What Was The High In Los Angeles Today
We’ve gathered all sorts of data about what people did during the high today, but there is one major piece missing: how many people gave up and stayed at home because they could not bear to walk outside.
We cannot assume that everyone who attended the parade lost time working or going somewhere else due to traffic or weather. Some may have chosen to stay inside and watch TV instead!
By analyzing when and for how long the roads were closed, we can get an estimate of how many people missed work or other activities because of the March 21 storm.
This article will look into some simple ways to calculate this statistic. Hopefully you will learn something new and apply these lessons to future storms.
Reminder: This article uses very basic math so if you struggle with numbers, make sure to check out our lesson on introducing yourself!. Also remember that your assumptions matter, so be careful where you put value names and equations!
What was the high in LA today?
The term ‘high’ varies depending on the individual asking and the area being measured. For our purposes here, we will use the definition from the National Weather Service (NWS): The top 1% highest average measurement of any parameter within a given timeframe.
In their words: "Highest temperature", "Max wind speed" and "% chance of precipitation" are examples of parameters used to determine the NWS peak.
Oil hits record high
The oil market has been heating up very quickly today, with crude prices hitting an all-time high! In fact, you have to go back to October of 2008 for the previous all-time highest price per barrel.
Crude futures jumped nearly 4 percent this morning after China announced it would be restricting imports of some energy products like gasoline and diesel. This is due to a limited supply caused by lower demand as people stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This move comes just over one week after Russia decided to ban most exports including crude oil to European countries. There are also concerns that Iran could cut off its own oil sales next month because of U.S. sanctions.
All these events put pressure on the global oil markets and helped fuel the rise in energy commodity prices.
Gold hits record high
The other major event of the day was gold hitting a new all-time high. You may have heard that it hit its peak earlier this year, but today was when it officially reached record highs.
Gold has been on an incredible winning streak since early 2016, setting several records along the way. It’s one of the best performing assets we can buy and investors are spending ever more money to own it.
People invest in gold for many different reasons, but mostly because they think it will keep buying up power. This is what makes it special - it is inherently durable and always goes up in value.
There you have it! If you were looking to add some gold to your collection or just want to be invested in the metal, now is the time to do so.
Bitcoin hits record high
The price of bitcoin surpassed $10,000 for the first time ever this afternoon. At 4 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. Pacific), the cryptocurrency was trading at a whopping $9,900 per coin.
That’s over 10% higher than it was one week ago when it reached an all-time low of just under $7,800. Since then, it has steadily climbed back up to where it is today!
The crazy rise in value comes after last weekend when bitcoin hit its lowest since November 2017 - less than half of what it is now.
But don’t worry too much about that dip! Many experts say we are due for another big bounce soon.
California wildfires
Wildfires are unfortunately something we have come to expect in the west. They happen due to many different factors, from strong winds to dry conditions causing very hot or warm sparks.
This year has been an especially bad one for wildfire activity with several major fires breaking out across the state. On Tuesday alone there were over 70 significant incidents reported all around Southern California. There was no let up in activity as firefighters worked hard dousing flames and protecting areas that had already burned down.
These wildfires have gone beyond local impacts and affected larger regions. As they spread throughout rural and wilderness areas, they pose greater threats to wildlife and endangered species.
Some of these animals may be displaced and unable to find adequate shelter or food away from crowded forests and neighborhoods where people live. This could put them at risk of starvation or death.
For example, nearly 200 wolves have been spotted roaming the Sierra National Forest near Lake Tahoe this month. While most seem to be staying well away from populated areas, some have been seen less than a mile outside of community borders.
Firefighters are working tirelessly to protect both people and nature but it will take time until their work is considered fully complete.
California floods
Wild weather is wreaking havoc across much of Southern and Western California this afternoon, with flooding reported from several areas. The most significant flood threat comes from rivers that have exceeded their banks due to heavy rain!
