US drought levels fall to lowest point in years – Only 5% of U.S. experiencing drought
BY REID WILSON – 05/12/17 11:35 AM EDT
Just 5 percent of the United States is experiencing drought conditions, the lowest level of drought here since government scientific agencies began updating the U.S. Drought Monitor on a weekly basis in 2000.
Record rain and snowfall over the winter on the West Coast and heavy spring rains in the Midwest have alleviated some of the worst and longest-lasting drought conditions ever recorded.
That parching, years-long drought came after another rainy period, in 2010, when just 8 percent of the U.S. experienced drought conditions. The boom-and-bust cycle is likely caused by climate change that creates more extreme weather patterns, scientists say.
At its driest point, in September 2012, 20 percent of the nation experienced what climatologists deemed “extreme” drought.
Today, small parts of Southern Georgia and Central Florida are still experiencing extreme drought. The drought has amplified several large wildfires in Georgia and Florida, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Parts of southern Arizona are in the midst of a long-term severe drought, while scattered areas of Texas, Colorado, the Dakotas and the greater Washington, D.C., region are dealing with more moderate water shortages.
No state has experienced the highs and lows more than California. As recently as September, the entire state was experiencing at least some drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and 43 percent of the state experienced extreme drought.
Today, after a rainy winter fueled by a so-called Pineapple Express weather system, more than three-quarters of the state is drought-free. Only the Los Angeles area and some inland counties near the U.S.-Mexico border are overly parched.
“California’s drought was alleviated by atmospheric rivers that brought heavy rains earlier this year,” Matthew Rodell, a NASA hydrologist, said in a statement. “Combine that with recent precipitation across much of the northwestern and central parts of the nation, and the result is a much wetter-than-normal map.”
Now, California faces the opposite problem. Heavy rain and snowfall have damaged systems meant to capture water, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The federal government has already said it will send California $274 million to repair the Oroville Dam, where damage to a spillway forced the evacuation of almost 200,000 people in February. Water officials are worried that heavy rains could damage other dams in Northern California, too.…
Analysis: It’s not just droughts, but nearly all extreme weather is declining or at or near record lows
Climate Depot Special Report
The federal government has just released yet another key piece of scientific data that counters the man-made global warming narrative. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor report shows that droughts in the U.S. are at record lows in 2017. See: Feds: U.S. drought reaches record low in 2017 as rain reigns – Sees lowest levels of drought ever monitored
“Drought in the U.S. fell to a record low this week, with just 6.1% of the lower 48 states currently experiencing such dry conditions, federal officials announced Thursday. That’s the lowest percentage in the 17-year history of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report,” USA Today reported on April 27. (Ironically, climate activists had declared California to be in a permanent drought: Flashback 2016: Warmist wrong claim: ‘Thanks El Niño, But California’s Drought Is Probably Forever’)
Former Vice President Al Gore has made extreme weather warnings a staple of his climate change activist. See: Al Gore on the Weather: ‘Every night on the news now, practically, is like a nature hike through the book of Revelations’
Below is a complete rundown of the very latest on extreme weather conditions: Update data from the 2016 Climate Depot report: Skeptics Deliver Consensus Busting ‘State of the Climate Report’ to UN Summit
…Extreme Weather: Scientist to Congress in 2017: ‘No evidence’ that hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes are increasing – Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. of University of Colorado
Hurricanes: 1) Inconvenient NOAA report: ‘It is premature to conclude (AGW has) already had a detectable impact on’ hurricanes & 2) NOAA: U.S. Completes Record 11 Straight Years Without Major (Cat 3+) Hurricane Strike & 3) 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers reveal the lack of connection between hurricanes & ‘global warming’
Floods: ‘Floods are not increasing’: Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. slams ‘global warming’ link to floods & extreme weather – How does media ‘get away with this?’ – Pielke Jr. on how extreme weather is NOT getting worse: ‘Flood
Flashback 2016: Warmist wrong claim: ‘Thanks El Niño, But California’s Drought Is Probably Forever’
AUTHOR: NICK STOCKTON.NICK STOCKTON
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05.13.16.
TIME OF PUBLICATION: 8:00 AM.
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Feds: U.S. drought reaches record low in 2017 as rain reigns – Sees lowest levels of drought ever monitored
By Doyle Rice – USA TODAY
Drought in the U.S. fell to a record low this week, with just 6.1% of the lower 48 states currently experiencing such dry conditions, federal officials announced Thursday.
That’s the lowest percentage in the 17-year history of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report. The previous record low occurred in July 2010, when 7.7% of the contiguous U.S. was in a drought.
