Drought officially declared in 50 of 58 California Counties
This will likely come as no surprise to most of those living in Inyo and Mono counties. On March 19, AgnetWest.com posted a story on U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack designating 50 of 58 counties in California as being primary natural disaster areas because of recent drought conditions.
Secretary Vilsack sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, indicated that the classification of a natural disaster was based on readings from the U.S. Drought Monitor. We are far from alone. Large parts across the country are suffering from drought conditions as a result of climate change. Fifty counties in California suffered severe drought for at least 8 weeks, or experienced extreme or exceptional drought at any time. And if last year is any indication, we may be in for a very serious wildfire season again, similar to last year’s devastating wildfires.
California and contiguous states have been designated as disaster areas by the disaster declaration by Vilsack, with all of California considered natural disaster areas because of the drought.
The importance of the official declaration is that farmers and ranchers are will be eligible for assistance programs through the Farm Service Agency. According to AgWestNet.com, producers need to apply for assistance within eight months of the disaster declaration.
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MPerson. Here is a link that answers some of your questions https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action
We’ll live, we’ve been through this before.
The year ain’t even over yet.
Because climate change? In 1952, Steinbeck began his opus East of Eden describing the 30 year California cycle of “five or six wet and wonderful years”, then “six or seven pretty good years”, and then “the dry years would come,..the land dried up and the grasses headed out miserably…and it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
I have recorded 1.1 inches of rain in Olancha since May 1st 2020. Normal precipitation is 4.0 inches a year. The water year starts July 1st, but we went from May 1st to December 28th without measurable rain which was a new record of 241 days. The previous record was 199 days.
So, yes we are in a drought.
LADWP’s exports should reflect this drought condition. If we are at 55 % of mean average normal snowpack then the DWP exports should also be at 55% of mean average export amounts.
LA could stop putting in pools in ever house.
You seem to know a lot about water content. Does it matter that it has been so cold, and that we have a lot more snow in the mountains hanging around versus melting? Even after “normal” years, it seems that at lower elevations, the snow has melted. This year, we have some sticking around. Does it change the equation or no?
Have a look here:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=PLOT_SWC.pdf