It isn’t a secret that California has recently experienced one of the worst droughts in over 100 years.
However, that changed this past month: Bay Area streets flooded, coastal properties were destroyed and traffic increased, as the region saw above-average levels of rain and snow in the region.
Record high temperatures and a dry spell in California the past week has “renewed concerns of early snowmelt” in the Sierra and “considerable long-term” drought impacts remain.
“In the core western drought areas of California and western Nevada, dry, warm weather during the period resulted in no change to this week’s drought depiction,” reports the U.S. Drought Monitor in its update released Feb. 18. “While much of the region has experienced favorable precipitation during the 2015-16 Water Year – and subsequent removal of the “S” (short-term) drought Impact Type – considerable long-term (L) impacts remain.”
Snow fell almost non-stop until late afternoon Thursday in the Sierra, luring people to its beauty and helping lead to highway backups.
But there was still not enough snow to satisfy thirsty Californians who want to hear that the drought is over.
Manteca currently allows the watering of lawns three times a week.
And while the city shut off almost all of their irrigation at the start of December, they didn’t reduce watering days for everyone else assuming people would use common sense with the return of rain, the dormant cycle for everything from trees and shrubs to grass, and the fact morning dew is prevalent through the end of February.
Most people in Manteca displayed common sense but a good number didn’t even going as far as watering lawns in the middle of January storms.
In meeting rooms more than 2,200 miles from the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the California drought dominated discussions as the California Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors met with congressional representatives and agency officials in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announced her introduction of California drought legislation as she met with the CFBF board last week, and both she and members of the House of Representatives lamented the loss of water that has been allowed to flow out to sea during this winter’s El Niño storms.
The giant patch of warm water in the northern Pacific – nicknamed The Blob – has finally broken up. Compare images from this year and last.
These maps show sea surface temperature anomalies in the Pacific in July 2015 (above) and January 2016 (below). The maps do not depict absolute temperatures; instead, they show how much above (red) or below (blue) water temperatures were compared to the average from 2003 to 2012.
Researchers launched weather balloons Tuesday off the coast of Hawaii in an unprecedented effort to discover how El Nino affects weather forecasts thousands of miles away.
Craig McLean, assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA Research, explained how the project hopes to collect data from the Pacific Ocean using a research plane, a NOAA ship and drones.
Bakersfield-area water districts that have been complaining they just can’t meet the state’s water conservation rules because it’s so hot and dry here are going to get some relief.
Four local water companies that have been required to cut their water use by 36 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2013 will instead have to reduce use by 33 percent starting March 1.
A group of central San Joaquin Valley agriculture, government and Latino leaders is raising an alarm about a proposed ballot initiative to take money away from high-speed rail and use it instead for water-storage projects in California.
Their opposition to the initiative – which is now being circulated for signatures to qualify for the November ballot – is rooted not in support for the controversial bullet-train project, but because the measure would also divert $2.7 billion in water-storage money from Proposition 1, a water bond act approved by more than two-thirds of California voters in 2014.
It’s February in California, but it’s been impossible to tell. Warm weather and a lack of rain has disappointed many Californians who expected El Nino would bust the state’s drought. Instead, the reestablishment of resilient weather patterns could mean the state’s drought will intensify through the next year and likely beyond. Ironically, El Nino itself could be responsible for the dry spell.
California has enjoyed the El Nino weather, with the return of rain and snow across the state following four years of epic drought. However, since mid-January, the return of high pressure off the coast has brought hot, dry weather back to the state in spite of El Nino.
