Big Sur's Big Slide

Cambria, Calif.

The commonplace joke of California sliding into the Pacific Ocean, either from seismic activity or an overaccumulation of New Age weirdness, has achieved some semblance of reality this year. It’s long been said that California’s climate comprises just two periods: mudslide season and fire season. This year’s record rainfall, which followed years of predictions that climate change had mired the state in permanent drought, brought forth the usual winter floods and mudslides, followed by a springtime super-bloom of grass and brush that have made for an early and severe start to the summer fire season.