California Dreaming or "Looking Down the Barrel of a Loaded Gun."

 

California's ongoing drought portends another miserable wildfire season across the West.  UC Berkley prof, Andrew Schwartz, writes that California is going from bad to worse.

Schwartz has just concluded the study of the state's snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.


The 2022 results confirmed what those of us monitoring the state’s drought had feared: California’s snowpack is now at 39 percent of its average, or 23 percent lower than at the same point last year. This signals a deepening of the drought — already the worst in the western United States in 1,200 years — and another potentially catastrophic fire season for much of the West.

...Droughts may last for several years or even over a decade, with varying degrees of severity. During these types of extended droughts, soil can become so dry that it soaks up all new water, which reduces runoff to streams and reservoirs. Soil can also become so dry that the surface becomes hard and repels water, which can cause rainwater to pour off the land quickly and cause flooding. This means we no longer can rely on relatively short periods of rain or snow to completely relieve drought conditions the way we did with past droughts.

Even with normal or above-average precipitation years, changes to the land surface present another complication. Massive wildfires, such as those that we’ve seen in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains in recent years, cause distinct changes in the way that snow melts and that water, including rain, runs off the landscape. The loss of forest canopy from fires can result in greater wind speeds and temperatures, which increase evaporation and decrease the amount of snow water reaching reservoirs.

We are looking down the barrel of a loaded gun with our water resources in the West. Rather than investing in body armor, we’ve been hoping that the trigger won’t be pulled. The current water monitoring and modeling strategies aren’t sufficient to support the increasing number of people who need water. I’m worried about the next week, month and year and about new problems that we’ll inevitably face as climate change continues and water becomes more unpredictable.



Comments

  1. TrailblazerApril 5, 2022 at 5:50 PM

    Beware of Sam Slick the American trader......

    https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/10/01/canada-has-water-the-u-s-wants-it/

    May I add that , today, on CKNW radio the host was upset that Vancouver taxpayers were been asked to conserve water with the rallying cry of 'We live on the wet coast' we have lots of water!!

    I remember that, we have lots of! being said about fish and timber! and that's not too long ago.

    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 6, 2022 at 7:33 AM

      CKNW, to be expected I suppose.

      We do have lots of water if we're willing to capture it when and in the form it arrives. Today it doesn't arrive as snowpack so much as winter rains. That said, water is water but you have to build reservoirs to hold it into summer.

      Delete
  2. TrailblazerApril 6, 2022 at 3:52 PM

    The upset is that Vancouver residents are having lawn watering restrictions.
    Perhaps they consider a green lawn to be a constitutional right?
    Build reservoirs; yes but only as a last resort.


    TB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibApril 7, 2022 at 2:44 AM

      In my area, TB, very few water in the summer. The lawns always green up when the autumn rains arrive.

      Delete

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