A year ago
Yesterday
0% of California in drought.
Here are some articles on California’s new permanent extreme mega super dooper humongous drought.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/10/27/rains-helped-but-drought-is-part-of-new-normal/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-drought-may-be-the-new-normal/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/us/california-summer-drought-worst-on-record/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56225862
https://www.newsweek.com/california-extreme-weather-normal-1789458
Growing up in California, after every major series of rainstorms since the 70’s, all articles and news stories always were ended with the suffix: But the drought’s not over!
H/T Brian Lund on X, formerly Twitter
Nice!
Now, I need to know, will this be an above average wet winter?
CA water year runs from 01 October to 30 September. The state will know on 30 September 2024. The ENSO augury meter shows El Nino, which portends wetter than usual, opposite the drier than usual La Nina. But hydrologist acquaintance commented that CA has experienced about as many wet La Ninas as dry El Ninos. On occasion, we have experienced the La Nada, the gray zone of nothingness on the ENSO meter.
Thank you! Hope for moderate and not too wet… a few more track days where I want to take friends on rides while I am coaching.
Some are predicting a cold Nov and Dec in the east coast using past analogs. However, I contend that every winter is different and while analogs can possibly give us an indicator, it definitely can’t tell us with precise accuracy whether it will be above average, below average, near average, etc.
According to the LATimes it’ll be dry…magic 8 ball says…Signs point to Droughtful.
I guess it’s a sign of the Times.
Perhaps they just don’t understand El Niño
The models show there is a 50% chance of drought offset by 10% wetter snow.
Science says.
If you Google mediterranean climate, this short definition comes up:
Mediterranean climate, major climate type of the Köppen classification
characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters and located
between about 30° and 45° latitude north and south of the Equator and
on the western sides of the continents.
Another Google search says
All cities on the California coast from San Diego in the south to
Crescent City in the north have a Mediterranean climate.
Hmmmm, Hot Dry Summers but climate science and mass media want us
to believe the “Hot dry summers” are caused by CO2.
Was getting well into the ” Normally Dry” range here in mid NSW.
Last two days.. it has persisted it down.
Dog is very happy because all the puddles on her bush walk routes are full again. 🙂
Me.. I’ve got to get the mower out again ! 🙁
The drought is indeed over by every measure, but because the American southwest is prone to them, there will be another one. That’s why water storage is vital. Reservoirs are good. Pumping excess water back into the aquifer is even better. Build water storage infrastructure to meet demand for dry years and, yes, conserve. Reducing C02 has no effect on drought.
Very good advice in the bible about seven good years being followed by seven bad yesrs
Or in the case of U.S. Presidents, four good years followed by 4 extremely bad years.
The story of Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, who was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, and ended up second in command to the Pharaoh. Joseph predicted seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, so Pharaoh built lots of storage facilities to stock up on grain during the years of plenty, so his people would be fed during the famine. Joseph also diverted the flow of part of the Nile River to irrigate a nearby plain, and this irrigation project in Egypt still bears his name over 3,400 years later.
California needs to follow the advice from ancient Joseph, substituting water for grain. Build lots of dams and reservoirs to store water from wet years, to be released during future droughts for drinking and agriculture.
There were many aqueducts built during the Roman Empire to transport fresh water from snowmelt in the Alps and Appian Mountains to cities along the Mediterranean coast, which receive very little rain during the summer months. When in a Rome-like climate, why not do as the Romans did?
Reducing co2 increases desert areas which affects temperature therefore co2 affects drought.
‘That’s why water storage is vital.’
That, and maintaining sufficient flow rate for the Delta Smelt.
/sarc
Devil’s Avocado incoming, statisticians and cherry-pickers take cover
no, not one of these
Ah, the joys and smells of statistics and averages = throw most of the data away and pick out the bits you like. A lot like Napalm was cracked up to be and no less dangerous/wrong.
Question: Does subsequent relief from drought (no hail of bullets), does that cause you to come back alive again?
IOW: Does rain following a drought undo all the damage caused by the drought while it lasted
A favorite SF novel of mine “Lucifer’s Hammer” has a passage where a reporter asks a couple astronomers what would happen if the approaching comet actually struck the earth. The astronomers happily begin poking poking their large HP calculators and inform the reporter the blast will be many, many thousands of megatons. The stunned reporter exclaims that would be the end of the world. The astronomers reply “Oh no not the end of the world, just civilization”.
