Southern California's driest year on record

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: It's dry — witheringly so
As the region nears an aridity record, flora and fauna feel the effects.
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writer
May 7, 2007


The Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve is dry and void of the springtime show of poppies. Joan Lewis, who works maintenance with the California State Parks said ,"This is the worst I've ever seen it. I've been out here since 1968. It's devastating. It's absolutely scary." (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Around this time each year, thousands make the pilgrimage to the Antelope Valley to see California poppies shining in the fields around Anne Aldrich's Lancaster home.

"There are fields of orange, just like in 'The Wizard of Oz' when you first spot the Emerald City," Aldrich said.

But not in 2007, as Southern California is poised to experience its driest year on record.

"We don't have poppies this year. This is about the worst we've seen," she said. "It's desert-brown."

The relentlessly dry weather has made this a spring like no other across the region, wreaking havoc on the ecosystem.

Downtown Los Angeles has recorded less than 4 inches of rain since July 1 — less than a quarter of normal. The region was hit Monday with another round of high heat, low humidity and dry winds, prompting officials to issue a red flag warning for brush fires. (It will continue through tonight.)The effects of the prolonged dryness can be seen and felt all around. Seasonal ponds are cracked dry, leaving no haven for some frog eggs or fairy shrimp to hatch. Some flower-dependent butterflies are staying dormant for another season.

Plants aren't bearing berries; some oak trees aren't sprouting acorns. Bees are behaving strangely.

The problem is apparent in Ventura County, where ranchers are selling their cattle early or thinking about moving them to other states. Ranchers' lands, starved of rainwater, have not grown the natural grasses key to feeding cattle through the spring and summer....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dry8may08,0,6947878.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Spinzonner]

1. Desert to desert

[Trajan]

2. I left California in 2003 ....

With an eye toward successively dryer years, higher water prices, higher temperatures, higher AC bills, electricity costs, greater smog, denser traffic, and reduced opportunities for decent work at decent wages ....

It took me a year and a half, but I wound up in the Northwest, in a land I have always dreamt of enjoying .... Cool and wet ..... amazingly GREEN in both outlook and foliage ....

I worked in Palmdale, and I've visited that Poppy reserve in full bloom, and this is simply tragic ...

I will visit CA, but I will never live there again ....

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Really, we truly have not noticed

and you know what will be oh so much fun... we will have to deal with this mess with border cities

The desert doesn't care

[Adsos Letter]

5. Good point...I am sure

that issues with Mexico over the use of the Colorado River, and the transfer of water from Northern to Southern California, are going to get a lot more heated.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Oh you can bet on that

by the way welcome to DU

[Adsos Letter]

8. thanks!...its a pleasure to be here. n/t

[Adsos Letter]

4. Something we have noticed here in Northern California is the lack of a real

Spring to play it's role as the normal transition from Winter to Summer. Our Winters have been a bit on the dry side last couple of years, but the real difference seems to be how quickly we transition from Winter to Summer these last couple of years.

It has been raining off and on for the last few weeks and then WHAMMO yesterday it was 87* and today it was 96*. I could be wrong on the stats for rainfall, whether above or below average, but the more rapid transition has been noticeable to all of us who work outside. I just retired in January from 30+ years as a painter, and all the guys on our crew have complained over the last few years because we weren't getting the normal "breakin" time to adjust to the temperature changes. Believe me, when you go from cool, off-and-on rainy weather to Summer heat, practically overnight, you notice...

[Duer 157099]

6. Thing is, though, that it keeps flipping back and forth

95 degrees for a day or two, then back down to low 70s.

I agree about not having a Spring season.