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California Declared Totally Drought Free For First Time in Seven Years
California was declared totally drought free for the first time in more than seven years this week, following unusually abundant winter rains and snowfall statewide, according to the government's weekly report on U.S. drought conditions. From a report: The U.S. Drought Monitor's latest survey reflected an astonishing turnaround - at least for now - from a severe, prolonged dry spell that reduced irrigation supplies to farmers, forced strict household conservation measures and stoked a spate of deadly, devastating wildfires. A relatively small swath of California's southern-most region, including most of San Diego County, remains labeled "abnormally dry" on the drought map index, as does a tiny patch at the state's extreme northern end along the Oregon border. But this week marks the first time since mid-December of 2011 that 100 percent of the state has been classified as being free of drought, defined as a moisture deficit severe enough to cause social, environmental or economic ills. Conditions were classified as normal across 93 percent of the state.
Sad part is we're still paying drought prices thanks to Jerry Brown. One way to raise taxes without raising taxes.
Extreme swings in weather conditions are a sign that the earth's climate system has absorbed more energy. And we have been seeing lots of extreme swings in the last couple of decades.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Problem is, there's been a very obvious change in the winter rainfall patterns here in L.A. over the last decade. It used to start raining by November, but now it's usually warm and dry until February. We've had 80-90 degree Decembers. This winter was remarkable because it rained a lot, it rained early, and it actually got cold before Christmas. The hills are crazy green, which we haven't seen in a long time. It's not a matter of dry summers/wet winters anymore, but a lot of year-round dryness that's been relentless.
NOPE.
Trillions of gallons of water are simply flowing to the ocean. So the next time there is a drought Californians will bitch and complain about global warming. When pointed out that the lack of water is policial in nature, they reply, as always, with "So politics controls the rain now?"
I've been told wet weather is a sign of climate change.
For the western US - the coast in particular - the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) pretty much trumps everything else. Typically in El Niño years, California is wetter than normal (and my state, Washington, is dryer than normal).
But those are still just percentages - they don't always pan out. Plus this winter's El Niño fizzled out about halfway through. As Freud might've said, "sometimes a wet winter is just a wet winter".
Additionally, multi-year droughts are not uncommon for California. There's a reason they decided to build water reservoirs with multi-year capacity, way back in the say. This may be affected by anthropogenic climate change, one way or the other, but it's also an underlying truth about California's climate.
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