From the “but the media told us the drought was permanent in California” fake news department.
Wired, May 2016: “Thanks El Niño, But California’s Drought Is Probably Forever“. “California is still in a state of drought. For now, maybe forever.” The article gives no support — none — for this clickbait claim. In January Wired attempted to weasel away from their claims by defining drought to mean needing more water than nature provides (“A Wet Year Won’t Beat California’s Never-Ending Drought“). Orwell nodded, unsurprised.
The NYT did no better in “California Braces for Unending Drought“, May 2016. The closest the article comes to supporting their headline is an odd statement by Governor Brown: “But now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence…” Drought has always been a regular occurrence in California. The governor also said that “California droughts are expected to be more frequent and persistent, as warmer winter temperatures driven by climate change reduce water held in the Sierra Nevada snowpack and result in drier soil conditions.” That is probable. But it is quite mad for the NYT to call more frequent droughts “an unending drought.”
By Bark Gomez and Yasemin Saplakoglu, Bay Area News Group
Sacramento >> On the heels of what is becoming one of the wettest rainfall seasons ever recorded in California, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday rescinded the drought emergency order he signed in 2014 while signaling new legislative efforts to maintain water conservation measures.
“This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner,” Brown said in a statement. “Conservation must remain a way of life.”
Brown is making permanent the bans on wasteful water practices, like hosing off sidewalks, and requiring water agencies to continue to report their water use every month to the state.
At the same time, state agencies Friday announced a long-term plan to better prepare California for future droughts with continued water conservation efforts. The framework requires new legislation to establish long-term water conservation measures and improved planning for more frequent and severe droughts.
“This framework is about converting Californians’ response to the drought into an abiding ethic,” California Department of Water Resources acting Director Bill Croyle said in a statement. “Technically, the drought is over, but this framework extends and expands our dry-year habits. Careful, sparing use of water from backyards to businesses and farm fields will help us endure the next inevitable drought.”
Brown’s executive order lifts the drought emergency in all California counties except Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne, where emergency drinking water projects will continue to help address diminished groundwater supplies, according to the governor’s release.
More: http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20170407/governor-declares-end-to-drought-emergency
“as warmer winter temperatures driven by climate change…”. I thought CO2 caused warmer winter temperatures which caused the climate to change. Now CO2 causes climate change directly and this causes temperatures to rise?
I’d have said the end of a drought would be the return to the ‘normal’ (statistically average) rainfall pattern.
10 years of dry punctuated by an extreme weather event doesn’t seem to fit that.
Is California going to return to its rainfall pattern of the last half of the 20th century?
Statistically average? You mean made up? Or, define what is normal…ah forget it…
The mendacity persists.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article143443604.html
Drought’s over, but climate change is still coming for California
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/08/calif-snowpack-healthy-again-but-warming-looms-large_partner/
California snowpack healthy again, but warming looms large
ANDREA THOMPSON, CLIMATE CENTRAL
Civilized people have known for a long time the importance of saving the surplus from the good years to provide for the lean years. Are there no civilized people in California?
A couple of notes about major reservoirs shown:
– Perris is being kept at low levels until earthquake mitigation work is completed.
– Folsom is being kept at low levels until the new spillway is completed this year.
– Obviously, Oroville is being kept at low levels to repair damage caused by overflowing the emergency spillway earlier this year.
– I don’t know what is going on at Millerton, but you can clearly see that they have been dumping water at high rates.
So, if not for dumping water, all the major reservoirs shown would be above historical averages, and many at historical highs. Some using spillways in anticipation of new major in-flows as the unusually high snow packs begin to melt this summer.
Moonbeam’s cuckoo CACA elite coastal policies are destroying the economies of interior CA counties, creating an Appalachian fly-over state within a state:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/different-748849-one-secede.html
What does it take to become a Climate scientist? It’s great, if it rains they’re right if it dosen’t they’re right. Let’s face it you CAN NEVER BE WRONG.
Since Moonbeam is opposed to all forms of water storage, why does it matter if wasteful practices resume once the drought is over? Any water saved from such restrictions will just be flushed out to sea and lost anyway.
Well, Gilda said it best… ‘Never mind’.