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Days warm but drought is hot topic; Showers fail to douse woes

Posted by: Maven on January 31, 2009 at 7:37 am

Note to new readers: This is the obligatory second day post about California’s worsening drought. The drought has led the blog for the last couple of days, so today we needed something different at the top. For more drought stories, click here and here.

For the agricultural view of the drought, this from the Capital Press:

The spitting, dribbling rain that fell on northern and central California last week wasn’t nearly enough to stop the doomsday drought scenarios that are now in the minds of many farmers and meteorologists.

Rainfall totals between Jan. 21 through Jan. 25 ranged from 1.75 inches in Stockton to 0.26 inches in Bakersfield – hardly enough to pull the region to within sight of its normal rainfall for the season.

The misty rain broke a spell of dry and unseasonably warm weather, and now a new dry period is expected to linger at least until the end of next week.

The pattern has weather experts beginning to issue dire warnings of drastic water cutbacks this summer as the state endures its third straight year of drought.

“The consensus is it’s going to be another bad water year for us,” said Robert Baruffaldi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento. “Maybe we can get enough in the remainder of the winter to mitigate that,” he said, “but things still look like they’re going to be well below normal this year again.”

Read more from the Capital Press by clicking here.

For an urban view of the drought, this story from the Contra Costa Times:

Southern California temperatures this month were the envy of many in the Midwest and the East, where temperatures have fallen well below freezing on many days. But the warmer weather also spells trouble for Southern California residents, who face an increasing chance of water rationing.

California Department of Water Resources officials announced Thursday that they would be getting less water from this winter’s snowpack, which could lead to restrictions on outdoor watering.

With the smaller snowpack, low water levels in the state’s reservoirs and only two months of winter remaining amid record heat, water conservation plans are likely to be announced in the coming months, experts said.

“We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history,” said Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow in a statement on Jan. 29.

In February, the Department of Water and Power will likely recommended a second phase of water-waste ordinances, which would limit outdoor water use to three days a week. Since June, officials have issued fines to residents who leave hoses and sprinklers running, said Jim McDaniel, a senior assistant general manager with the DWP.

“Everyone needs to conserve more water this year,” he said. “It’s a very serious situation.”

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

Here’s KCRA’s coverage of the drought:

January 31, 2009 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack

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