California Drought

[NoTrespassing]

California's Drought Could Last Hundreds of Years, Research Shows

https://weather.com/climate-weather...-extended-drought-greenhouse-gases-ucla-study

Story from 9/20/16

Last year during El Nino the experts predicted a wetter than normal year for California. It didn't turn out that way at least for Southern California. This year during El Nina they predicted a drier than normal year which doesn't seem to be panning out either. I wish I could be wrong as often as these scientists and still keep my job.

Kevin

 

[dragoneggs]

California's Drought Could Last Hundreds of Years, Research Shows

https://weather.com/climate-weather...-extended-drought-greenhouse-gases-ucla-study

Story from 9/20/16

Last year during El Nino the experts predicted a wetter than normal year for California. It didn't turn out that way at least for Southern California. This year during El Nina they predicted a drier than normal year which doesn't seem to be panning out either. I wish I could be wrong as often as these scientists and still keep my job.

Kevin

Parts of California could fall into the Pacific Ocean too.

Parts Of California Are Actually Falling Into The Ocean | The Sleuth Journal

 

[California]

Nobody comes here any more. Its too crowded.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I'm safe because few of the people I've voted for are elected. Mass appeal equates to mass hysteria in most cases ...

Yep. That's why we don't live in a democracy.

A republic is not completely immune to such things (witness the last election, where we had our choice of demagogues), but it does have an extra layer of insulation against demagogues.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

California's Drought Could Last Hundreds of Years, Research Shows

https://weather.com/climate-weather...-extended-drought-greenhouse-gases-ucla-study

Story from 9/20/16

Last year during El Nino the experts predicted a wetter than normal year for California. It didn't turn out that way at least for Southern California. This year during El Nina they predicted a drier than normal year which doesn't seem to be panning out either. I wish I could be wrong as often as these scientists and still keep my job.

Kevin

The predictions I heard for this year were 50/50 on what would happen with regard to above average rain. As in either there would be above average rain or not. And like last year, NorCal has been getting above average rain, while SoCal has not. The way I heard it, this La Nina isn't very strong, and most of the weather guessers I listen to (local news and Weather Underground) said right up front it could go either way, and we'd just have to wait and see.

 

[flusher]

California is not the only place with water problems. I believe the Ogala Reservoir as well as some others are being drawn from at a greater rate than the recharge. That is also what is happening to other reservoirs around the world.

Are you referring to the Ogallala Aquifer that underlies Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma? There are tens of thousands of wells tapping the OA that supply water to the pivot irrigators used for grain crops. IIRC nobody knows for sure how much groundwater is in the OA.

Same for CA, although with new laws on the books for groundwater conservation and recharge, there is a lot of work now on measuring the storage capacity of the CA aquifers. My son works on this project for USGS in Sacramento.

 

[Egon]

That's the one. My spelling ain't great.

 

[NoTrespassing]

The predictions I heard for this year were 50/50 on what would happen with regard to above average rain. As in either there would be above average rain or not. And like last year, NorCal has been getting above average rain, while SoCal has not. The way I heard it, this La Nina isn't very strong, and most of the weather guessers I listen to (local news and Weather Underground) said right up front it could go either way, and we'd just have to wait and see.

I agree, it was predicted as 50/50 by many forecasters but here is a quote from climate.gov. (NOAA)
10/25/16
"This forecast does not bode well for drought in the country, as we’ll likely see drought persist in central and southern California and the Southwest and potentially expand in the Southeast. Thus, the likely weak La Niña means California drought relief is not likely."

What to expect this winter: NOAA’s 216-17 Winter Outlook | NOAA Climate.gov

Who knows, maybe in the long run they will be right. Only time will tell.

Kevin

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I have had a few very large reef aquariums over the years that required large water changes frequently. I purposely routed my water change system drain bypassing my septic tank based on several opinions and my own concern about upsetting the balance of the septic system. I could be over cautious but knowing that the saltwater kills the grass if I dump it there, I didn't want it to potentially kill or severely ****** the organisms abilities in the tank to do their job over time.

The quantity of water is more dangerous. Dumping a large amount of water into the tank will overload the sedimentation and force solids into the drain field, which is a really expensive "oops." I have a 1500 gallon tank, and would never dump 100 gallons into it. Converting to water saving appliances and fixtures will do a lot to extend the life of your septic system.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Increasing Storage has not been a priority for years and the opposite is now true...

South Lake Tahoe has been spending millions to install water meters... attempted to get a waiver but was unsuccessful....

Basically repiping the entire system to comply... very expensive especially when many are seasonal users.

Also, entire lake communities take water from the Lake where it is easily returned via the sandy soil...

No matter what side you are on, California seems to take a one size fits all approach to many things.

