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The Drought Goes From Bad To Catastrophic
As we previously commented, when scientists start using phrases such as "the worst drought" and "as bad as you can imagine" to describe what is going on in the western half of the country, you know that things are bad. However, in recent weeks the dreadful situation in California has gone from bad to catastrophic as the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that more than half of the state is now in experiencing 'exceptional' drought, the most severe category available. And most of the state – 81% – currently has one of the two most intense levels of drought.
h/t @TimOBrien
While California’s problems are particularly severe, that state is not alone in experiencing significant drought right now. There are wide swaths of moderate to severe drought stretching from Oregon to Texas, with problems impacting numerous states west of the Mississippi River.
Some of the most severe droughts outside of California are impacting large pockets in Oklahoma, Texas and, particularly, Nevada, where more than half of the state is currently experiencing one of the two most intense drought conditions:
* * *
Most people just assume that this drought will be temporary, but experts tell us that there have been "megadroughts" throughout history in the western half of the United States that have lasted for more than 100 years.
If we have entered one of those eras, it is going to fundamentally change life in America.
And the frightening thing is that much of the rest of the world is dealing with water scarcity issues right now as well. In fact, North America is actually in better shape than much of Africa and Asia. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "25 Shocking Facts About The Earth’s Dwindling Water Resources".
Without plenty of fresh water, modern civilization is not possible.
And right now, the western United States and much of the rest of the world is starting to come to grips with the fact that we could be facing some very serious water shortages in the years ahead.
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That SuperRail Jerry Brown is building from the SD-Mexcian Border up to the LA "Safe Zone" should fix everything for ya out there.
There's no such thing as god so it's probably option 2.
How could you forget to include Harry Reid?
http://youtu.be/PVJrkG4uU-g
One winter when I lived in Mendocino, California, the rain induced flooding topped out at 21 feet above the highway, actually a little two lane road, into the place from the South. The Greyhound Bus with the medical supplies for the hospital and the mail floated off the "road" into the Redwood Trees and then finally it's engine died. Sat there for quite a while. That was a pretty good Winter, not too many tourists.
California should have sweeping controls in place and enforced right now.
Gov. Moonbeam, Feinstein and the rest of our odious leadership are obviously waiting for some sort of max political impact point or maybe just to be told which hand of power to lick and nuzzle, before making a move.
< CRACKpipe now (Columbia River pipeline)
< maybe later...
"... waiting for some sort of max political impact point..."
Mad Max point...
What a beautiful place, Mendocino.
awesome Raymond..... for an added bonus look into how Alfalfa got himself blown away in the 1950s.....
How is that degree coming anyway?
Let's shove a baseball bat up Nancy's Cunt. That'll shut her the fuck up.
What do you have against baseball bats? What did a baseball bat do to you?
Seriously! Roll up a copy of "Rules For Radicals" and pound her with that!
Come on. This isn't a frat house.
You are right. It ain't a fuckin' frathouse.
It is Fight Club. You had best understand the rulez.
There are easier ways to make toothpicks.
< A plague of locusts eats all of the 2016-2020 US crops
< A 2016-2020 Hillary Clinton Presidency
What's worse...
The only thing wprse wpuld be GOP president that is anyone but Rand Paul. GWB showed us how untterly destructive an all GOP government can be. TThat scares me more tgan Clinton bickering with Bohner...
What really scares me is the USD still being 'King Dollar' in 25 years... and what they will have had to do to keep it that way.
Long lead... sheeting, for the inside of my bunker.
At least with the GOP you get moar wars, faster.
On to Kursk!
I know you're off base here, but I don't see why you got downvoted so much. Crabby Weekend ZH'ers.
Anyway, Dr. Nancy Synderman is raging idiot. She is paid so spread lies and it is well corroborated on a site I can't find off hand...
'Snydeman', eh?
Blood Irish get everywhere.
....
