As California’s Drought Deepens, a Sense of Dread Grows

[jsr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/as-californias-drought-deepens-a-sense-of-dread-grows.html

As California’s Drought Deepens, a Sense of Dread Grows
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MALIA WOLLAN | JAN. 17, 2014

NORDEN, Calif. — Cattle ranchers have had to sell portions of their herd for lack of water. Sacramento and other municipalities have imposed severe water restrictions. Wildfires broke out this week in forests that are usually too wet to ignite. Ski resorts that normally open in December are still closed; at one here in the Sierra Nevada that is actually open, a bear wandered onto a slope full of skiers last week, apparently refusing to hibernate because of the balmy weather.

On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown made it official: California is suffering from a drought, perhaps one for the record books. The water shortage has Californians trying to deal with problems that usually arise midsummer. With little snow in the forecast, experts are warning that this drought, after one of the driest years on record last year, could be as disruptive as the severe droughts of the 1970s.

Under state law, that would allow the governor to “waive laws or regulations and expedite some funding,” said Jeanine Jones, deputy drought manager for the state Department of Water Resources. “It does not create a new large pot of money for drought response or make federal funding available.”

Signs of drought are everywhere, affecting vast sectors of the economy. A sense of dread is building among farmers, many whom have already let fields go fallow. Without more water, an estimated 200,000 acres of prime agriculture land will go unplanted in Fresno County, according to Westlands Water District officials. Cattle ranchers accustomed to letting cows graze on rain-fed grass have had to rely on bought hay or reduce their herds.

[Warpy]

1. This year's El Nino seems particularly strong

and the whole southwest is extremely dry. Central NM isn't going to suffer as much as places like Phoenix, Las Vegas and southern California because most of our water is ground water and rationing is a way of life here. Irrigation will be rationed, though, and some fields will have to remain fallow in order that Texas isn't short changed downriver.

I imagine that by July, landscaping and clean cars will both be distant and painful memories.

Fire season will also likely be bad, here as well as there.

I'm not reduced to watering my one tree with grey water yet, but I think that's coming this year.

[Cleita]

2. This is awful. I've never known it this awful.

I hate heat which is why I live in the "cooler" region of the central coast, but I can't even cook. Most of us don't have air conditioning since we don't usually need it, even in the summer. This is hellish. I'm playing an eight hour rain video on YouTube tonight while I sleep. It just rains with distant thunder so I can remember what it's like. Maybe I'll feel cooler.

[2naSalit]

3. It's gonna be bad fires this year

and they've already started.

The article is telling but I have one problem with it, and it's probably because there are so few bears there that nobody understands that it isn't... " a bear wandered onto a slope full of skiers last week, apparently refusing to hibernate because of the balmy weather.

Bears don't hibernate when there's food available, they'll stay up all winter if there's food to be found. It's becoming more common everywhere from Europe to the Rocky Mountains. I suspect I'll be seeing signs of bears in the next week if not sooner.

And looks like even the interior mountains are going to finish burning down this summer too. I'm getting used to the traveling smoke plumes that are so dense I feel like a three-pack-a-day-smoker most of the summer.