U.S. Drought Monitor Archives

Can Cloud Seeding Squeeze More Rain out of Storms? How Much?

Despite a rush of rain and snow heading into 2022, 85% of California remains in severely dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

That’s why water agencies in Southern California and beyond are trying to squeeze a bit more water out of the storms that come this winter using a method called cloud seeding.

It’s a weather modification technique that uses silver iodide to bond cloud droplets together to form ice crystals, which grow into snowflakes and fall as either snow or rain, depending on the elevation.

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Opinion: Welcome the Bout of Winter Storms, Just Don’t Call Them Drought Busters

December 30, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Gayle Falkenthal /Los Angeles Timesby Editorial Board

A series of storms have made for an exceptionally rainy and snowy start to California’s winter season, pushing snowpack and precipitation well above 150% of normal for this time of year and bringing a welcome influx of moisture amid an ongoing drought.

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San Jose: New Drought Rules and Water Fees Go Into Effect — What They Mean for Your Bill

November 18, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

October storms helped this winter’s rainy season get off to a good start across Northern California. But they weren’t enough to erase the two very dry previous years: 80% of California remains in an extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly federal report.

Reservoir levels are very low and groundwater tables are depleted because the past two years had the least rainfall in Northern California of any two-year period since 1976-77.

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S.F. Saw Just 9 Inches of Rain This ‘Water Year.’ Here’s How That Compares to Normal

October 5, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /San Francisco Chronicleby Kellie Hwang

The water year has officially come to an end — and once again, the Bay Area has come up dry.

How dry? The region received a little more than a third of normal precipitation from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, according to data from the National Weather Service — a common occurrence for the past several years, which bodes ill for a region already at the worst “exceptional” level on the U.S. Drought Monitor map.

Drought Makes its Home on the Range

September 29, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /NASAby Sofie Bates

As Tracy Schohr goes about her day, water is always on her mind. She’s thinking of it as she rides an all-terrain vehicle around the pasture, looks up hay prices and weather forecasts, and collects data on grazing and invasive weeds for a scientific study. Schohr is a rancher and farmer in Gridley, California, where her family has raised beef cattle and grown rice for six generations. She also aids in scientific research to study drought and other agricultural issues with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

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A ‘Thirsty’ Atmosphere is Propelling Northern California’s Drought Into the Record Books

September 27, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

Increasing evaporative demand is escalating summertime drought severity in California and the West, according to climate researchers.

Evaporative demand is essentially the atmosphere’s “thirst.” It is calculated based on temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. It’s the sum of evaporation and transpiration from plants, and it’s driven by warmer global temperatures, which can be attributed to climate change.

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74% of California and 52% of the Western U.S. Now in ‘Exceptional’ Drought

June 7, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /San Francisco Chronicleby Steve Rubenstein

Drought conditions in California remain at record highs, with most of the state now classified in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, reflecting conditions across the Southwest, according to a new report from climate scientists. Much of the Bay Area and the northern Central Valley have been included in the most severe “exceptional drought” zone, along with much of southeast California, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported.

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San Francisco Water Use Has Declined Since Last Drought — What Else Can You Do to Conserve?

May 25, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /SF Newsby Jay Barmann

We’re once again going to be having conversations this summer about water use, and hearing about ever more strict mandates coming down from counties and the state about what we use water for. But is San Francisco’s household water use really the problem?

The drought is bad, and it’s getting worse. A big swath of the Bay Area was just put in the “exceptional” drought tier last week by the U.S. Drought Monitor, and the rest of the Bay Area is in the second-worst or “extreme” drought category, along with about three-quarters of California.

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Klamath Basin Water Crisis: A Microcosm for Climate Change in the West

May 12, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /KGW8by Ashley Koch

A conflict over access to water in the Klamath Basin is signaling the way climate change could play out across the western United States. After a drier-than-normal spring, farmers and indigenous tribes in the Klamath Basin are at odds over water in Upper Klamath Lake.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the Klamath Basin is experiencing “extreme drought,” while the rest of Oregon is experiencing some level of drought or abnormal dryness.

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Lake Mendocino Hits Record Low for March; Water Managers Plead for Inland Residents to Conserve

March 23, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Mendocino Voiceby Lana Cohen

Lake Mendocino and Lake Pillsbury are the lowest they have been for this time of year since they were constructed, rainfall is between six and seven inches behind this time in 1977, and the forecast for the next two weeks has little to offer in terms of precipitation. To summarize, things are looking grim. In light of low water supplies and a dismal rain forecast, the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District declared a reduced water supply alert earlier this month, calling for Water District customers “to follow their water conservation plans and begin water shortage contingency planning.”

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