If the lame stream news doesn't report it, it didn't happen
I know, they are telling us BS about ebola. If that is the case that it's hard to catch how in gods name did the doctors who where going through the decon measures was able to get ebola? It's because they know this has gotten out of control and that there are many that are walkiing around in those big cities with ebola not getting sick yet.
The maps should have a bright blue spot where my college is located. Soon as I became a Bruin the whole college went under water.
T he rain comes from the Pacific Ocean; it evaporates, rises, and forms clouds and then falls as rain. So the basic driver is Pacific Ocean Surface Temperature. Which doesn't look all that bad. It's possible it'll start raining in October and continue until March. Nobody knows. I have noticed, that what usually happens after there's a drought is; it rains.
It's a lot more than the existance of the ocean - it's also got to do with high and low pressure zones and the location of the jet stream, etc.
When there were 100+ year dry spells in CA, the Pacific Ocean was there the whole time.
Hey, I have nothing against hopium....I'd buy some CA real estate inventory if the prices were appropriate, but the prices seem to already indicate this drought is just a temporary blip that will be over very soon. But this is our world.....nothing is long term any more.
According to the Globull warmers the ocean temperatures are rising or it is hding in the depths but either way the pattern of evaporation and rain should be accelerating. Droughts would be associated with lower ocean temps, just like a lack of hurricanes..
Not to worry the ARKSTORM is overdue
All totaled, I wonder how much we paid for that?
In Phoenix we just went 122 days without rain which was stopped a couple of weeks ago when we got .01 inches. We just got a few sprinkles but as of a week ago we were at 1.26 inches for the year, all in March.
sponge bath under a hotel water mister?
Is that unusual in Phoenix? It's a pretty dry climactic, isn't it ?
July is our wettest month in Phoenix. If you can call 1 inch of rain July's average wet.
I drove out to a friends place just northwest of Phoenix and EVERY plant in the desert was dead. Even the creosote bushes were dead. 100 to 200 year old saguaro cacti were dead. Now that's dry.
Always seems like the roadside cholla are blooming with a cornucopia of plastic Circle-K bags.
Come to Cholla!
Cholla love you long time baybee!
[hugznkissez]
It's been slightly dryer than normal for us. We should be at 4 inches year to date, and we're at one inch. It's pretty typical for Phoenix to get as much as half its annual rainfall from a single storm system, ususually in late fall/early winter.
Arizona/the Phoenix area aren't in a severe drought, as it's plain to see on the map above. The monsoon rains are erratic, pounding some areas, like where we live in the east valley, and leaving the other side of town bone dry.
What really matters here is winter snowpack. It's been pretty weak for five years or so, and the lakes are starting to look low... That's why we're in a drought here.
eah, nothing to see here. Move along.
If it wasn't for the EPA, this wouldn't be a concern. The drought could be mitigated rather easily if we were allowed to.
But then people might begin to think that rising food costs are primarily due to inflation, which the FED has clearly articulated is not the case..........
Without the EPA your rivers would look like those in China asshole
So, between Drought and Ebola... best to avoid CA?
Or should I keep the VoM going and travel, shop and BTFATH?
and fuku?
Best to avoid California because of illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, dopers, gang-bangers, crystal gazers, and other democrats. And I grew up there; but I'm not going back.
Sadly for our state (Colorado), I've been seeing a lot more CA license plates in the last 6 months. I generally view them and New Yorkers like a swarm of locust; migrate to a place, destroy it, and move on. It is like it never occurred to them that the reason their states started to suck was because they lived there.
Didn't you know? They didn't build that!!
Please keep them and don't send them back here. Please. Most Californians are complete assholes. I didn't just say that.
Maybe I ought to go down to the Beach and do some Project Mayhem tonight...on cars with Colorado Plates...as well as Texas, Oklahoma, or any out of state plate...
If you do not like the California Plates, or New York Plates, then destroy the cars with the California or New York Plates.
Maybe I will leave a copy of your post on the cars. You can point them to me. They will have to prove it.
Project Mayhem bitch. Fight Club rulez.
"Sadly for our state (Colorado),"
My state too.