The best way to stimulate water conservation is to run out. My parents were on a spring-fed rural water system. It was a pretty good spring, and kept a 5000 gallon cistern full as long as people were conservative. The rules of the system were no irrigation (lawn watering) or other large uses on the system. An ignorant urban couple built a McMansion and decided to fill their huge swimming pool from the community system. They ran it dry, so everybody was without water for a couple of days while the guy who runs the system looked for the big leak. The ignorant UC were distraught, until they realized they were the ones who caused the problem. They developed manners pretty quickly.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

That trucker deserves a medal! Two trailers flat trackin' nearly berm-to-berm under what looked like perfect control. I wonder how the conversation between the CHP and the trucker went before he started down?

That trucker deserves a swift kick in the butt. If he had the sense to chain up the trailer (required by law) he would not have been sliding all over. I hope he got a big dollar ticket.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Abundant water is one of the reasons I chose Olympia WA and this decision was heavily influenced by my water rationing experiences in the SF Bay Area.

I do think it is important to note the Lake Tahoe still has severe rationing and water restrictions... at least the last water bill made a point to state the drought is NOT over... yet Lake Tahoe is one of the largest and cleanest bodies f fresh water in the United States with depth second only to Crater Lake... a number of municipal wells had/have MTBE contamination issues... from mandated MTBE in motor fuels.

Yeah, nobody gave a thought to how filthy internal combustion engines are. MTBE in the water was why they switched to ethanol to oxygenate fuel. MTBE was a big "oops."

 

[aczlan]

That trucker deserves a swift kick in the butt. If he had the sense to chain up the trailer (required by law) he would not have been sliding all over. I hope he got a big dollar ticket.

He had brake problems, the brakes on the rear trailer were locked up and it was skidding all the way down the hill.
Chains would have just torn up the road.

Aaron Z

 

[orezok]

That trucker deserves a swift kick in the butt. If he had the sense to chain up the trailer (required by law) he would not have been sliding all over. I hope he got a big dollar ticket.

Apparently you didn't read the story. The trucker jackknifed the trailer on the slope and the air lines to the rear trailer were ruptured and locked up the brakes. He was completely blocking the highway and rather than block the highway for an hour for wreckers to arrive, he demonstrated his driving skill by moving the locked up trailer down the slope to a location where it was off the road. The highway patrol gave him kudos for his driving skills.

 

[houstonscott]

Yeah, nobody gave a thought to how filthy internal combustion engines are. MTBE in the water was why they switched to ethanol to oxygenate fuel. MTBE was a big "oops."

Oh, no, nothing wrong with internal combustion, just someone mandating MTBE, and unintended consequences. California wake up, and build your much needed desalination plants. You just wasted 1.6 billion on a train that could have solved this already. HS.

 

[beowulf]

You just wasted 1.6 billion on a train that could have solved this already. HS.

And it is for tracks, stations, and maintenance facilities for a train that does not yet even exist. And the population they say it will initially serve - here in the Central Valley - does not want it. But the government just plows ahead with it. It will not pay for itself, and all the financing models that have been serially put forth have been totally discredited. So now the government is trying to find other ways to pay for this totally discredited debacle. We don't want it and don't need it but we are getting it anyway. It is a huge waste of money

 

[bcp]

California needs some help in the south now.



Bruce

 

[NoTrespassing]

Several months into its sixth year of drought, California is now on pace to mark*its wettest year in recorded history. Recent storms have created deep piles of snow in the Sierra Nevada and sent hundreds of billions of gallons of water coursing into lakes and reservoirs.

Trio of storms to bring dangerous surf and 6 inches of rain to Southern California - LA Times

And they said California couldn't come out of the drought in one year. They may have been mistaken.

Kevin

 

[California]

We shall see. Regional reservoirs are as full as they can get considering their flood-control role. The most important primary reservoirs are reaching average storage (good!), but after the last storm, the forecast was it would take a couple more years of heavy rain like this to fill them to the top.

It depends mostly on whether the present heavy storms lay down a heavy snowpack, the most important source of stored water. So far the storms are warm so lower-elevation snow just gets melted by rain and is lost down the rivers within days.

In summary Northern California where SoCal's water comes from is up to average, but Southern California is still not out of their drought. Things are better, but still not ideal.

As I draft this at home in Northern California, the next storm is raging. We are waiting for the lights to go out any minute. I just got a text from a neighbor about a tree down and blocking the next street over. I-80 over Donner Summit to Nevada is closed due to spinouts, cars tobogganing down the long grades, as well as near zero visibility.

I went looking for some examples, found these videos posted by CHP this evening. You gotta see them!

CHP cruiser can't push a double-trailer single drive axle big rig hard enough to move it out of the traffic lane. Call in Caltrans with their motor grader to do the pushing, and off they go! CHP - Truckee - From dli | Facebook

Similar but 2 drive axle rig with single trailer, CHP cruiser pushing was able to get it moving again. CHP - Truckee | Facebook

New guy from SoCal gets assigned to work up on the summit, his fellow officer has to tow him with another cruiser. CHP - Truckee - Something to make you laugh while the... | Facebook

Source. There will likely be something else posted by the time you read this. CHP-Truckee (@CHP_Truckee) on Twitter