“Drought has certainly been disappearing at a rapid rate this spring,” said meteorologist Brad Rippey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The five-year drought in California is practically over, with only about 8% of the state currently in drought.
The strong El Niño of 2015-16 may have caused the initial decrease last year, he said. “El Niño is historically a ‘drought-breaker,’ while La Niña is a ‘drought-maker.’ ”
A persistent low-pressure area sitting along the west coast of North America this year helped fuel the ongoing wet weather, USDA meteorologist Eric Luebehusen said. Low pressure causes air to rise, which allows clouds and precipitation to form. Those storms and wet weather then typically meander east-northeast across the central U.S., he said.
The current record low is in sharp contrast to September 2012, when drought reached a record high — 65.5% — in the U.S.
Prior to the weekly Drought Monitor, the monthly Palmer Drought Severity Index was the primary method for measuring drought in the U.S., according to Rippey. As recently as June 1993, there was no drought in the continental U.S., that index reported.
Making direct comparisons between the Drought Monitor and Palmer data are difficult, since the drought categorizations are different and the weekly vs. monthly discrepancy is problematic, he added.…
What “permanent drought”? New all-time rainfall record set for California
From the California Dept. of Water Resources Northern Sierra Precipitation Sets Water Year Record Atmospheric Rivers Pushed Total to 89.7 Inches since October 1 SACRAMENTO – Never in nearly a century of Department of Water Resources (DWR) recordkeeping has so much precipitation fallen in the northern Sierra in a water year.
Source: What “permanent drought”? New all-time rainfall record set for California…
Media false claim: ‘The weather has been weird’ – ‘There Was Nothing Normal About America’s Freakish Winter Weather’
Bloomberg News is promoting anecdotal claptrap. Excerpt:
By Brian K. Sullivan – Bloomberg News
It’s not your imagination. The weather has been weird.
So weird, in fact, it’s had an almost biblical feel: a February tornado in Massachusetts; record wildfires across the Great Plains and beyond; more snow than ever in the Sierra Nevada; and temperatures whiplashing from balmy to frigid, killing crops and coaxing flowers out of their winter slumber.
While some of the swings may result from chance, scientists agree climate change is adding to weather mayhem and that the world will have to brace for worse. President Donald Trump is also seeking to roll back measures to fight global warming, saying the regulations kill jobs.
“The bottom line: It’s not just in our minds that the weather is changing,” said David Titley, a meteorology professor at Pennsylvania State University. “It is changing, and changing rapidly in ways we understand and ways we are just beginning to examine.”
Start with the temperature. The winter of 2016-17 marked the second mildest on record, according to Jake Crouch, a climate scientist with the National Centers for Environmental Information. February, which has been warming faster than any other month through the decades, also was the second warmest in the 138-year global record. There were some bizarre temperature readings along the way. Like a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius) in Chicago on Feb. 18. Or 72 degrees in Boston less than a week later.
The month was so mild that natural gas inventories rose earlier than in any year going back to 1994, when records began, and plants threw off winter’s yoke and began to grow.
More nonsense here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-10/there-was-nothing-normal-about-america-s-freakish-winter-weather?bcomANews=true
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Climate Depot Rebuttal:
Bloomberg media is claiming: “It’s not your imagination. The weather has been weird.”
Actually, it is your imagination, the weather is normal. A few basic rebuttals below.
Scientist to Congress: ‘No evidence’ that hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes are increasing
DROUGHT CONDITIONS ACROSS THE U.S. VERY LOW – Limited to only 1.6% of continental US
Overview
It is not often that “severe”, “extreme” or “exceptional” drought conditions are limited to only 1.6% of the continental US, but that is exactly what is currently taking place. Going back to the year 2000, only February and March of 2010 had similar limited drought conditions on a nationwide basis that we are enjoying today. In fact, the news may actually get better with the next “drought monitor” update as the numbers cited in today’s posting reflect only precipitation data registered through last Tuesday, April 4th and does not include the substantial rainfall that fell late last week in California and across the southern and eastern US.
Western US drought conditions from one year ago (left) to current (right); courtesy NOAA/CPC
Discussion on current and recent conditions
In recent years, much of the western US was suffering through widespread and deep drought conditions, but that has changed dramatically in recent months; especially, in the state of California. One year ago, much of California was in the midst of an “exceptional” drought – the worst category of drought as classified by NOAA – but all of that has changed dramatically this winter season with a tremendous amount of rainfall throughout the state. In fact, drought conditions have improved to the point that nowhere is the state classified by NOAA/NDMC as experiencing “exceptional” (D4) or “extreme” (D3) drought conditions and less than one percent of California is currently experiencing “severe” (D2) drought.
