Re: California's Drought

No_Such_Reality 4/10/2016, 9:31 am

Disappointing.

Light enough to check the gauge, still barely 1/8 inch. That's the total for the whole three day rain we've had. I checked wunderground, it agrees. Month to date total of .18 over four days, no more than .06 on any single day. Just enough sprinkling to make the concrete look wet, but otherwise basically useless.

**sanderson** 4/10/2016, 2:37 pm

Looks like that's the end of what ever chance of rain there was. Sad

seamammal 4/11/2016, 4:51 pm

sanderson wrote:Well, it was a good practice run. One of the nice things about having the PVC holders in the beds and leaving most of the frames in place. For the new tomato bed (2' x 7') I just swamped out the tall vertical poles and used short gables off 2 other beds. All but 1 bed is 2' wide so everything is interchangeable exceptfor specific ridge poles. I only covered the newly planted starts.

Sanderson,

What did you use for the bottom of your elevated beds? My knee arthritis is getting to the point where I think I am going to break down my beds and build elevated ones to save on the kneeling.

Thanks

**sanderson** 4/11/2016, 5:16 pm

Either 1/2" or 3/4" exterior plywood. Not marine. One hole per square and one in each of the 4 quarters. They are 2' tall except for the ones in the original flower bed. Some of those are 5 1/2" off the ground. I use those for tall vining things.

There is no perfect height for the back, but your concern is your knees. Planting in the 2' TTs is a little hard on the back but perfect for tending as the plants get taller. I love TTs!!

countrynaturals 4/14/2016, 11:06 am

sanderson wrote:Looks like that's the end of what ever chance of rain there was.

Drought monitor is out. No change from last week, but HUGE improvement from last year. We were supposed to get more rain this week, but the new 10-day shows it all gone. Fingers crossed they change their minds again. We still need MORE RAIN!

No_Such_Reality 4/14/2016, 2:20 pm

I understand we've had five bad years however I don't understand the drought reporting.

Here's the current map.

California's Drought - Page 14 20160412_ca_none

California's Drought - Page 14 20160412_ca_none

Fresno is in the middle of the darkest 'exceptional drought' area. Year to date, and water year to date, Fresno is reporting 133% precipitation year to date and 112% total for the entire WY (which ends September 30). Many areas report above average and WY still below but running high 80s to 90s for Water year totals.

It seems they've redefined 'drought' to be some multi-year running total deficit going back to the last 'average' year. I'm a bit cynical.

California's precipitation numbers come from here http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/monthly_precip.php

**sanderson** 4/15/2016, 4:13 am

Cynical? Nah. Here is another map for those not familiar with CA. California's Drought - Page 14 Map_of10

This map shows the long green interior valleys, the northern or Sacramento Valley, and the southern or San Joaquin Valley. Water run off from both drain towards Sacramento and San Francisco areas. California's Drought - Page 14 Map_of10

Before Europeans/East Americans settled, the valleys were extremely lush in areas. The ground water had millennials to fill up the underground water storage with rivers still able to flow excess to the SF Bay area and out to the Pacific. This year we had plenty of rain bounce

but limited storage, and "unnatural diversions". So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "Drought" now means "Limited Available Water" for you, me, and the farmers. Can't say any more. TOS.

countrynaturals 4/15/2016, 12:47 pm

I'm in Shasta County (the green one, in the middle of the 2nd row down from the top). We were "exceptional" last year at this time. Now we're up 3 categories to "moderate." Whew. According to our weather guy, we'd need 95 more inches THIS SEASON to get completely out of this @$%&!!! drought. Ain't gonna happen.

**Kelejan** 4/15/2016, 12:59 pm

This all sounds like the Amazon Forests and the Prairies and every other place on Earth.

Use up, move on: if you can.

No_Such_Reality 4/15/2016, 2:26 pm

Yea, there's a lot of that. Its pretty strange driving through Sonoran desert between Los Angeles and seeing square miles of Cotton planted along the I-10 freeway.

County, I hope you're being facetious or that they're talking about the surrounding mountains. Even then, for many, like Mount Shasta (ironically, not in Shasta county) 95 inches just over two years average rain. For a place like Redding, that's nearly three years average precipitation. Are they saying we need double our average rain fall for each of the next two years to end the drought?

countrynaturals 4/15/2016, 7:12 pm

No_Such_Reality wrote:Yea, there's a lot of that. Its pretty strange driving through Sonoran desert between Los Angeles and seeing square miles of Cotton planted along the I-10 freeway.

