2023 drought conditions

[fossana]

Looking forward to spring desert backpacking with this forecast. I'm curious to see the update after the most recent round of storms.

Situation as of 3 Jan

1 month outlook

 

[Bob]

Still drought conditions everywhere.. just not as severe. Doesn't take much to tip areas back. A lot depends on late spring moisture. We shall see. At my house the snowpack is down..

 

[fossana]

Another useful map with configurable longer-term outlooks:

source

 

[Wanderlust073]

I'd be willing to bet California has seen more than 8-26" of rain run back in to the ocean over the last couple weeks alone. Feds should be backing a massive public works project to implement the sort of solution the Romans figured out two thousand years ago.

 

[wsp_scott]

I'd be willing to bet California has seen more than 8-26" of rain run back in to the ocean over the last couple weeks alone. Feds should be backing a massive public works project to implement the sort of solution the Romans figured out two thousand years ago.

Pretty sure a large amount of rivers in CA have Roman style capture devices like dams and reservoir, something about the Bureau of Reclamation comes to mind

 

[regehr]

Pretty sure a large amount of rivers in CA have Roman style capture devices like dams and reservoir, something about the Bureau of Reclamation comes to mind

is it time to re-watch _Chinatown_ again already?

 

[Wanderlust073]

Pretty sure a large amount of rivers in CA have Roman style capture devices like dams and reservoir, something about the Bureau of Reclamation comes to mind

Sure, but obviously what is in place is not enough as the state suffers from a chronic water shortage while siting under annual flooding rains. This is exactly the sort of thing governments are there to fix. Good ones anyway. Or functional at least.

How can California boost its water supply?

From capturing stormwater runoff to transforming agriculture, here are some ways for drought-prone California to get more water.

calmatters.org

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific

Urban infrastructure was designed to take stormwater out to the ocean quickly. Now, California needs that precious water.

theconversation.com

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147494521/california-weather-storm-water

etc, etc.

 

[futurafree]

Just this morning, a big article in the Times about what LA is trying to do to remedy the problem over the coming decades. Not sure if you can read without a subscription.

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Have heard the Sierras are getting a huge amount of snow which is Great to hear. Now guess they will have to make room in the reservoirs for all the spring snowmelt runoff that will be occurring. But good to see the moisture coming in for a large area here in the west. The Tetons in Wyoming have seen tons of snow there also. Here in the Arizona deserts there is talk of maybe a superbloom as for the flowers are concerned for this spring. Yea! As for the Thorofare, it could be marshy and wet like usual for the spring and early summer like it should be.

 

[Henk]

The NOAA site gives long term forecasts for Temperature and Precipitation no guarantees

Climate Prediction Center - Seasonal Color Maps

Seasonal Color Maps

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

 

[wsp_scott]

Sure, but obviously what is in place is not enough as the state suffers from a chronic water shortage while siting under annual flooding rains. This is exactly the sort of thing governments are there to fix. Good ones anyway. Or functional at least.

How can California boost its water supply?

From capturing stormwater runoff to transforming agriculture, here are some ways for drought-prone California to get more water.

calmatters.org

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific

Urban infrastructure was designed to take stormwater out to the ocean quickly. Now, California needs that precious water.

theconversation.com

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147494521/california-weather-storm-water

etc, etc.

Yeah, I was mostly just being snarky, should not have had that last beer

I was going to post the article that @futurafree links to because it touches on this issue. Unfortunately saving more water looks to be really expensive

 

[fossana]

re: CA

Vox recently interviewed a Bay Area public radio reporter and environmental scientist, Peter Gleick, about it on the Today Explained podcast. tl;dr CA lacks the infrastructure/public land to recapture massive amounts of flood plain surface water. In order to do so, they'd need to reclaim land from agriculture and development, potentially through eminent domain, which is widely unpopular. CA is also resistant to any compromise around the CO River Compact b/c of its senior water rights.

 

[Janice]

Similar ideas in this podcast I heard yesterday: NY Times The Daily. It's frustrating that ideas are out there for improving the situation but political and economic realities make it unlikely that action will be possible.

 

[Bob]

The NOAA site gives long term forecasts for Temperature and Precipitation no guarantees

Climate Prediction Center - Seasonal Color Maps

Seasonal Color Maps

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

View attachment 118072

They Are only 50/50 on weekly weather, I wouldn't believe much far out in time

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Now am with you Bob. They have a hard time just with the everyday forecasts. Now that far out who knows what will happen. Kayla