New climate data revealed about two-thirds of California is now drought-free. The state is frequently cited as an example of climate change wrecking havoc by activists.
It’s a water-logged end to California’s latest, and relatively brief, drought.
A deluge of rainfall and snow events plunged the percentage of the state experiencing drought from 100% to 36%, according to US Drought Monitor.
Across the entire state, just 28% of California is in what’s considered moderate drought. Only about 8% is still experiencing severe drought. None of the state is under the most severe classification of extreme or exceptional drought conditions.
About 64% of the state is considered free from drought completely. Nearly 19% is dealing with “abnormally dry” but not drought-level conditions.
“By March 15, the San Joaquin River at Patterson, California, neared a record crest, with the water rising to within less than a foot of the February 2017 high-water mark,” the report states.
In a stunning turn, the average mid-March snow water equivalent – or the amount of water contained as snowfall – in the Sierra Nevada reached more than 220% of seasonal norms.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) announced it rescinded all water use restrictions in response.
Activists Aren’t Deterred
The good news did not keep activists or politicians from reiterating alarmist rhetoric about climate change.
Despite the winter wet season bringing relief to dry areas, California Governor Gavin Newsom portrayed the influx of water as a negative indication of climate change.
“Megadroughts. Wildfires. Historic floods and atmospheric rivers. This whiplash weather is not an anomaly,” he tweeted in January.
“California is proof that the climate crisis is real and we have to take it seriously.”
Tracy Quinn, chair of MWD’s One Water Committee, used similar language in a statement about restrictions being lifted.
“The more efficiently we all use water today, the more we can keep in storage for a future dry year,” Quinn said.
“And as we face climate whiplash, dry conditions could return as soon as next year.”
When California drops into the Pacific we won’t have to worry about the drought any longer.
Climate change is a commie hoax
California hasn’t built a major reservoir or appreciably added to their water carrying capacity in over 50 years. Meanwhile the amount of water they dedicate to environmental use has risen from low single digit percentages to 40% of the states total water use.
That is the problem.
It’s NOT a rainfall problem. NOAA’s 30 year rolling averages for California rainfall show no statistically significant changes over the last 70 years. Agriculture has gotten more efficient farming millions of more acreage with the same amount of water. All water use for cities and municipalities is only 20%. The state has always had about a 14 year cycle of lower than average waterfall years followed by higher than average waterfall years.
The problem is the state’s huge increase in water usage for environmental—now 40% of total water usage—with no plan on how to supply it.
Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, Ca was built in 1995-2000, so your “over 50 years” is not accurate. What needs to be done is capturing and storing all rainfall instead of letting it go straight to the ocean, using grey water, recycling sewage water, and desalinated treatment plants.
As we have seen for decades, climate activists simply ignore anythingthat clearly shows they are wrong. Even as young teen in the 1960s, I routinely read articles on science and the environment. (Scientific American, National Geographic. and many others.) Throughout the 60s and 70s scientists claimed the earth was cooling and a new ice age was just a coupe years away. In the 80s, they claimed acid rain would kill all the tress and stop agriculture within 10 years. Through the 90s, the dire prediction was thousands of coastal cites around the globe would be underwater due to flooding from the melting polar ice caps.
2008: NASA says no Arctic summer ice by 2013 or 2018
2009: Al Gore, “North polar ice cap will be gone by 2013.”
2013: Al Gore, “Polar Ice Caps will be gone by 2015”
And, we remember 2015 Obama’s rants that Glacier National Park would have no ice left by 2020. They had to take down those signs. Kinda hard to tell people “No! Those glaciers are not there! If you think you see ice – you are an ignorant science denier.
climate activists simply ignore anything that clearly shows they are wrong.
That isn’t quite true. They actively DENY facts that clearly show they are wrong, and ATTACK anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
Can you just be honest, Climate Whiplash is nothing more than unpredictable weather. It is normal to expect it to go in cycles.
I do believe that the scientists and global activists need to all go back to the Bible and they will find the answers to our worldwide weather conditions. This is from my NCV Bible, Leviticus 26: “Don’t make idols for yourselves or set up statues or memorials. Don’t put stone statues in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God. Remember my Sabbaths, and respect my Holy Place, I am the Lord. If you remember my laws and commands and obey them, I will give you rains at the right season; the land will produce crops, and the trees will produce their fruit. Then you will have plenty to eat and live safely in your land. I will give peace to your country; you will lie down in peace, and no one will make your afraid. I will keep harmful animals out of your country and armies will not pass through it. But if you do not obey me and keep all my commands, and if you turn away from my rules and hate my laws, refusing to obey all my commands, you have broken our agreement. As a result, I will do this to you: I will cause terrible things to happen to you, I will cause you to have disease and fever that will destroy your eyes and slowly kill you. You will not have success when you plant your seed, and your enemy will eat your crops. I will be against you, and your enemies will defeat you. These people who hate you will rule over you, and you will run away even when no one is chasing you. If you don’t learn your lesson after all these things, and if you still turn against Me, I will also turn against you.
Then in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.
Read the entire chapter of Leviticus 26 it is an eye opener and a great warning to us to change our ways. Remember no matter what you do, God is always in control.