History shows the earth always recovers.
Peta, as Vietnam combat solders we always sang “Napalm sticks to dicks.” [A play off the anti-war song “Napalm Sticks to Kids.”] It was a welcome addition when we were heavily engaged with large opposing forces, the same as for artillery and air strikes. The small scars on my left forearm attest to its efficacy. One’s opinion of Napalm changes when it is used to save one’s life.
OMG, don’t you know that Californian civilisation developed under drought conditions! Now that the drought is over, Californian civilisation is doomed, doomed I say. Only the only the mystical optimum as defined by Saints Greta and Michael can sustain us.
So, gov Newsom says “get used to permanent drought”, and that turns out to be mystical fairy-land thinking, and many analysts consider him to be the front-runner for replacing Brandon. Beam me up, Scotty………
Now the gov. is or was in China.
Governor Newsom Meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/10/25/governor-newsom-meets-with-chinese-president-xi-jinping/
Xi is being nice- but I’m sure he’s laughing on the inside at such a political dwarf.
California had (and maybe still does) a ban on state employees traveling to US states that restrict abortion and restrict or ban children from being medically and surgically “transitioned’ to the opposite sex. But, the governor jets off to a country that involuntarily sterilizes and enslaves an ethnic/religious minority. Plus, China is also a country that has no love for the personal freedom of its citizens, even to the point of having secret police stations in the US to track down dissidents. If that ban is still in place, sounds like Newscum is violating it big time!
Maybe the state employees can’t go- but many CA folks are moving to FL, TX and CO. I see none moving here to Wokeachusetts. (I’ll claim its new state code to be WK). 🙂
Please advise those in CA that Florida is full, do not come here.
He would never ignore his own edicts. Would he?
That would apply to official government travel, not off the clock travel. But I think they rescinded that.
I suspect the Gov was told that to run for US President he needed to be able to talk about his foreign affairs experience. Having the travel ban rescinded allows travel episodes that would appear hypocritical otherwise.
Now that the political &economic pressures are off related to the drought, Newsom is negotiating with Xi to build some more reservoirs in California.
belt and road? If so, Xi will appoint Newsom’s replacement 🙂
Or he’ll leave Newsom in his job as his puppet. That would be a great political cartoon.
What would california do if they got the 200-300 year droughts like the historical record shows
Raise taxes ?
They could cry themselves a river.
I. love that reservoir site. So much so that I generally have a quick peek at it every day, along with the Charctic site. It’s not the whole story though. Some of the reservoirs, Oroville and Folsom for sure and probably the others, release a lot of water for various reasons, especially in these times of plenty. If the graphs were actually normalized by addition of the water released, that historical average number would be much higher.
Reading The Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner will put the water situation in California in perspective, some things will never change. It’s all about the reservoir’s in Cali and too many would almost be enough..Water sking under the London Bridge at day break is my favorite memory of
Cali.
…… that’s how you escaped into Arizona ?? Ha ha. Most people drive a UHaul.
Ignore those facts! We’re all going to die unless you peasants live in poverty.
No worries. The permanent drought will return in two years, or three, or ten or fifty, but it will return and last for two years, or three, or ten or fifty until we have another 1000 year winter like 2022-23.
The forecast shows a weakening of the polar vortex with a strong center over Hudson Bay.
What’s happening now in the lower stratosphere.
In Canada and the northern United States, the highs themselves. So why is it so cold?
Was the Little Ice Age caused by a drop in global temperature? No, it was the inhibition of circulation in the winter polar vortex. The Thames can only freeze if continental air from the east flows into England during the winter.
In five days, fronts of a stable Pacific low will bring more precipitation to California.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/11/02/0900Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/overlay=mean_sea_level_pressure/orthographic=-120.51,55.33,844
If CA is really in a “permanent drought”, why don’t they want the climate to change?
Because drought is the normal condition in california, yes it’s not over.
It will never be over, just varies in intensity.
Like south Saskatchewan where I grew up. It’s the “Great Plains” not the “great forest”, because it’s usually …… dry.
Like this year.