Sierra Nevada Mountains provide more than 60% of California’s developed water supply
False ‘Permanent Drought’ Alarm: California’s Rainy Season Now Ranks 2nd All Time In 122 Years Of Records
False ‘Permanent Drought’ Alarm: California’s Rainy Season Now Ranks 2nd All Time In 122 Years Of Records
California’s current rainy season can no longer lay claim to being No. 1. After relatively modest rainfall in March, this season now ranks as the second wettest in 122 years of record-keeping, according to data released Thursday by federal scientists. Between October 2016 and March 2017, California averaged 30.75 inches of precipitation, the second-highest average since such records began being kept in 1895, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Full post
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California’s governor says ‘never-ending drought’ is officially over
California’s governor says ‘never-ending drought’ is officially over
Gov. Jerry Brown once said the state’s drought was the new normal and blamed it on climate change—now it’s officially over
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#California’s Gov. #Jerry Brown announced the ‘never-ending drought’ was officially over, despite previous comments that global warming was making it the ‘new normal.’ Numerous studies showed the state’s drought was normal, not historic, and unrelated to #Climate Change; previous dry spells in the Golden State have lasted more than 1,000 years.
A combination of factors drove California’s water shortage: an enormous Pacific blob of warm air off the Northwest coast and a high-pressure system stuck off the West Coast that was interrupting the normal cycle of yearly rains and snow. During the winter, meter-high snow packs would normally blanket the Sierra Mountains, melting in the spring and filling reservoirs below.
Another major issue: the state was still using the 1960’s open-air aqueduct system and leaky pipelines to transport water from rainier areas to drier areas, losing millions of gallons in the process. The aging infrastructure was created under Gov. Pat Brown (the current governor’s father) back in the 1960s. One-half of the state’s population lives in regions containing one percent of the natural supply of water, while the other half doesn’t.
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In California, all eyes on dam’s eroding spillway as storms loom usat.ly/2kE3APr
More storms coming
Instead of using taxpayer dollars to upgrade the neglected system of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and pipelines, thus preventing a future catastrophe related to the uneven distribution of rainfall in the state, Brown spent billions on his bullet train to nowhere. Millions of gallons of freshwater currently flow into the Pacific Ocean, with even more lost to evaporation under the beating sun.
The governor’s announcement came as more springtime storms were on track to hit the already waterlogged state, taxing reservoirs, rivers, and dams. Four counties with low groundwater levels were still under emergency orders, though they were expected to be lifted soon. The drought has hurt native fish that migrated up once-dry rivers, forced farmers to rely more heavily on groundwater, and killed millions of trees.
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@NASA satellites captured images of northern California
If Skeptics used same tactics as warmists: ‘It’s Official, Global Warming & Higher CO2 Ended California Drought!’
If the climate realists used the same tactics as the climate alarmists today’s headlines across the globe would read “It’s Official, Global Warming and Higher CO2 Ended the California Drought!!!” The entire climate change house of cards is largely based upon pseudo-science, where an outlier observation is portrayed as the norm. For example, the bleaching of the coral reefs is due to exposure to the sun, not more CO2. The loss of Arctic sea Ice is largely due to natural changes in the ocean and wind currents. Recent claims of a warming Antarctica are based upon an extreme case of cherry picking. Global temperature records are greatly influenced by known non-CO2 related factors such as the Urban Heat Island Effect, that when adjusted for, eliminate most of if not all warming from the data set. Experiments to demonstrate CO2 caused warming are simply laughable, as are the IPCC models created to “prove” the highly flawed theory. The number of hurricanes has collapsed, but you won’t find that in the headlines.
None of that matters however because climate “science” isn’t about science, it is about politics. It is all about how the story is spun. In reality, the “Social Cost of Carbon” is negative. There are astronomical benefits to burning fossil fuels and higher CO2 levels. Life expectancy, quality of life and economic growth have all increased along with atmospheric CO2. As has the “greening of the Northern Hemisphere.” Higher crop yields and lower food and energy prices are all directly associated with petroleum production and higher CO2 levels. Societies thrive during warm periods, they collapse during cooling and Ice Ages. Now, with the ending of the devastating California drought, by sticking with the standards and methods consistent with the field of climate “science,” we can now claim that global warming and the burning of fossil fuels has ended the California drought. The CO2 evidence is overwhelming. Higher CO2 “caused” the end to the California drought. The numbers simply don’t lie
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