W. About 1 Week Left In California Rainy Season, Drought Locked In, May Well Grow Worse

[hatrack]

EDIT

In the West, the spring won’t bring the same sense of relief, as warmer-than-average temperatures are expected to continue and the drought is expected to persist and possibly even intensify.

This winter was California warmest and third driest on record, Jon Gottschalck, the acting chief of the Operational Prediction Branch at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said during the press call. And as the wet season ends at the end of March, the hopes for any relief evaporate. “They have passed their key months for being able to recover,” said Deke Arndt, chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at the National Climatic Data Center.

The continued drought in California sets up a potentially dangerous wildfire season, and will continue to be a major source of pain for farmers as it taxes crops and livestock, with associated economic ramifications.

The spring is expected to relieve the less intense drought conditions in Washington, southeast Idaho, extreme northern and coastal Oregon, western and central sections of Nebraska and Kansas, central Oklahoma, and the Midwest. But drought could develop in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas where it is not already strong, Gottschalck said.

EDIT

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/spring-thaw-may-trigger-floods-calif.-drought-locked-in-17203

[kestrel91316]

1. We might get a little rain on Wednesday, sigh.

The only good thing about three years of minimal rain is that the brush/chaparral can't do much growing, so that actually makes for less catastrophic fires when they do happen. We really haven't had much fire season to speak of for the past 2 or 3 years.

Besides, I think pretty much everything that could burn DID burn in the years leading up to the fire season hiatus.