Let's not be so hard on our recent arrivals from California.
Look what they have brought us:
1) Higher real estate prices
2) Legalized Choom dispensaries
3) Ant-Frack (Job) movement
It's all good /sarc
no worries, keep watering those golf courses.
Due to the weather we have raised your contribution fee. And we keep watering the holes as usual.
and keep refilling those swimming pools 3 inches a day
That's it! All them Goddamned swimming pools down in the southern part of the state, the wet tee shirt contests, 200 million gallons go bye bye because UCLA is more interested in cinematography and global warming than the integrity of its water pipes, car washes...
A man can only take so much.
Don't you go messin' with the wet titties;)
Don't forget they have to keep the green up on the cannabis churches.
UCLA was not responsible for the pipe that broke. The LA Dept. of Water and Power was / is.
The President of the United States agrees that golf is extremely important for the security of the nation. He spends a lot of time on golf curses.
Remember, we want nobama to play at golf rather than try to destroy our country. If he focused his laser actions on destroying our country like he has getting jobs and losing 11MM workers, just think how much trouble we would be in.
Add in Ebola infected immigrants from the Mexican border and you have one messed up set of states.
Janet Napolitano moved there, you expected things not to fall to hell?
Seriously, is our government using chemical trails to affect weather? Is this being done on purpose? Where are the experts to tell us?
This is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and will probably continue for another 10 or 15 years
Try out Dana Wigingtom, www.geoengineeringwatch.org. If you are not too poco to do so.
Shit's real. We've seen the flights, found same on FlighAware, left Edwards with stop at Lockheed Burbank, winding up, back and forth across coast, leaving huge plumes of off white yucko stuff. Me and Mrs K seen it photo'd it and ID' planes, for real. Not a debatable topic. Shit bein' sprayed. Oh and BTW, the plane was NASA registration.
... with stop at Lockheed Burbank
The only place to stop a plane in Burbank is at Bob Hope Airport. Lockheed is long gone.
I saw one plane here get low enough. All white with not one identifier on it. They've been relentless.
Damn skippy it effects the weather & kills trees too. Appears pines are first to go. The drift is horrid.
I wonder what else they're putting in it after reading CA's post on sweat activated vaccines.
Cliff Carnicom has been studying airborne aerosoling for well over a decade, documenting his research online. . .
if you understand what he discusses in this video - "ionised metallic salts" and other particles aerosoled daily - then you may make the connections between such things as Gate's sweat-activated vaccines, and the shifts in the environment, how particulate matters in the air will continue to cause breathing issues, etc.
ongoing for well over a decade. you either acknowledge this, do the research time to understand what the agenda is, or you ignore/deny it.
choices.
TY mucho for the links!
Should u pop back ol, will u make urself available on chat?
Yeah - I thought the Chem trails stuff was BS until I found that site. Geo Engineering. There is a UN treaty from 1969 on how countries should not use weather manipulation for purposes of war. 1969. I wonder if technology has gotten better since then.
The internet was much slower in 1969...
A couple of months ago I read an article in Scientific American that said over 50 contries have spraying "seeding" programs.
the internet currently sits awaiting your keyboard taps.
so what's in your search engine?
I don't think God is mad at Sod/.. (cough) California for making butt-sex a legally protected and sanctioned activity.
But he ain't helpin none.
That is going to really increase food costs, and more importantly, beer and wine!
better drink as much as you can while it's "cheap"!
The CA craft breweries are already having to cut back.
Buy French wine - or Chilean or Australian...
We make beer here?
Hot weather makes for nice, concentrated wine grapes.
Science has been co-opted by the same worthless agenda driven assholes as the MSM.......
who pays the piper
calls the tune.
Water I don't drink it, Fish Fuck in it.
Artesian wells.
I wonder what property values will be in 10-20 years, and the resulting tax revenue.
No worries, the Chinese and Mexicans are used to drinking less than potable water.
I knew there was a plan afterall!
Random shit loike letting 1,000,000 diseased 2 legged sand fleas into the country with no economic prospects just didn't make any sense.
