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MattB
Trad climber
Tucson
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Apr 26, 2014 - 05:16pm PT
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Nice little storm. Probably will feed more fuel growth, big fires coming. Nice flowers for sure.
Dams are still low, no? The snow will mostly sublimate in the next few weeks, ground will stay dry, I fear. Never dry wells still dry.
Matt via redding,ca
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Six Inches of pouring rain last night and nothing leaked.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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tx dmt
here's the actual report-- it dramatically understates the problem. for a start, we do no monitoring and have no data for most of the basins in the state. we have some data for only 1/3 of the highest pumping basins in the state. and this report, remarkably, does not even attempt to survey rates of well permitting and drilling, which by most accounts have surged in the last few years. that's why many of the pretty maps have weird holes around places like, say, eastern stanislaus.
http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/docs/Drought_Response-Groundwater_Basins_April30_Final_BC.pdf
still useful-- some data is better than none, but most of the real info in this is coming from usgs and other sources.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Ground water reform you say? When does the mandatory condom use kick in?
I know, we can't talk about that.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Thank you. Sadly, that is a topic no politician will ever bring up.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Living in the greater Sacramento area affords our newspaper a lot of statewide political news that the average news reader elsewhere might miss.
that's true, although the modbee and, occasionally, fresnob have been far better than sac on covering and explaining water issues.
one of the things that stand out about that report's highlight of eldo, placer and nevada counties, is that a high percentage of capitol insiders either live or have 2nd homes in those areas.
basically, all the folks who actually live near the water-- folks in the mountains and foothills --are going to end up drinking sand.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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spent the past week as dive sup for maintaining the Santa Cruz fresh water supply reservoir
i don't want to piss off our customer...but i can tell you that the situation is much worse than the public knows anything about...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 13, 2014 - 06:18pm PT
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[Click to View YouTube Video]
Who would want to live in "Sakeramento, California," anyhow?
I put this link on The Flames thread, too, printed out.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/10/3921042/drought-afflicts-almonds.html
Very good journalism, in my book.
This really dovetails with my angst and bitterness about pistachios and other nuts going in on former range land around the foothills of the east side of the SJV, where, again, the water is co-opted by irrigation districts and there is (likely) more groundwater being pumped to keep these newer orchards alive than we know.
I'm not certain, but pistachios are a "quality" nut, like the almond in many minds.
Anyway, in fairness to the farmers and their families, here's some adverts from the eighties you'll remember, and some food for thought:
How many of the featured products do YOU buy? I buy literally none of them, though I have had Kudos at Halloween and Almond Joy is God's Diet Food, we all know.
[Click to View YouTube Video]A single ad a day, a six-pack every night, and a can a week of almonds, that's all they ask.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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May 13, 2014 - 06:25pm PT
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The mountains are very dry in SoCal. The pines are stressed and starting to die. So far no PCT hiker has started a conflagration with an alcohol stove, it's a miracle.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 13, 2014 - 06:36pm PT
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No drought in Ouray. Eight inches of snow on the deck this morning and above normal snow pack.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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May 13, 2014 - 11:51pm PT
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So far no PCT hiker has started a conflagration with an alcohol stove, it's a miracle.
It is just a matter of time. Alky stoves are a great lightweight item, but it doesn't take much of an f-up to start a fire.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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May 14, 2014 - 09:57pm PT
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welcome to fire season.
best to ron g and everyone else in harm's way down south.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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May 14, 2014 - 10:27pm PT
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Rainfall on the Skyline Ridge 1 mile south of Castle Rock
Aug through July
2011-2012 24"
-2013 27"
-14May2014 15"
Prior to the past three seasons, the rainfall has averaged about 40"
Likelihood of significant rain between now and June 30 is low even in a good year.
On June 9 2012 we got 2/3". The only rain we got from through July
I won't be surprised if 15" is all we get this season.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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May 15, 2014 - 11:01am PT
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so the LA Times reports that a new study of groundwater and earthquakes in the Central Valley suggests that groundwater pumping is triggering earthquakes.
Haven't read the study yet (the papers never link them), but the story is here:
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80204882/
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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May 15, 2014 - 11:09am PT
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It's nice to be outside in the evenings and not feed the mosquitoes. I don't think I've been bit once this year.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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May 15, 2014 - 04:11pm PT
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Few mosquitos indeed. Also very few birds.
Coyotes, foxes and snakes are coming right up to our houses searching for food.
I'll take the mosquitos.
Not that I have a problem with coyotes, foxes and snakes, it's an indication of their lack of food.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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May 18, 2014 - 03:29pm PT
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A passage from Half Broke Horses, a novel by Jeannette Walls.
To live in a place where water was so scarce made the rare moments like this—when the heavens poured forth an abundance of water and the hard earth softened and turned lush and green—seem magical, almost miraculous. The kids had an irresistible urge to get out and dance in the rain, and I always let them go and sometimes joined them myself, all of us prancing around, arms upraised, as the water beat down on our faces, plastering our hair and soaking our clothes.
Afterward, we all ran down to the draws that led to the . . . dam, and once the first rush of water had passed, I’d let the kids strip off their clothes and go swimming. They’d stay out there for hours, paddling around, pretending to be alligators or dolphins or hippopotamuses. They had a heck of a time playing in the rain puddles, too. When the water sank through the soil and all that was left was mud, they’d keep playing, rolling around until everything but the whites of their eyes and their teeth was plastered with mud. Once the mud dried, which didn’t take long, it sheared right off, leaving them pretty clean, and they got back into their clothes.
Sometimes over supper, when Jim got home after a storm, the kids would describe their escapades in the water and mud, and Jim would recount his vast store of water lore and water history. Once the world was nothing but water, he explained, and you wouldn’t think it to look at us, but human beings were mostly water. The miraculous thing about water, he said, was that I never came to an end. All the water in the earth had been here since the beginning of time, it had just moved around from rivers and lakes and oceans to clouds and rain and puddles and then sunk through the soil to underground streams, to springs and wells, where it got drunk by people and animals and went back to rivers and lakes and oceans.
The water you kids were playing in, he said had probably been to Africa and the North Pole. Genghis Khan or Saint Peter or even Jesus himself might have drunk it. Cleopatra might have bathed in it. Crazy Horse might have watered his pony with it. Sometimes water was liquid. Sometimes it was rock hard—ice. Sometimes it was soft—snow. Sometimes it was visible but weightless—clouds. And sometimes it was completely invisible—vapor--floating up into the sky like the souls of dead people. There was nothing like water in the world, Jim said. It made the desert bloom but also turned rich bottomland into swamp. With it, we’d die, but it could also kill us, and that was why we loved it, even craved it, but also feared it. Never take water for granted, Jim said. Always cherish it. Always beware of it.
(I could say some of the same thing about love. Is water a sign of the love of a creator? Or was he just practical?)
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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May 18, 2014 - 10:49pm PT
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Castle Rock falls yesterday.
Just a splash of water. Like the end of October in a dry year.
(for those who don't know, the Bay area gets virtually no rain from end of May to late October.
We might get 1 or two summer thunderstorms. Which are usually insignificant compared to even a medium Rocky Mtns thunderstorm
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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May 20, 2014 - 02:07pm PT
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It wasn't much, but it was something.....enough rain in Chico.. to water my plants and have a lightning & thunder show.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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May 20, 2014 - 03:53pm PT
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so the LA Times reports that a new study of groundwater and earthquakes in the Central Valley suggests that groundwater pumping is triggering earthquakes.
I was troubleshooting a well up in Big Bear yesterday, kept turning pump on and off. Thought someone backed into the pump house.
OOPS!
LOL
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