The rain on the Cali plains is easing the pain

[DoomsDave]

i think the California drought is in abeyance for now anyway.

Here's pics of my rain barrel with about 34 CM 13" of rain in it.

Shoe for scale 12.5" or 32 CM long.

[Ben in Norcal]

If I leave a Brute can sitting out a day or two around here at the minute, I can no longer lift it...

Drought over, up here anyway!

[BS Man about Palms]

Yup.. getting lots here.. I would bet 8-9" already since new year or Starting Dec.

[Pip]

That is awesome news

[DoomsDave]

Roaring off to the Dark Tower

In the rain!

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Wonderful news!  Rain in CA fills refrigerators everywhere.  I hope there is enough to replenish some of the groundwater reserves too.  

[SHEP]

Only if we get enough in the snow pack here.  Last storm was too warm and washed snow off slopes, but, yes, I am taking full showers now, but, still watching the flush.  What.. we do for our plants?  Glad its only plants now, and not daughter.  Cecile

[Ben in Norcal]

NorCal is officially out of drought.  SoCal still has a ways to go.  My yard is ridiculously soaked though - getting out to dump some more Banrot around today during a break in the storms.

On 1/19/2017, 9:41:25, BS Man about Palms said:

Yup.. getting lots here.. I would bet 8-9" already since new year or Starting Dec.

I think we got this much one weekend!

[Jesse]

Haven't needed to run any irrigation since last year.  It feels weird just saying that. I measured 3.75 inches since Saturday afternoon.  Thankfully the hail didn't do any noticable damage and hopefully our drought eases. I'll probably still have my coco covered until this weekend though. 

[Matt in OC]

Hail yesterday and frost this morning. Brrr!

[Palm Tree Jim]

Surprised to find some frost this AM as well......

[XYZ]

Worth noting that consensus forecasts for this winter made by NOAA, made in late October of last year, were quite - how do you say it? - wrong. ("Drought will likely persist through the winter in many regions currently experiencing drought, including much of California and the Southwest").

Watching the crowd who prophesied a centuries-long drought, end of times for mesic ecosystems in the state, etc. now twisting themselves in knots to avoid having to accept that their prognostications have been shown to be about as good as those generated by a spastic monkey throwing darts at at "Wet/Dry" board or a "weatherman".

I particularly like how the drought "ends" when, as if we are some primitive pagan cult, our lords the politicians in Sacramento decree it so from on high. 

So much for the reliability of politically-influenced short-term climate models. Perhaps the smart crowd should stick to handicapping elections?

Oh, s**t. They suck at that, too.

[Sabal Steve]

Sounds a little like the alternating warming and cooling trends that our planet continually goes through.  No?

[XYZ]

"Might rain a lot, or maybe not. I'd say 50/50 chance of either outcome. Unless, of course, it rains very little. Or not at all."

These people so need mulligans.

Your tax dollars at work.

[Gonzer]

I'm still recovering from our devastating El Nino from last year.

[Palm Tree Jim]

3 hours ago, stone jaguar said:

Worth noting that consensus forecasts for this winter made by NOAA, made in late October of last year, were quite - how do you say it? - wrong. ("Drought will likely persist through the winter in many regions currently experiencing drought, including much of California and the Southwest").

Watching the crowd who prophesied a centuries-long drought, end of times for mesic ecosystems in the state, etc. now twisting themselves in knots to avoid having to accept that their prognostications have been shown to be about as good as those generated by a spastic monkey throwing darts at at "Wet/Dry" board or a "weatherman".

I particularly like how the drought "ends" when, as if we are some primitive pagan cult, our lords the politicians in Sacramento decree it so from on high. 

So much for the reliability of politically-influenced short-term climate models. Perhaps the smart crowd should stick to handicapping elections?

Oh, s**t. They suck at that, too.

Well said!

[Jdiaz31089]

I live at the foot of the Sierra Nevada and every morning I get to see the snow covered sierra on my way to work. The highway I take has an elevated ramp so I get a clear line of sight with no obstructions. It's a welcome sight after all these years with no snow pack!

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

Nice to know the doomsayers about drought were wrong. This time.

Seems okay to me. Better to have the colon cancer scare, than the colostomy from actual cancer.

[Matt in OC]

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-conversation/sd-california-storms-prompt-flood-of-hilarious-reactions-online-20170123-htmlstory.html

[XYZ]

Dave, I completely agree. Perhaps we could have a calm, informed discussion about rationalizing the use of what is often a scarce, mispriced commodity in this state between its gilded masters and the users. Unfortunately, not gonna happen. Hysteria and fear-mongering are just such tempting tools for "them" to use against "us".

J

[Matt in OC]

So it was hysteria and fear-mongering that the 97% of the state was in a drought?

[topwater]

The national media make it sound like California has been overwhelmed with flooding and mudslides. Glad to hear a positive perspective for a change. 

[Sabal Steve]

Sure gave our rulers a "good" reason to raise our water rates... 

But it was nice to get  the rainwater, and supplement our reservoirs.  I saved a bunch.  I haven't needed to run my irrigation in months.

[XYZ]

No, it was hysteria and fear-mongering for a vocal body of climatologists, politicians and their media fanboys/girls to predict that we were just getting warmed up. The notion that this is a discipline that - today - has the long term predictive precision of, say, tidal cycles and lunal eclipse charts is just nonsense. And if it really is so and this current season is just a brief "weather anomaly", the state should subordinate all other infrastructure spending to that of efficient water capture, storage and distribution, starting yesterday. There would also be mandated xeriscaping and heavy restrictions placed on outdoor water use by Joe and Joanne Sixpack in subhumid parts of the state.

