WEATHER WATCHER: The first storm of the...

WEATHER WATCHER: The first storm of the season hit last week. Can the first cold snap be far behind? Bob Clark hopes not. . . . “When it gets real cold, everybody calls at once and they all want you there yesterday,” said Clark, who owns Clark’s Heating & Air Conditioning in Newbury Park. Major problem: dirty furnace filters. . . . Clark does not expect business to be sizzling: “With this economy, unless we get a really cold winter people won’t use their furnaces that much.”. . . Maybe they’ll burn wood instead: BC’s Tree Service in Ventura reports stronger-than-normal firewood sales.

SMOG DAYS: Of course, why worry about keeping warm when it’s hot and sunny outside? Thanks to Santa Ana breezes, skies were so clear Tuesday that Camarillo Airport reported visibility of 50 miles. And today should be just as nice. . . . Santa Anas often push ozone over the coast, but these desert winds are not that strong, said county meteorologist Phil Moyal. . . . The county’s air has improved, but not enough to suit the EPA (B1).

SCOOT, COOTS: San Juan Capistrano has its swallows. Hinckley, Ohio, has its buzzards. And Oxnard? Oxnard has coots--messy birds that plague golfers at the River Ridge Golf Course (B1). . . . For reasons unknown, coots show little interest in two nearby courses--Buenaventura and Olivas Park. Ventura recreation official Greg Gilmer has a theory: River Ridge was built atop a former dump, and hungry coots return there instinctively. . . . Bird species counted last year in west Ventura County: 181.

SNAKE HANDLERS: Though coots are in disrepute, some snakes are so popular that people poach them (C6). . . . At All Pet Headquarters in Santa Paula, manager Sissy Michaud gets calls from would-be snake sellers. “Kids catch them and think they’ll be little entrepreneurs,” she said. . . . State law forbids selling native snakes, so many stores import reptiles. Bestseller: garter snakes. “They eat goldfish rather than mice,” Michaud said. “Parents can deal with that.”

Keeping Warm

How Ventura County homes are heated: Natural gas: 185,501 Electricity: 24,875 Bottled gas: 3,312 Wood: 1,508 No fuel used: 1,428 Solar energy: 390 Source: 1990 U.S. Census