speaker 10 (20:32):
So, you know, the traditional television model from you know, ten,
you know, twenty years ago, used to be that every
spring you would have was called pilot season. This is
when the studios, the major studios would say, we want
to test out these shows, these pilots. So they green
light the pilot and it gets cast, it gets shot,
(20:53):
and if it goes well and the studio has faith
in it, they buy twenty episodes. You know, however many episodes,
and it moves forward and then you have a production
for X amount of years on that show. But because
of the nature of streaming and streaming content and the
way that we're consuming these shows now there really isn't
a specific pilot season anymore. I mean, some of the
(21:13):
big student the big networks still do it, like your
ABC's you know, CBS, NBC, they still have those few
months in the springs where they produce their pilots and
their big shows in order to be able to launch
them and sell them for the fall season.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I mean, there used to be your time right where
actors who lived outside of LA would come in and
stay here for a while, hoping to get an audition,
hoping to land apart.
Speaker 10 (21:34):
Yeah, and that's that's how prevalent it was, the pilot
pilot season was, and how many available opportunities like there
used to be like hundreds of pilots made and shows
that we're hoping to get greenlit and go, and now
it's almost none. It's almost none. So comparatively, everything is
(21:55):
still down. Any little bit of hope and increase is good.
This tax credit that was approved is great news. We're
not going to see an overnight change. That is going
to take time because it takes time to produce a
TV show and movie and you know, so.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
On California has more than doubled its tax credit program
for the entertainment industry. It used to be three hundred
and thirty million per year. The industry said that's not enough.
We're struggling now. It is seven hundred and fifty million dollars.
But like I said, moments ago, has the horse left
the bar and other states are already offering lucrative tax credits.
Countries are offering lucrative tax credits, and I didn't realize
(22:32):
Texas did not have one. Texas and California have a
deep rivalry going on right now of competing for residents,
competing for industries, and now Texas is going to the
rodeo here for Hollywood as well. Let's take a listen
to this ad campaign. I just wish we could bring
some of these productions home to Texas.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
We'll get down here, come home.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
Yeah, she makes a good point.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Why should all these other states take advantage of this
investment but not Texas?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
We shouldn't have to shoot Georgia born in Mexico.
Speaker 9 (23:04):
Or South Carolina or Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh glooma. Why don't we just keep that money in Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
This was launched earlier this year called True to Texas,
a campaign featuring Dennis Quaid, Renee Zellweger, Billy Bob Thornton,
well known actors who have worked many times in Hollywood.
Speaker 9 (23:20):
Well known Texans, well known tax.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
But asking Hollywood to come to their homestead. A lot
of productions are taking place there, and despite some conservative
lawmaker's trepidation at embracing Hollywood values, it did pass. And
now Texas has a three hundred million dollar tax credit
for every two years that's going to be guaranteed for
ten years that starts in September. I mean, what do
(23:44):
we make of this?
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Well, I mean, I think this was, you know, one
of the concerns that a lot of proponents of the
California tax credit we're afraid of, like if we raise
the bar, are other state's going to raise the bar?
And at some point are we just chasing more and
more and more incentives as every state also increases their incentives.
(24:06):
I think any chance to have film production is good
for if you're in the film industry, if whether you're
an actor, whether you're in productive production side of thing,
any opportunity to work is good. Obviously, we're here in California,
and southern Californians in particular.
Speaker 9 (24:22):
Would rather see the production stay here.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
I think that you know, they're they're kind of dubbing
this Hollywood South, like jokingly calling it Hollywood South. With
this Texas push, I think Texas sees an opportunity. Finally,
I also was surprised to see that they didn't have
much of an incentive or tax incentive for filming. But
I think Texas wisely sees an opportunity to make money
(24:46):
for their state. And they've got huge actors Woody Harrelson,
you know, Matthew McConaughey, as you mentioned, and they all
want to they all live in Texas.
Speaker 9 (24:56):
They want to stay and work in Texas.
Speaker 10 (24:58):
There's a ton of other actors that are in Texas
that want to stay there and have the opportunity to
work there. And so the Texas government has now sees
that and says, okay, let's take advantage of some of
these California What are these California folks and there movies
and TV shows? Why don't we take advantage of that
here in Texas.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's too hot for my blood. But we shall see
how this goes. Heather Brooker, thanks so much for chatting
Hollywood with us.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Again.
Speaker 9 (25:21):
Thanks Michael Monks.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
The weather has been spectacular this July. Why is that?
And will it last? We're talking weather with the National
Weather Service.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Next, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI News,
wrapping things up on this Saturday night in southern California.
And it is another beautiful Saturday night here. We've been
pretty lucky across much of the Southland this summer, with
temperatures below normal. Northern California too. It's really cold up there. Meanwhile,
a lot of America is cooking, suffering, sweltering here, but
(26:01):
that's their problem. I was paying my LADWP bill last
week and I thought, huh, this is pretty good. I've
only had the AC on maybe four or five times
all season. I hope it lasts, and I want to
know if it will. So let's talk with National Weather
Service meteorologists Rose Schoenfeld. Rose, thanks so much for taking
(26:23):
some time for KFI. Hi there, you know what I
was really taking in the weather. And our studio is
here in Burbank, and it can be a little hotter
in the San Fernando Valley than where I live in downtown, LA.
But it's just been astonishingly great for July. And I
was thinking, am I nuts? Is this unusual what we're
experiencing right now? This mostly pleasant and mild July.
Speaker 8 (26:48):
Absolutely, this is a little bit on the more unusual side.