County, I hope you're being facetious or that they're talking about the surrounding mountains. Even then, for many, like Mount Shasta (ironically, not in Shasta county) 95 inches just over two years average rain. For a place like Redding, that's nearly three years average precipitation. Are they saying we need double our average rain fall for each of the next two years to end the drought?

Nope. I was being serious. Weatherman showed a chart with a bucket half full to represent our rainfall. To fill it up and end the drought would take another 95". This drought isn't going away any time soon. My concern is that next year won't be "El Nino" and we'll go right back to what we've had the last few years.

**sanderson** 4/15/2016, 7:23 pm

Country, Were they talking about recharging the under ground reservoirs and dams? Here is a math problem for those who like them. How many El Nino years (12+" of rain) would it take to raise the ground water table in the SJ Valley up 100 to 150'? Assuming city usage would be 1" and farming 5" of it each year.

countrynaturals 4/15/2016, 7:44 pm

sanderson wrote:Country, Were they talking about recharging the under ground reservoirs and dams? Here is a math problem for those who like them. How many El Nino years (12+" of rain) would it take to raise the ground water table in the SJ Valley up 100 to 150'? Assuming city usage would be 1" and farming 5" of it each year.

It was a general statement, so I'm not sure exactly what he was referring to. Hubby raised another concern -- what happens when these underground reservoirs collapse? Some of our small towns are sinking due to depletion of the water tables. Now where is the water going when it rains?

**sanderson** 4/15/2016, 11:31 pm

At least we don't have limestone caverns like some areas of the country so we won't have those scary cavern collapses. Shocked

My math question was just a general statement to show that it would take a "lifetime" to recharge the underground water.

**sanderson** 5/5/2016, 4:15 am

Another shot at rain starting tomorrow afternoon. Husband bought a nice glass rain gauge a couple of months ago so I can actually read how much my micro-region receives.

countrynaturals 5/5/2016, 12:23 pm

I thought this last round missed us, but Hubby said it really rained hard after I was asleep. cheers

No_Such_Reality 5/5/2016, 2:05 pm

Yes, they're talking about the rain storm for the next three days here in SoCal.

Total expected rain is around 0.10 inches. Snow to 6000 feet. Nope not a typo. Three day rain event and they're forecasting less than an 1/8th of an inch.

In the midwest, they call that dew.

**sanderson** 5/5/2016, 3:09 pm

"Dew" forecast starting at 3 pm today for a total of 0.3" in this area over 3 days. Bring it on.

CapeCoddess 5/5/2016, 3:29 pm

sanderson wrote:"Dew" forecast starting at 3 pm today for a total of 0.3" in this area over 3 days. Bring it on.

Wish I know how to do a dew dance for ya.
Maybe something like this?
chicken dance

CC

Yardslave 5/5/2016, 4:04 pm

What ever happened to cloud seeding? My rain barrels are empty and waiting, but so far I've only seen a brief 2 minutes of rain today. I hope that tomorrow's forecast is more productive.

countrynaturals 5/5/2016, 6:43 pm

sanderson wrote:"Dew" forecast starting at 3 pm today for a total of 0.3" in this area over 3 days. Bring it on.

Looped right around us. We felt the wind, heard the thunder, saw the clouds, then nuthin'. Sad

I hope you do better, Sanderson. California's Drought - Page 14 3170584802

countrynaturals 5/5/2016, 6:45 pm

Yardslave wrote:What ever happened to cloud seeding? My rain barrels are empty and waiting, but so far I've only seen a brief 2 minutes of rain today. I hope that tomorrow's forecast is more productive.

Tomorrow night looks like our best chance, but I'm not holding my breath.

countrynaturals 5/5/2016, 7:56 pm

countrynaturals wrote:
sanderson wrote:"Dew" forecast starting at 3 pm today for a total of 0.3" in this area over 3 days. Bring it on.
Looped right around us. We felt the wind, heard the thunder, saw the clouds, then nuthin'. I hope you do better, Sanderson.

After I posted this, the clouds came back around and started dumping. I was outside and got soaked. Then had to come back in here and eat my words. Embarassed

I am NOT complaining, however. We'll take every drop we can get. cheers

**sanderson** 5/6/2016, 1:43 am

CC's chicken rain dance chicken dance

worked!

countrynaturals 5/6/2016, 12:28 pm

sanderson wrote:CC's chicken rain dance worked!

Just checked the drought monitor -- slight improvement, but only in the northwest part of the state where we needed it the least (not that I'm complaining, cuz that's where we live) but the parts of the state in the 2 worst categories -- extreme & exceptional -- saw no improvement at all. Sad

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