California's Drought

.....yeah, I remember now: "Be careful what you wish for". Fires, then bud freezing late frost, now the rain. Going to keep an eye on the seismograph, cause who knows what's next.

Yardslave wrote:.....yeah, I remember now: "Be careful what you wish for". Fires, then bud freezing late frost, now the rain. Going to keep an eye on the seismograph, cause who knows what's next.

Zombie Apocolypse? Alien Invasion? Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

Californians be like . . .

That's tragic, sanderson.

Despite water restrictions on Ag, Fresno County won the honor of the nation's top Agricultural County! Imagine what we, and the other counties in CA, could do with the water that is intentionally drained into the San Francisco Bay and out to the Pacific Ocean. https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/fresno-county-takes-the-crown-as-the-nations-top-agricultural-county/?fbclid=IwAR0hJ7gJ6yZahlCsNO9YBNdWLnqrSLEcpNBnfS5DxdLsMXQXFoJR9L_s9f0

I belong to a California Agriculture and a California Water Facebook page. This was posted by the Admin of the Water group.

"The Climate Prediction Center, which also makes "climate change" predictions years into the future, are making their usual non-prediction predictions for the upcoming rainy season. California is likely to be dry, they say, but weather patterns are fickle, and by February, it could be wet. They do acknowledge that dry predictions for the last two years were incorrect. I recall two years ago a dry La Nina prediction that resulted in setting new rainfall records, and three years ago, a "Godzilla" El Nino that never materialized. My point is, when they can't predict a month in advance, why should we believe they can predict years into the future?"

https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/California-likely-to-see-a-dry-winter-new-14541742.php?fbclid=IwAR2BL9QhV_FsG-ptYu1tPr3O85yKkLqT9Ts_zwvbO3svhl0Qr934qCf5YTU

So Santiago canyon is burning again down here.  This time it was started by a car fire on the 241. Many of the prior times, the fire has started near the 241.

The 241 and connector 261 out of the Irvine business center were built in 1998 and 1999.

Roads built through fields of kindling that don't get rain in wet years for nines month at a stretch, are bumper to bumper of three lanes of harried commuters with longer than one hour drives.  Is it really a surprise fires along the 241 corridor have become an annual occurence?

No_Such_Reality wrote:So Santiago canyon is burning again down here.  This time it was started by a car fire on the 241. Many of the prior times, the fire has started near the 241.

The 241 and connector 261 out of the Irvine business center were built in 1998 and 1999.

Roads built through fields of kindling that don't get rain in wet years for nines month at a stretch, are bumper to bumper of three lanes of harried commuters with longer than one hour drives.  Is it really a surprise fires along the 241 corridor have become an annual occurence?

I just saw it on the national news.   I thought maybe we dodged the bullet this year, but I guess not.

I had hoped to dodge the smoke this fall, but nope, the sky is yellowish today.  That means I'm confined to house projects.  I could get a jump start on guest bedroom for Thanksgiving.  Clean out the pantry.  Yuk.
Satellite photo.

Did y'all see where it was apparently PG&E's equipment that started a couple of the fires? Is this true?

AtlantaMarie wrote:Did y'all see where it was apparently PG&E's equipment that started a couple of the fires?  Is this true?

The biggest one that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed all those people was started by PG&E. That was the Camp Fire. That part is fact. Then I heard that they paid out huge dividends to their shareholders and declared bankruptcy to limit they're liability. Now they're shutting off power to keep it from happening again. Our guess is that they know they're equipment hasn't been properly maintained.

Redding has its own utility company -- REU -- right up the street from us -- they never turn their power off and as far as I know, they've never started a fire, either. Wonder why we hate PG&E? Remember Erin Brockovich? 

PG&E put their investors profits (and their exec's bonus) before their ratepayers safety. They didn't spend money on their ailing infrastructure so they could keep their investors happy. They, and the Public utilities commission, skated off their problems by declaring bankruptcy. and left the ratepayers  hanging in the wind while there was no recourse for the bad decisions made in managing the corporation. They never hesitated to pay lawyer's fees to protect their investor's from further loss , but never payed the ratepayers for their loss. I guess they are part of the "Too Big to Fail" bunch.

Yardslave wrote:PG&E put their investors profits (and their exec's bonus) before their ratepayers safety. They didn't spend money on their ailing infrastructure so they could keep their investors happy. They, and the Public utilities commission, skated off their problems by declaring bankruptcy. and left the ratepayers  hanging in the wind while there was no recourse for the bad decisions made in managing the corporation. They never hesitated to pay lawyer's fees to protect their investor's from further loss , but never payed the ratepayers for their loss. I guess they are part of the "Too Big to Fail" bunch.

+1

Here we go, again!  
https://weather.com/safety/news/2020-02-14-california-drought-february

Flying home over the Sierra Nevada Mountains was sobering. Instead of a delightful snowscape, there were just larges patches of snow.

It won't always be that way.  Think about past years.

Donna, I know. It's just that this summer may be really hard on the agriculture folks. Our 55-gallons per day per person doesn't take affect until 2022.

Yes, assuming the present dry trend continues, it will be a difficult summer.

It started out so well in November and December.  Then Jan and Feb came around with nothing.

As for the fires, while PG&E has made dumb decisions, they're convenient to heap blame on so all the other agencies involved don't have to be accountable for their part in making the mess.   Every one from the people moving out into high fire zones to the environental groups that fight cutting down a tree to widen a road (seriously, can you imagine the fit if PG&E tried to dig and bury lines through 100s of miles of forest? Or the caterwauling has they then sue the  regulatory board to pass the cost on to rate payers?

Average rainfall in Redding, CA for February: 6.5"
2020 rainfall in Redding, CA for February: 0.00" * set a record.

No_Such_Reality wrote:It started out so well in November and December.  Then Jan and Feb came around with nothing.

As for the fires, while PG&E has made dumb decisions, they're convenient to heap blame on so all the other agencies involved don't have to be accountable for their part in making the mess.  

They have to do something to stay busy. Heaven forbid they should spend their time fixing their @%&*&*()%!! equipment, when they can just turn off our power every time the wind blows! Our new governor promised to put the quietus on that crap. I guess we'll find out this summer if he succeeded (not holding my breath).

countrynaturals wrote:Average rainfall in Redding, CA for February: 6.5"
2020 rainfall in Redding, CA for February: 0.00" * set a record.

You can have some of ours.  Rainfall so far this year is 20 inches.  That is 11 inches above normal.

I see that some areas in CA are getting rain. Still waiting in Fresno. When I look at the weather map, it looks like the rain wraps around but doesn't include Fresno. Was it something I did?

sanderson wrote:I see that some areas in CA are getting rain.  Still waiting in Fresno.  When I look at the weather map, it looks like the rain wraps around but doesn't include Fresno.  Was it something I did?

That happens here sometimes, too, but for us it's okay, since our surrounding areas are mountains and foothills that store and feed moisture for us. For you, it must be really frustrating.

Yes.