California drying

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California's Historic Drought - 25 images of the water crisis

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/03/californias-historic-drought/100706/

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The California rainy season is bringing one final blast of moisture to the drought-parched state over the coming week. Strong low pressure systems will bring mountain snows and valley rains to most of the northern half of the state on Saturday and again on Monday, and widespread precipitation amounts of 4+ inches are likely. A Winter Storm Watch is posted for the Sierras, where snowfall amounts of 1 - 2 feet are expected over the weekend. Monday's storm will likely dump another 1 - 2 feet, providing a critical boost to a drought-depleted snowpack that the state desperately needs to provide water during the hot, dry summer months. Rain-bearing low pressure systems typically stop bringing heavy rains to the state by mid-April, as the jet stream shifts to the north in its usual springtime migration. The 16-day GFS forecast is showing one more decent shot of moisture is possible on April 4, then a shift to a drier pattern will occur. The March 25, 2014 Drought Monitor is showing that 99.8% of California is in drought, with 95% of the state in Severe, Extreme, or Exceptional drought, a 2% rise from the previous week.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2654

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California Drought: San Joaquin Valley sinking as farmers race to tap aquifer

 

PIXLEY – So wet was the San Joaquin Valley of Steve Arthur's childhood that a single 240-foot-deep well could quench the thirst of an arid farm.

 

Now his massive rig, bucking and belching, must drill 1,200 feet deep in search of ever-more-elusive water to sustain this wheat farm north of Bakersfield. As he drills, his phone rings with three new appeals for help.

 

"Everybody is starting to panic," said Arthur, whose Fresno-based well-drilling company just bought its ninth rig, off the Wyoming oil fields. "Without water, this valley can't survive."

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_25447586/california-drought-san-joaquin-valley-sinking-farmers-race

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Update on the California Drought (March 31, 2014)

 

The end of the rainy season in California is arriving in a few weeks, and the April 1^st snowpack measurement, which is a key indicator of water conditions, is tomorrow. As we approach the dry spring and summer months, the scope and severity of California’s drought will become more apparent, but it is already clear that California is faced with extraordinarily dry conditions, with impacts to all sectors and every corner of the state.

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Drought's not over yet: California storms improve Sierra snowpack, but it remains low

 

The much-welcomed storms that hit California this week and over the past month increased the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of water for cities and farms.

 

But they didn't end the drought, experts say. They simply improved a disastrous situation to dismal.

 

On Tuesday, surveyors for the state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack is 32 percent of average -- the lowest level on April 1 since 1988, when Sierra Nevada snows were at 29 percent of normal. That was the second year of California's last major drought, which lasted five years.

 

But Tuesday's total is significantly better than two months ago, when the snowpack was only 14 percent of normal, after 2013 became the driest year in California's recorded history.

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25468885/droughts-not-over-yet-california-storms-improve-sierra

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With the middle of April approaching, there is no significant precipitation in the forecast for California in the coming ten days, and there is a good chance that the California rainy season is at least 95% over. As wunderground's weather historian, Christopher C. Burt, documents in his April 3 California Drought Update, the California rainy season lasts from October to mid-April, and typically only 10 - 15% of the rainy season precipitation falls after April 1. While enough precipitation fell over the past two months to prevent the current rainy season from hitting record low precipitation levels, the 2013 - 2014 rainy season was the third consecutive poor rainy season, leaving California in a dire drought situation. The winter of 2013 - 2014 had the most severe winter drought conditions since record keeping began in 1895, and California faces a long, dry summer with a Sierra snowpack that is only 33% of normal. The April 3, 2014 Drought Monitor is showing that 99.8% of California is in drought, with 95% of the state in Severe, Extreme, or Exceptional drought.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2659

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Sobering record: for 1st time in 15 yrs of U.S. Drought Monitor, all Calif. is in moderate or worse drought http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

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California's drought has finished its conquest of the state: 100 percent of the land here is now in a drought condition, and 96 percent of it is in a severe, extreme, or exceptional drought.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/drought-now-covers-100-of-california/361184/

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30 Million California Salmon Hitch a Ride to the Ocean Due to Drought

 

With riverways dry and a billion-dollar industry on the line, workers in Northern California are engaged in a massive, spring-long mission to vacuum 30 million baby salmon from five inland hatcheries and haul them, in trucks, to the coast.