Residents along the riverbanks should prepare for rising water levels as well as possible rapid stream flows. It’s important to know what types of streams you are dealing with, how much rainfall they typically get in an area, and whether or not these storms are normal conditions for your location.
For example, according to meteorologists, yesterday was the wettest November day ever recorded at San Francisco International Airport. Given that this event happened nearly two months ago and we’re talking about mostly dry land, it’s easy to assume that such a large amount of moisture wouldn’t cause any major problems today unless there were very strong winds helping push some of it into our local waterways.
However, heavy rains can still bring serious flooding to undeveloped portions of our shoreline which may include parks, residential neighborhoods, and even low-income communities. People who live near waterways must take action to protect themselves and their homes by looking ahead one week rather than waiting out the storm.
In addition to warning people about potential coastal flooding, meteorologist Ben Field also mentioned the risk of landslides related to saturated soil. These could be natural disasters or caused when someone removes vegetation that helps hold the top layer of dirt together.
More California wildfires
This past week has been an absolute nightmare for those impacted by these deadly fires. With each passing day, there are more reports of deaths and injuries due to fire or while fleeing the flames.
Many people have lost their homes and/or loved ones so it is important to take time to process what happened before moving onto the next stage of recovery.
While many may be focused on escaping the wildfire, it is also very important to think about how they will recover emotionally from this tragedy.
It is always difficult to describe emotional pain but here we will try our best!
There are several different types of grief that a person goes through after experiencing a loss such as a house, community, or family member. These can include:
Denial - at first you might not believe that something bad actually happened. You could feel like your mind made the mistake by thinking that because the news reported no major incidents then everything was fine.
- at first you might not believe that something bad actually happened. You might feel like your mind made the mistake by thinking that because the news reported no major incidents then everything was fine. Anger - Once you realize what has happened, you may become angry with the individuals, situations, or events that contributed to the loss.
Once you realize what has happened, you may become angry with the individuals, situations, or events that contributed to the loss.
More California floods
Another round of heavy rain is expected across much of Southern and Central California this afternoon and evening, according to meteorologists. Flood watches have been issued for several counties including Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Yolo, Sacramento, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Mariposa, Lake, Mono, Emmett, Colusa, Butte, Sutter, Tehama, Glenn, Shasta, Lassen, Sierra, Plumas, Eureka, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Klamath, Crook, Jefferson, Lane, and Yuba.
These flood warnings are not an indication that flooding is imminent or even likely. Rather, they caution you that flooding is possible within the next few hours due to rainfall.
The reason these areas received so much water yesterday was because it took quite a while for all of the moisture left over from last week’s storms to move into higher elevations. As such, there was very little dry ground where most trees and buildings can absorb some of the liquid that makes its way down after a storm. This means that more of your home and street is covered in water than ever before.
Reminder: If you were one of the many people who were directly affected by Hurricane Harvey, remember those around you are going through a similar process.
Fun and games with the stock market
We are now at the one-month anniversary of our all-time high, which happens to be around $25,000 per share for both the DJIA and S&P 500! This is definitely an exciting time to have this happen so soon after we broke down and you can’t help but feel good about yourself and the investment performance that happened over the last month.
That said, it's important to remember that investing is a long game. You cannot get excited about or demoralized by short term price moves. For example, back in September when the Dow hit its all-time high, there were very few conversations surrounding what would come next.
The talk was mostly focused on whether or not the bull market would survive another year, and if investors needed to lighten up their risk tolerance in order to keep buying stocks. Since then though, the markets have been on a bit of a roller coaster, making many people question if they made the right call going into the new year.
However, looking at the longer term picture, things look pretty solid. The S&P has nearly doubled since early October while the Dow only lost 2% during that same period. These numbers tell us something about the strength of the underlying economy as well as how resilient major financial institutions are.
In fact, according to CNBC, five out of six of the largest banks in America reported strong profits earlier this week.