Weather Tidbits -- Dennis McTighe

The gloom graciously cleared in time to view Monday evening’s solar

eclipse, and it was a dandy.

At 6:22 p.m. there was 70% coverage. The next one won’t be until 2012.

Your tidbitter has witnessed two total eclipses.

The first one was the afternoon of Oct. 23, 1969, when I was in the

U.S. Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu.

The last one was July 11, 1991. This time I saw it from the Big Island

in Hawaii -- total coverage for three minutes. It was not seen here in

Laguna because ’91 was the Summer of Gloom everyday!

Latest El Nino update: It looks like El Nino, si!

The red crabs are showing up at all beaches here in Orange County and

beyond in L.A. County’s South Bay.

The last time these crabs made an appearance was in ’83 and ‘97, and

we know what happened those years.

Plus Chile just had its wettest season in more than a century.

Its last two wet seasons? You guessed it -- ’83 & ’97.

And the water temp today is 70 degrees here and 73 degrees in San

Diego.

Stay tuned!

* DENNIS MCTIGHE is a Laguna Beach resident.