Gov. Brown Declares CA Drought Emergency

(Source)

Well, some areas are freezing and digging snow.....some areas are getting torrential rains and tides to break records ..and some just get more extreme of what they've had for years. California can't seem to catch a break for their droughts.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency Friday for California after weeks of intensifying pressure from lawmakers to take action as the state's water reservoir levels remain strained with no rain in the forecast.

Now it is important to note that California has been dealing with this on and off for as long as I've been alive and I STILL have problems sometimes remembering to flush the toilet after going pee, because it was so drilled into me during drought years in the 70's Southern California....don't flush that "number", so to speak.

The main point there is that California calls the emergency sooner than other states might, where others may deny it was happening until it truly was a breaking crisis. Still, this is no small thing for them, by the sound of it.

The declaration comes during one of the driest winters on record in California, following two dry years that already have left many reservoirs depleted. The state is facing "perhaps the worst drought that California has ever seen" since records began, Brown said during the Friday morning announcement.

Source

Now, given that Governors history of creative story telling disguised as anecdotal evidence, I'd have to see the records directly for the period he's claiming before I believed this THE worst...but it's no picnic.

Here is hoping for some rain your way, California.

"If it's Yellow, let it mellow. If it's Brown, flush it down."

A little mnemonic from the last severe drought we in California endured. (and a phrase that was/is sure to elicit a wince from our current Governor!)

Not to go all "Doom Porn" or anything, but we must also consider the impact that a sustained severe drought in California will have on the rest of the country, and perhaps, the world.

California, as we must remember, is a major agricultural production state (I believe, for instance, that we supply up 90% of the world's almond crop). If this drought impacts the State's agri-business, the entire country will see drastically increased prices for many foods this coming summer, and later.

Not good for a (claimed) recovering economy.

If you look back through some of my posts you will find I talked about this happening this summer. In our local area there is a community that relies solely on a river to pull water for their drinking water reservoirs.

They have zero plumbing outside of what they get from those reservoirs. They are talking about trucking in truckloads of water and starting a strict rationing program if we don't get the rain needed.

Folsom Lake is so low one can actually see Mormom Island. Even in a long drought cycle a single wet winter will not turn things round for long. Oh and skiing in the Sierras? Not so much this year.

The upside is that I am about to go on a motorcycle ride in 70+ temps.

i'm in texas and we're about to declare a state of emergency here too. the problem with this now is that we have more people and we have so much agriculture going on in both states.

Based on these surface pressure model projections, the high-pressure blocking moisture from getting into the state, could be situated over the west coast for the next week or more.


(01/18/14)

(01/22/14)

(01/26/14)


Until finally giving way sometime around the 27-28th:


(01/27/14)

(01/28/14)


^we'll have to wait and see what follows in the form of precipitation.
(click here for an animated .GIF of the maps provided above, and more.)

BTW thanks for that pressure map. Being a weather nerd I really enjoyed the UK site. Thanks!

We've been stuck in a prevailing pattern of mostly La Nina and La Nada conditions with one very weak El Nino for the past two or three years. When that happens, the La Ninas generally lead to prevailing weather patterns that give the southwestern and southeastern US drier and warmer than normal and conditions. If you look at the ENSO conditions now, we are right on the cusp between La Nada and tipping over into another La Nina.

La Nadas generally lead to blocking highs where the weather patterns tend to stagnate more. This leads to the big high pressure domes that cause heat waves in the summer when it's most notable, but as someone pointed out above, they also tend to keep the weather patterns from bringing you moisture at inconvenient times, too, while you wait for them to break up or be pushed along.

So, right now, it doesn't look like y'all are going to be getting much relief.

I knew I saw this somewhere. This is footage from Folsom Lake. It is but a few miles from my place. All I can say is thank goodness I live with a well that is still in great shape. Oh and I think I am gonna buy a quad copter for my GoPro.

Does this mean it's California Crunch time?

Amid severe drought conditions, California officials announced Friday they won't send any water from the state's vast reservoir system to local agencies beginning this spring, an unprecedented move that affects drinking water supplies for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland.

The announcement marks the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project that such an action has been taken, but it does not mean that every farm field will turn to dust and every city tap will run dry.

The 29 agencies that draw from the state's water-delivery system have other sources, although those also have been hard-hit by the drought.

If this gets worse, where will 25 million people go to see water coming out of their taps?