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No January Rain in San Francisco; Driest January on Record in CA Central Valley
Sunday, January 25, 2015 15:01
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The massive scale of California’s drought, and how it informs the climate change debate. January is usually San Francisco’s wettest month, averaging four and a half inches of rain since 1850. In January 2015, though, it hasn’t rained at all — and the forecast doesn’t suggest that’s likely to change. Over the past 165 years, that has never happened. Not once. The closest the city came to a rainless month was when it got 0.06 inches — in 2014.
Dry January starts familiar feeling of dread among farm water leaders. Facing a fourth drought year and maybe the driest January on record, farm water leaders hope storms are on the way, but they saw a dry January last year and got no water from the federal Central Valley Project.
Am starting to see and experience the effects of this severe record breaking drought. The cost of food is going up! Went to a Costco in Sacramento, CA, to buy some groceries. We usually by eggs in the 5 dozen size package and it used to cost less than $7.00 just a few months ago. This time they were near $15.00! At the checkout counter the checker told us everything is going up and he’s not kidding either! The lack of water is going to really become an issue in the coming months and there will be a lot of people moving out of SoCal. Today, Sunday, the 25th, 2015, up here in South Lake Tahoe, CA, it was 64F for a high! Snow that was up here is rapidly melting and it feels like spring!
No one seems to care, Mr. Brown, with the exception of a very few. This will be changing, however, in the very near future. Have you looked at any radar data of the west coast of the US today? Very interesting, and highly unusual, to see clouds coming up from the south/southeast in January, when this usually happens during the thunderstorm season in July and August. Have a look.
http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/PacificSatellite.aspx?animate=true
The forecast is for some snow in the highest elevations, and some light rain in some areas, but nothing of any significance.
Well, its 43F up here in South Lake Tahoe as of 7:45am. Forecast was for snow at 8am, but unless the temperature drops radically in the next 15 minutes, obviously, there will be no snow at lake level. A very light rain is falling, and snow level is above 8,000 ft.. Only the highest elevations are getting any snow, which will be negligable due to the weakness of the system. The drought is getting worse by the day. Lake water level is so low now that the concrete blocks used to moor boats offshore are now visible along the south shore. Most docks and boat launches all around the lake are high and dry, with no water around them at all. Shoreline along the south shore of Lake Tahoe extends out hundreds of feet from what, in a normal year, would be the shoreline. Not going to get better anytime soon either according to the forecasts, which have been “off” to say the least. Its now 8am and its not snowing because its over 40F! Temps are to be freezing tonight, but the storm system will be long gone by then. Highs for the rest of the week are forcast (ha-ha) to be in the upper 40s to low 50′s, with a high of 60F on Sunday. So much for winter!
No snow at lake level at Lake Tahoe. Light rain mixed with wet snow came down from around 9am to 11 am, and then turned to a very light rain which stopped at around 1pm. A few inches fell in the mountains above 8,000 feet, which is nothing really. The drought continues.
And the drought keeps getting worse by the day, but no one seems to think its going to effect them. Sacramento was 73F yesterday and not a cloud in sight. Sacramento River is at a historic low for this time of year. Mount Shasta has very little snow compared with previous years. Look for drastic measures to be taken by the government to keep track of water usage and limit the amount of water people can use even more than they are now. Oh, wait! The great state of CA’s governor already declared a “state of emergency” back on Jan. 17, 2015! Very little in the news about this, but the drought being experienced right now is the worst since they’ve been keeping records! “State water officials said California’s river flows and reservoirs are below their record lows. In addition, the snowpack’s statewide water content is at about 20 percent of normal average for this time of year.” http://eponline.com/articles/2014/01/17/water-emergency-declared-for-california.aspx
Actually, revised figures on the states snowpack put the water content at 12% of normal for this time of year!
Am beginning to think this severe drought isn’t being cauesd by man!