*crickets*

Crying wolf inevitably results in unintended consequences. It may be clearer now to objective audiences that no-one knows what tomorrow will bring. Realistic pricing for large scale users to reflect current conditions and the need for reasonable water conservation in general in CA should not be polemic at all, and hopefully doesn't require predictions of fire and brimstone raining down on all of us made by Voodoo scientists to find a large following.

[Hammer]

1 hour ago, stone jaguar said:

No, it was hysteria and fear-mongering for a vocal body of climatologists, politicians and their media fanboys/girls to predict that we were just getting warmed up. The notion that this is a discipline that - today - has the long term predictive precision of, say, tidal cycles and lunal eclipse charts is just nonsense. And if it really is so and this current season is just a brief "weather anomaly", the state should subordinate all other infrastructure spending to that of efficient water capture, storage and distribution, starting yesterday. There would also be mandated xeriscaping and heavy restrictions placed on outdoor water use by Joe and Joanne Sixpack in subhumid parts of the state.

*crickets*

Crying wolf inevitably results in unintended consequences. It may be clearer now to objective audiences that no-one knows what tomorrow will bring. Realistic pricing for large scale users to reflect current conditions and the need for reasonable water conservation in general in CA should not be polemic at all, and hopefully doesn't require predictions of fire and brimstone raining down on all of us made by Voodoo scientists to find a large following.

Get ready. "Them" are setting "us" up again.  This time with natural gas.  Usage alerts and shortages in SoCal?!  Call me crazy but it just sounds like a set up to raise rates.

[DoomsDave]

3 minutes ago, Hammer said:

Get ready. "Them" are setting "us" up again.  This time with natural gas.  Usage alerts and shortages in SoCal?!  Call me crazy but it just sounds like a set up to raise rates.

No shortage of natural gas at my place right now . . .

[Hammer]

36 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

No shortage of natural gas at my place right now . . .

 Well played sir!

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

It's funny how the lack of snow in mountain 100 miles from my city makes us in a drought or not. 

Here is current snow pack totals.

200 percent of normal and we still have three rainy month left.

[Gonzer]

10 hours ago, stone jaguar said:

No, it was hysteria and fear-mongering for a vocal body of climatologists, politicians and their media fanboys/girls to predict that we were just getting warmed up. The notion that this is a discipline that - today - has the long term predictive precision of, say, tidal cycles and lunal eclipse charts is just nonsense. And if it really is so and this current season is just a brief "weather anomaly", the state should subordinate all other infrastructure spending to that of efficient water capture, storage and distribution, starting yesterday. There would also be mandated xeriscaping and heavy restrictions placed on outdoor water use by Joe and Joanne Sixpack in subhumid parts of the state.

*crickets*

Crying wolf inevitably results in unintended consequences. It may be clearer now to objective audiences that no-one knows what tomorrow will bring. Realistic pricing for large scale users to reflect current conditions and the need for reasonable water conservation in general in CA should not be polemic at all, and hopefully doesn't require predictions of fire and brimstone raining down on all of us made by Voodoo scientists to find a large following.

The Guru has spoken. Now, if only our politicians displayed this kind of rationale. Ah, but then the "bubble-headed bleach blonde" (thanks to Don Henley) would be out of a job.

[DoomsDave]

14 hours ago, stone jaguar said:

Crying wolf inevitably results in unintended consequences. It may be clearer now to objective audiences that no-one knows what tomorrow will bring. Realistic pricing for large scale users to reflect current conditions and the need for reasonable water conservation in general in CA should not be polemic at all, and hopefully doesn't require predictions of fire and brimstone raining down on all of us made by Voodoo scientists to find a large following.

Alas, a few realities might have to be faced. If it turns out that we're coming off a "wet" period as some have suggested, this year might be a nice bit of relief from worse to come.

We won't really know, except in hindsight, perhaps decades-long hindsight.

So should we combat waste? Of course! Out and shame the water hogs of Bel Air! http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-1010-lopez-water-hog-20151009-story.html

But, I'll need to be prepared to face the prospect of my Archie Orgy Grove^TM being chainsawed, either by me or others, if things get too bad in the future.

For now, I'll enjoy while I can, "sieze the day" in the words of that long-dead Roman guy.

And keep my eyes open for the future.

 

[XYZ]

Look, I'm not a part-time capitalist. I think that big residential/recreational water users in California should be able to freely access the water they want or need within reason, but should be willing to pay a price that genuinely reflects current scarcity or abundance and - if "fair" - that price should regulate demand, even by scofflaws or profligate users in centimillionaire/billionaire enclaves. People should be able to choose whether they want a golf course, pool, tropical paradise or pure hardscape, bare-bones xeriscape and/or just raked gravel, but should also be aware that some of these choices will cost a lot more than the others (perhaps) forever on.

Note this morning that the Cadiz Water Pipeline and Huntington Beach Desalination Plant are on the incoming administration's first public draft of top 50 infrastructure projects under "Emergency and National Security Projects".

Seems Sacramento has a few other ideas about where to spend on infrastructure. Hopefully many common sense state water projects will emerge from a productive dialogue between "somewhat" different worldviews.

J