I often ask an audience — what’s the difference between climate and weather? And the short answer is climate is what we predict and weather is what we get. This last winter is a good example of the difference.
One of the largest El Niño events in recent history was predicted for this winter, based on the very large and warm body of ocean water moving towards South America from the western Pacific during summer and fall.
As Americans across the country scrambled to get their taxes filed before the midnight deadline last month, many homeowners found themselves with a new reason to feel frustrated.
Their complaint: they may have been hit with a higher tax bill just for working with their local water utility to reduce their water footprint over the last year.
With a long-term drought plaguing much of California and Northern Nevada, the agriculture industry is adjusting and innovating. “[The drought] is one of the worst we’ve had in history,” said UC Davis Professor and watershed expert Jay Lund. “In some ways, particularly up in the watersheds, because it’s been extra warm, it’s among the driest in history.” Lund added, “Some would say even the driest we’ve seen in a thousand years.”
In 2015, snowpack was at record lows in the Sierra Nevada and other western mountain ranges. California’s San Joaquin Valley was probably hit worst by the drought.
California’s two Democratic senators remain somewhat out of sync over proposed water legislation, underscoring its ambiguous future on the eve of a big hearing.
Four months after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s introduction of her latest California water package, Sen. Barbara Boxer is still evaluating the 185-page bill. Her wait-and-see attitude hints at complex undercurrents, as she supports some parts of Feinstein’s bill while seeking more feedback about other parts.
In a potential sign the drought is easing, the massive water wholesaler in Southern California is no longer planning to limit its regional water deliveries.
“Effective immediately, the Southland cities and water districts that make purchases from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California [MWD] will no longer be subjected to so-called allocations or the punitive surcharges that come with exceeding them,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Drought is a tricky thing to define. It is not just a matter of how little water falls out of the sky. If it were, you would be forgiven for believing that California’s wettish winter had ended, or even alleviated, the worst drought in state history. But no. Despite the snow in the Sierra Nevada, the water filling Lake Shasta, and the rapids in the Kern River, California is still in a state of drought. For now, maybe forever.
A major money maker in California is making a comeback after recent rains. When it comes to California rice, 97 percent of it is grown in the Sacramento region. But California’s drought left a lot of rice fields barren. Now, Central Valley rice farmers are looking up as they reap the benefits of recent storms. Even though much of the state is still reeling from a historic drought, this year’s wet weather is making the rice harvest season more promising.
The U.S. Drought Monitor released May 12 shows some minor improvement in California drought conditions and the removal of the short-term drought designation.
But the seasonal outlook shows drought persisting through the dry season as California’s drought continues for a fifth consecutive year. “Based upon recent conditions and discussions that started last week, areas of D2 (severe) and D3 (extreme) were improved over southern Nevada and southern California,” according to weekly report. “For all of the West, the indicator type was changed to “L” (long-term drought) as the areas of short-term impacts have improved enough to remove that designation.
The Sierra snowpack is melting quickly, sending water flowing into nearby rivers and reservoirs. This is the normal cycle for snowmelt but research by the California Department of Water Resources found now it’s happening sooner in the season. This means there’s a larger gap between peak runoff and peak demand.
Snow in the Sierra is a great resource for water during the dry late spring and summer months. With a nice, steady snowmelt reservoirs get replenished as water is released to ease the dry conditions. Problems arise though when the peak runoff is well ahead of peak demand.
