Quote:There is no time to waste. The timetable for action is accelerating. The record lows are coming sooner in the season – July 9, 2014; June 23, 2015; May 18, 2016. All eyes are on the number 1,075. If Mead’s elevation in August is projected to be lower than 1,075 feet at the start of the following year, then a shortage would be declared. The Bureau of Reclamation estimates a 56 percent chance of a lower basin shortage by 2018. This means water cuts from the Colorado for Arizona and Nevada (and potentially for California, depending on how the ongoing negotiations shake out).
Despite the gloomy forecast, there are encouraging signs of camaraderie. A shortage would have come sooner if not for concerted conservation efforts in recent years. A $US 11 million program that was agreed to in 2014 is paying for conservation projects that bank the saved water in Mead. A similar program is taking place in the upper basin.
All told, a shortage will not decimate the basin. Its punch is more psychological at the moment than physical. But it is symbolic of the difficulty ahead if Lake Mead drops below 1,050 feet, or 1,025 feet, or even near the 950-foot level where hydropower generation would cease. The sternest tests for the Colorado River Basin — both political and hydrological — are still to come.

(05-30-2016, 07:25 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Our esteemed climatologist (irony intended) and practically-certain Republican nominee for President Donald Trump has made public appearances in California's water-thirsty Central Valley and proclaimed that there is no drought of water so long as Californians are ready to practically drain the Sacramento Delta to give a respite to growers.


[quote-USA Today]

California suffered one of its driest years in 2015. And last year the state hit its driest four-year period on record.

But Donald Trump isn't sold. The presumptive GOP nominee told supporters in Fresno, Calif., on Friday night that no such dry spell exists.

Trump said state officials were simply denying water to Central Valley farmers to prioritize the Delta smelt, a native California fish nearing extinction — or as Trump called it, "a certain kind of three-inch fish.”

“We’re going to solve your water problem. You have a water problem that is so insane. It is so ridiculous where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea,” Trump told thousands of supporters at the campaign event.

A series of graphics from the Los Angeles Times shows the progression of the drought from 2011 through today, using data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal website that tracks the dry conditions. The drought worsened in 2014 and 2015 and has marginally subsided this year.

The most recent Drought Monitor report says that over the past week parts of northeastern California and northern Nevada recorded improvements, and "overall conditions have continued to steadily improve during the past year."

Trump spoke in Fresno and San Diego ahead of California's June 7 primary. California is the country's top agriculture producer, and the drought raised tensions among farmers, government officials and environmentalists.

State officials imposed a water ban on June 1, 2015, after record low rain and snowfall. The scarcity was evident from the Sierra Nevada's shrunken snowpack to the dry wells of the Central Valley.

Trump's comments come weeks after Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order updating water restrictions. The water rules were imposed in hopes of building the state's "resilience" in the long-term water conservation measures through monthly water use reporting and bans on "clearly wasteful practices such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes," according to a news release from the California Government Operations Agency's website.

Meanwhile, the powerful farm lobby is trying to secure federal and state approval for billions of dollars to create new water tunnels, dams and other projects.

At least we know where Trump stands on the issue: “If I win, believe me, we’re going to start opening up the water so that you can have your farmers survive."

Quote:https://www.drought.gov/gdm/current-conditions
… "April 2016 was the warmest April since records began in 1880. At 14.8C, April 2016 exceeded the 20th century average April temperature by 1.1C. In Europe, drought conditions remain around the Mediterranean Sea and have expanded slightly at the higher latitudes this month. In Asia, drought improved across much of western India but has intensified in the Southeast. India has experienced an intense heat wave resulting in hundreds of deaths. An estimated 330 million people in the country do not have enough water to meet their needs as a result of the drought. In Africa, short-term drought improved in the South as well as around the equator. Namibia is experiencing its worst crop performance in 80 years and foot shortages in Malawi have prompted a declaration of disaster, where 2.8 million people are being impacted. In North America, drought remains entrenched in the higher latitudes, especially across western Canada leading to widespread wildfires.”…

(06-02-2016, 07:43 PM)Cynic Hero Wrote: Weather pattern changes occur all the time. California has had drought conditions before.

(10-25-2016, 03:33 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:

(08-18-2016, 07:29 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: La Nina continues to deepen rapidly.

Minor potential silver lining - The Farmers' Almanac predicts this will be a "wet La Nina" winter, where NorCal has a more Northwestern pattern than other SW US locales. Normally the Pac NW gets lots of rain during La Nina conditions while the SW is parched.

So far, this seems to be the case. Of course, what happens during "prime time" (D-J-F), will determine everything.

Quote:Wildfires are charring hundreds of acres daily in the South as drought conditions worsen across the region, and the heavy, widespread rains that officials say are needed to end the threat are nowhere in sight.
A crew using bulldozers worked to put out a wildfire that spread gray smoke across the rural community of Brookside about 20 miles northwest of Birmingham on Thursday, and another fire that began Wednesday, damaging several structures, was still burning but under control on the eastern edge of the metro area.
In Georgia, a fire that blackened dozens of acres around the city of Rome was still smoldering, and officials said the fire danger rating was at its highest across a wide area that included much of metro Atlanta.
The lack of storms means lightning probably didn't cause the fires. Authorities suspect simple carelessness â€" like tossing cigarette butts on dry ground â€" caused some of the blazes, while others could be arson.

(11-29-2016, 03:42 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: The people of TN, NC and AL certainly are getting exactly what they have been voting for.

(11-29-2016, 03:42 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: The people of TN, NC and AL certainly are getting exactly what they have been voting for.