 

They’re pumping the smolts into oxygenated vats then giving each fish a lengthy, one-way ride to the Pacific. They’re using highways to navigate past almond orchards, scrubland and golf courses, all to get the fish past the drought-stricken waterways that are the king salmon’s usual route to the ocean.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/30-million-california-salmon-hitch-ride-ocean-due-drought-n88851

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Pensacola got more rain last 3 days than Los Angeles in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (so far) combined: http://wapo.st/1fCn8Q5

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The Thirsty West: Where’s the Snow?

 

New data show that California will be starting the summer dry season with a snowpack around the lowest levels since recordkeeping began nearly a century ago. The data were collected by hand over the last week as part of California’s annual snowpack survey across the vast Sierra Nevada, an update to the automated numbers released a week ago.

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/04/thirsty_west_california_s_meager_snowpack_will_exacerbate_a_dangerous_drought.html

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Record May Heat, Drought, and Fires Scorch California

 

Record May heat sent temperatures soaring above 100° in much of Southern California on Wednesday, and fierce Santa Ana winds fanned fires that scorched at least 9,000 acres in San Diego County, forcing thousands to evacuate. For the second consecutive day, the Los Angeles Airport set a record for the hottest May temperature since record keeping began in 1944. Wednesday's 96° beat the record set on Tuesday of 93°. Other all-time May record heat was recorded at Camarillo (102°) and Oxnard (102°) on Wednesday. In Downtown Los Angeles, the mercury hit 99° on Wednesday, falling short of the all-time May record is 103° set on May 25, 1896. More record heat is forecast on Thursday, and hot offshore Santa Ana winds will bring extreme fire danger.

 

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2679

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100 Percent of California Now in Highest Stages of Drought

 

It might not seem possible, but California's drought just got worse. According to Thursday’s release of the U.S. Drought Monitor, 100 percent of the state is now in one of the three worst stages of drought.

 

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/california-severe-drought-or-worse-17444

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New report from UC Davis on projected economic impacts of Cali Drought on Central Valley

 

https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/files/biblio/Preliminary_2014_drought_economic_impacts-05192014.pdf â€¦

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Drought Outlook: ‘Disastrous Consequences’ If 2015 Is Dry

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/06/11/drought-outlook-disasterous-consequences-if-2015-is-dry/

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El Nino will see them flooded soon.

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Hopefully you and the NMME are correct.

 

New June NMME today shows classic El Niño rainfall pattern for US this Oct-Nov-Dec. Above normal rains psbl for CA. pic.twitter.com/glI5vPHUqq

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Vanishing water

http://www.desertsun.com/longform/news/environment/2014/06/14/global-warming-southwest-water-supply-drought/10418637/

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Special Report.

 

California Drought: Snowmelt's path shows impact from Sierra to Pacific

http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_26009266/california-drought-snowmelt-path-shows-impact-sierras-pacific

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Updated numbers for CA, '13-14 neck-and-neck with '76-77 for 2nd driest rain year on record #cadrought pic.twitter.com/xf5SGzvzMH

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The California gets worse. 100% of state in "severe to exceptional" drought as of July 1

 

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New data show massive expansion of CA drought this week. USDA: CA is "short more than one year’s worth" of water. pic.twitter.com/2I9OC0kwR7

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California's 1st seven months of 2014 have been its warmest on record

 

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-californias-warmest-year-20140804-story.html

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In California, record heat adding to extreme drought

 

The first half of 2014 was by far the hottest in California in 120 years of record-keeping, and that heat is exacerbating one of the most devastating droughts in state history.

Month after month, the red and burgundy patches on the California drought map have been spreading, with 82 percent of the state now classified as being in "extreme" or "exceptional" drought on the U.S. Drought Monitor website.

 

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/10/california-record-heat-extreme-drought/13856149/

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Drought index shows combined impact of warm temps & lack of rain, current #CADrought worst on record. pic.twitter.com/elFeEOUa02