July tends to be kind of that in between transition
months here where we go from more June gloom into
more of that fall weather for us where we start
to see those high temperatures. So for our July this
year here, we've had a pretty cold spell, especially starting
(27:09):
right around July eleventh or so, we've been mostly either
right around normal or below normal really since then. That's
that's mostly caused by a different series of low pressure
systems that have lingered either north of our region to ourselves,
essentially bringing that overall temperature aloft just a little bit lower.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
For our region.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
So we haven't kind of a chance for a high
pressure ridge to really let heat build, at least not
in the last little while here.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I often hear meteorologists use terms like a low pressure system.
Just tell us what that means in layman's terms as
it relates to our current temperature streak.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
A low pressure system generally is featuring rising air and
more cloudy conditions often can come with more unsettled weather.
In a winter system, it could bring winter sea warm conditions,
and then here in the summer it generally is going
to bring more marine layer clouds generally cooler temperatures and
even if the right orientation chanceform monsoon precipitation things like that.
(28:13):
So we've had a series of different loaves that have
brought different lettle effects of the region. Monsoons last week
and right now we're just seeing that deep marine layer
from that low pressure.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So when we hear the terms thrown around May gray,
June gloom, that's marine.
Speaker 8 (28:27):
Layer, Yeah, exactly. So the marine layer is going to
be the strongest across much of the LA region, particularly
during June gloom. I mean, that's the title month there,
and that's because that sun angle for us is actually
one of the highest of the year. It's really peaking,
but we don't see that heat out here by the
coast because at the same time, that sun angle is
(28:50):
allowing our deserts our inland areas to really heat up,
and that creates essentially pull, It pulls at the surface
at the marine layer clouds at the ocean conditions to
bring that cooler air and clouds further inland to essentially
balance out the atmosphere because it's always trying to mix
(29:10):
and keep things from being too different right next to
each other.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
You mentioned the desert, and of course southern California. You know,
if you're watching a TV meteorologist on any of the
LA based television stations, they have to give forecasts for
basically five or six different regions because of how diverse
the weather is. Are we seeing that variance and maybe
even lower than usual high temperatures in each corner of
(29:34):
Southern California?
Speaker 8 (29:36):
Yeah, yeah, we actually because we are in an overall
trossing low pressure system these last few days. In going
forward in the forecast, we are generally below normal across
the region, at least for LA County here where I'm looking.
Sometimes that can be unusual. Sometimes we end up with
below normal temperatures that the coast across LA County, some
(29:58):
valley areas, and then in the desert we can actually
be above normal and really hot. That might be a
scenario where we have eventually dense fog at the coast
and those really stubborn clouds that can stay all day,
particularly during that June season. Right now, we're just in
a generally cooler pattern overall for the region.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Yeah, we are seeing those clouds in the morning. We
are seeing that fog in the morning and I guess basically,
it is unusual to have that marine layer this time
of year.
Speaker 8 (30:25):
It is a little unusual. Usually we'll see some, but
we have had more marine layer deeper inland extent into
the valleys into Bourbank area than normal for July.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
All right, two more things before we let you get
back to weather work. How long is this going to last?
Because I'm really digging it.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
Yeah, us too, And it's certainly good for our fire season,
so it keeps that at bay. Even if we're not
getting precipitation. Just having that marine layer moisture across a
lot of the valley areas is overall good for that season.
We are looking at fairly below normal temperatures all the
way through the weekend, and then early next week temperatures
will start to nose up again. Some areas may be
(31:08):
starting to approach normal by early next week there, but
still not looking at any chance for a significant heat
wave or anything, at least not in the next ten
days or so.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
I know that the work you do is based in
rigorous science, but there's a lot of armchair meteorologists out there,
even in my workplace, who say, because we're having such
a cool July oh boy, August and September are going
to be brutal. Is there any scientific basis to that
type of statement, whether it be about summer or well,
(31:41):
the summer was very hot, so winter will be very cold.
I mean, is there any scientific pattern to that or
is that wishful thinking?
Speaker 8 (31:52):
Well, I guess generally from the weather forecasting side, what's
happened previously, generally speaking, won't really warm or change the
odds for what will happen in the future. I would
want to mention though, that for much of the LA area,
August and September tend to be the hottest months, often
even hotter than July, particularly right around that late August
(32:16):
or early September time period. It's kind of that perfect
trifecta here of enough sun transfer, more offshore flow reducing
that marine layer impacts in general heat to build in
the area. So we are still heading towards our typically
warmert season. So they are correct that we should be
prepared in those next coming months here. But in terms
(32:38):
of July right now impacting what we're looking forward to later, generally,
there is not really seemed to be that much of
a correlation. There are some general climate type trends like
if you've heard of La Mina al Mino, that can
tilt the odds for a whole season based on certain
global circulation type patterns. But hopefully that your question there.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yeah, it does. Indeed, I'm going to keep my fingers
crossed that even August and September are really beautiful this year.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I think we deserve it, absolutely, all right.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Rose Schoenfeld, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
Stay cool out there in Ventura County.
Speaker 9 (33:18):
You too, well.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
It looks like the forecast is warming up for next week.
The La Metro will see temps back in the mid eighties,
the valleys will maybe start to see ninety again. But
maybe on the other side of that, maybe the week
after next maybe these cool temperatures will come back. I
certainly hope so, and I hope you stay cool out
there regardless. I certainly thank you for joining us here
(33:43):
for Michael Monks Reports. You can catch us here every
Saturday from seven to nine and then anytime as a
podcast on your iHeartRadio app. My thanks to Stefan Cobb
basis working as technical director today and I Lean Gonzalez
and the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. I'll be bringing
you the news as usual every day next week, and
I'll look forward to talking to you again then and
(34:04):
next Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'm Michael
Monks and this is KF I am six forty
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