It's all about getting rid of dirty water.
And filling the FEMA camps
El nino may bring relief if it develops as expected this year. It's really California's last hope for a while. It may only bring a temporary reprieve however . The long term trend of hot hot hot is here to stay.
I read somewhere (culture of life news?) that 'the bambino' is pretty much dead, do I have to look for the link?
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/08/01/food-bets-dwindle-as-el-nino-d...
Wow that's not good, last I saw it was looking better, 70% chance of el nino bringing some rain.
My surfer friends in Caleefornia tell me El Nino is here now... the waters have warmed significantly.
Well no wonder, the farmers have resorted to sucking up all the groundwater since the above ground stuff ran out.
Time to give it back to Mexico.
The millions of people who relocated to the desert expecting to run the taps all day long, wash their cars, soak in hot tubs, grow lush gardens, etc have nothing to do with the dwindling water resources right?
The insanity of the water usage in Las Vegas is mindboggling. Let alone the other southwest desert states.
California has always required water from elsewhere. The draw is eating up the supply. The Colorado essentially running dry will effect the climate much more than people losing power. The mega wind farms and massive suburban buildup has changed weather patterns. The green movement wants to blame carbon instead of the stupidity of suburban sprawl in an area never meant to sustain humans.
Meanwhile in the East this summer, in fact the entire year has been colder and wetter than any I can remember.
You missed an important point though.
Why blame yourself when you can blame it on Bush and the Republicans!!!
No one is blaming this on Republicans or Bush. That's a straw man.
Bush doesn't need that blame.
WMD's, Patriot Act, Yellow cake, lying straight up to start a war...
Ya, he did good without this blame.
His/Cheney's Mission was Accomplished.
all good points, I think real estate in vegas is starting to do a 'bama (Hint: creating a vacuum?)
Even in the midst of a so-called drought we would still have plenty of water in California if the public would accept lifestyle changes that recognize the realities of water distribution - meaning, no more grassy front lawns, no more backyard swimming pools, no more golf courses, no more overhead sprinklers watering the many thousands of acres of schoolyard grass and millions more acres of farmland.
But humans are inherently selfish bastards - my fellow Californians will fight to the death to preserve their individual right to waste water on all the toys and luxuries that they have come to expect.
The amount of water involved in the activities you mentioned is small compared to the amount required for agriculture in the middle of California.
comment of the chain award
we also removed all the LOCALIZED water capture systems that thousands and thousands of small (now obsolete) farmers had built into their efficient farms. Even homes and buildings had catch systems.
Modern AG is probably the biggest culprit, then lawns
The green movement sees that this is caused by burning of fossil fuels AND suburban sprawl. (Note: Cadillac Desert is classic assigned reading in environmental science programs, so obviously greens tend to be aware of the problems of suburban sprawl.)
It's not really about blaming; it's about taking action to try to fix things. Granted, it's a little late on both counts, but understanding the problem is a good first step, so do your homework, folks, and learn about climate change.
Use solar powered generators to reverse osmosis ocean water into drinking water. lower cost than traditional power sources, drinking water for the masses and agriculture along the coast. problem solved.
Santa Barbara is as close to a solution as CA gets in that respect.
everyone will pay through the nose for water, but it's better than dying of thirst.
where's El Nino?
you forgot to close it with "Bada bing, bada boop, there's your fucking water!"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148111001674
"It was found that photovoltaic-powered reverse osmosis is feasible for the majority of remote locations with a large solar resource."
Yep, you can bottle it and call it Fuku Water, with just the right amount of minerals and radiation.
Dead......
http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/climatic-phenomena-pages/enso/
I'll see your climate denialist website and raise you a Skeptical Science, operated by a number of real scientists.
Sounds like they are in need of some Hope and Change !!!!!
Somebody get on the HopePhone™ and tell Barry about this (give him a newspaper).
I just need someone to tell me it is man-made global warming while ignoring that part about droughts lasting for many decades in the past. Nothing like when history blows a hole in your excuses and BS.
I'll gladly send that state rain from here in Ontario Canada. Has been raining for most of the summer.
Actually, the fact that there were such mega-droughts in the past and that those mega-droughts were consequences of past climatic changes does not mean that there could not be another climatic change caused by humans dumping half a billion years of oil in the atmosphere.
BTW, each time the earth gets hotter, as in the holocene optimum, west of North America gets drier. In fact, the plains as we know them today were a desert with dunes.
But if it makes you feel happy to believe we should continue to zoom in our SUVs and forget about all that stuff, go ahead my friend.
Balz is someone who actually knows what he's talking about regarding climate change. He uses big words, like Holocene, probably because he's taken the time to learn about the issue. It's an issue worth learning about.
Skeptical Science is a great place to start.
I thought the glaciers were melting long before we discovered oil and started burning it.
Said the Kalifornian drinking leftist kool-aid.
Next time you are outside on a sunny day look up in the sky at that big bright shiny thing called the sun which is the source of all energy on the planet. Do you think it may of had anything to do with the many, ice-ages and droughts throughout history - when man did not even roam this planet?
God hates Amerika and shall punish thee accordingly.
He's gonna have to get in line.
The cops always get there too late.
https://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/if-yellowstone-su...
ADR;The mega wind farms and massive suburban buildup has changed weather patterns.
So much stupid in one short sentence. Congrats.
They should just break giant water mains all over the state...problem solved.
That would also stimulate jobs. Agent P, you're brilliant!!
You know OldPhart's got an inside track on that new FED job in the Vault. Agent P, please come in from the heat....
Krugman, is that you?
It would give the stock market a big boost, too! :)
Thats odd, I thought this was the coldest year in a decade + a massive la Nina coming, which means torrential rains to California. Perhaps if we start whipping weather forecasters and scientists for pandering to professional snake oil salesmen the credibility of the group will improve.
And usurers. I could convert to Islam.
La Nina means cold, dry winters in California. El Nino means lots of rain.
That is correct. And this is supposed to be an "El Nino". Asi es la vida! They can run NUKE plants for a billion years but they need a 300 year old Mexican fisherman to help them figure out the weather. Wait till they tell the old guy they've been fuckin' with it!
Weelll, I guess I don't care to get the details right as much as you would to get the illiterate obietards doing your paperwork right. Either way its FUCK YOU for your interests.
Case by case, with respect for context, the right thing is inside that box.
Buddy in Central Valley just confirmed only limits right now are don't wash your casr...without a nozzle that shuts off. And don't let water from landscaping to get onto sidewalk.
Sure there is a lack of rainfall, but so far the powers that be aren't real concerned.
I recall when I was young a drought meant couldn't wash car and couldn't water landscaping but once a week and only for limited time. Also there was a cmapaign to explain how to take a "spit shower;" Only run water when rinsgin off. While lathering, leave water off.
I remember that. It was Jerry Brown's thing. I remember we were advised to not flush each time, wash cars from a gallon bucket and some wet rags, car washes were being vandalized. The people of California took it seriously back in the early '70s. Now LA is using more water per capita than ever before. It's being treated as a non-issue this time. Interesting.
I lived thru the 70s "drought" in california and the counter-measures were nothing but political grandstanding and group feel-good.
Restaurants could not serve a glass of water unless requested, people were told to not flush their toilets only for piss, etc etc. Meanwhile agriculture and industry which used 90% of the states water were not impacted at all.
I'll know this drought is serious when I see the golf courses and the vast acres of grass at public schools turning brown.
Remember Senator S.I. Hayakawa?
"If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down."
From the LA Times
14Feb14
Los Angeles uses less water per capita than any other U.S. city with more than 1 million people: about 123 gallons per person per day. Although the city is setting an example for the rest of the state, it can do much more. California is in a severe drought, and the water supply is expected to remain uncertain from year to year. We suggest the most straightforward path in L.A. to proactively plan for a drier future is to install dual residential water meters, one for indoor water use, the other for outdoor water use.
Research we have conducted at UCLA and the Colorado School of Mines shows that from 40% to 60% of water use in the city of Los Angeles is for irrigation. Current mandatory restrictions and price increases have reduced water usage 23% since 2009.
Here's how we fix the water problem: We use more electricity for monitors that cost more money and hire more people to drive around in cars to monitor them! La La Land indeed. (Thank God there's plenty of money!).
That is because the Mexicans drink tequila, they don't need water.
Tsunami-size demographic shifts have a lot to do with people in LA not taking it seriously.
Argos, I'm in Phoenix, and while we have only had less than an INCH of rain,
ALL the plants in the north side are NOT dead.
You must have drove to Bundy Ranch where BLM buried the cattle.
I was wondering about that myself. I live in Mesa and everything here is green.
With Chandler's 0.8 inch total I figured that Mesa had to be "tropical" this summer.
I miss those Monsoons.
How is Tucson's Monsoon totals. (I know that is 100 Miles South but that tells me a lot.)
Looks like the fires of hell are spreading
Well in Denver it's been veritably pissing it down all year so far. My guess is we are getting California's normal rainfall.
Actually, and as usual the solution is simple, Move to where the fucking water is, you'll have to accept a loss on whatever property you were stupid enough to buy.
A man induced drought no less. California was a desert when settlers arrived, only the forced irrigation changed it to the bread basket of the world. Turn off the water and it returns to desert. With the radiation coming in from Fukushima, life as it once was in California will be very different, and short lived for far too many... The politicians "want" you to leave the state, forever... If not, then why haven't they created a water supply for California? Desalination plants would seem to be a good idea, if it weren't for the radioactive pollution both in the sea and on the land, accumalating more every day... it doesn't go away, it gets stronger daily... until...
AACK! - EL NINO IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, AND THEN HOUSES WILL BE SLIDING OFF THE CLIFFS ONCE AGAIN. AND THEN YOU PEOPLE FROM THE REST OF THIS STUPID COUNTRY HAD BETTER FORK OVER SOME DOUGH TO HELP THOSE WHO WERE UNDERINSURED AND NEED TO FIX THEIR BEACH HOUSES.
The Controllers want to keep water scarce.
There is all kinds of research about low temperature passive removal of salt from sea water into fresh water at low costs, but the California water infrastructure wants billions to build medieval water delivery systems filled with tolls, taxes and the inherent power to control people.
It's funny. All this eco-science to compel people to conserve, go green and otherwise use less but then the same powers want to import more consumers into the marketplace.
More than half of all the water delivered to southern California is lost to evaporation alone. Sacramento wants to build tunnels UNDER rivers to deliver water.
12 months toward a Manhattan Project for cheap passive desalination would give a process to replenish the ground water, contain snow melt expand all those almond groves and otherwise feed all those huddled mass unregistered democrat underclass being imported south of the border.
It's all a bunch of bullshit.
There is only one problem with your theory: energy. Energy is not infinite. Of course we can use sea water and make it drinkable. But in the end it will be far more energy efficient to produce vegetables somewhere else than in a desert.
I'll send out a fleet of trucks to California. Will sell 16.9 Oz bottle of water for USD$20 each.
How thirsty are you KKKalifornia Libtards? Just cracked open a Nestlé pure life bottle of water. Boy, this tastes so good.
OK - so how does a drought go from bad to worse in a state that gets no rain in the summer? It just doesn't rain in California in the summer. Have lived here all my life - and guess what? NO RAIN IN THE SUMMER...
Except - lately it has been raining here in the summer. Yesterday - poured - not quite cats and dogs - but spinning hail.
Up in the mountains - Tahoe area - so much silly weather a transformer blew up and created annoying power outages.
Once access to water ceases there will be mass migration to states
that have water. This will bankrupt California and the entire USA
as soon as the water evaporates and the wells run dry. No technology will save Too-Sunny-California from long term drought.
http://guymcpherson.com/recent-video/
Guy is HEROIC!