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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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aspendougy,
This is Jan 26, 2014..
This is from todays Sentinel Dome webcam..Feb 1 ,2014
Can't find 2013....
This is March 17, 2012
April 9, 2011
Dec, 23, 2010
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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bruce,
the drought is a disaster.
ironically, the driest part of the state, where chaz lives, is also the most urbanized. and it has 2 huge water management agencies, the MWD and then the DWP (and then a slew of others), that manage water use.
socal is also the most urban part of the state. that means way less water use.
ag burns most of the state's water. (that's true of each state in the arid west== nv, az, co, ut, id, and on). essentially all ag here is irrigation ag subsidized by tax payers.
once the taxpayers (most of whom live in the urban areas) work out that most of the water is getting burned by subsidized corporate farmers producing luxury crops for export, all hell is going to break lose.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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"All of our water comes from the local ( San Bernardino ) mountains."
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there, say, nita... thank you for sharing all the 'half domes'...
wow... :(
say, does anyone have pics of this area, or info, on if there were ever any other 'snowless years' ... you got me very curious now...
(i mean as to wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back when, like 16, 17, 1800's)...
though, of course, were not folks walking around with cameras, around then, :(
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Looks like some solid precip coming our way this week and part of next week...Yeah!...
edit,kunlun_shan..I saw on the weather map it's snowing on Mt Lick, and mixed rain/ light snow on Diablo.......Chance for a couple of sprinkles later today in Chico.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Raining here in San Francisco today - the most rain we've had since early December. Weather radio predicts a wet event streaming off the Pacific next weekend. Hopefully the ridge is finally shifting.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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There's finally enough daylight to start commuting by bike.
I was gonna start Monday. :-(
I guess I should wash the car this afternoon and that will guarantee precipitation.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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khanom, glad to see you post-- was wondering about yr situation. i'm more familiar with rights situ on the 108 corridor than i am on the upper 120. A number of folks on 108 are going to lose water because downstream owners have priority.
and yeah, "fire season" now runs January 1 to December 31.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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I think those firefighters around the mountains of the LA Basin and San Diego, in the chaparral, have had year round fire seasons for a number of years. Only now it might be getting even worse, earlier, larger, more intense.
I thought I read somewhere the Sierra Nevada Range was averaging somewhere around 12% snowpack. Whoa man, might be another severe fire season in the mountains.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, khanom... wow, as to this:
But to be honest what worries me far more is the fire season... last year's never ended, which means it only gets worse from here.
will sure be praying for 'safe passage through the season'...
matt was hoping a lot of the trees that were still green inside would come back, but--no rains came... :(
hope your crops will adjust to your timers, etc...
say, also, email me... :) please...
nice to see rain reports, etc, from nita, and kunlun_shan...
:)
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Randisi that is an excellent question.
In many areas of low land CA, and especially such as the Great Basin (Nevada), as Ron A. pointed out, with no new grass growth, in the brush fuels (sage), it will likely be a slow season (unless it gets windy). That fuel type needs grass or wind to carry the fire from bush to bush. It is truly spectacular how intense those brush fires can be under the right conditions.
Move up to the chaparral fuels, a continuous, dense, volatile fuel, such as that in which the Granite Mt Hotshots perished (RIP) and it's much less dependent on new or old grass. A lot of Socal is like that, it burns hot, fast and regrows quick after a burn.
(Edit to add: That is why the firefighters in those regions hit those fires so hard on initial attack - with airtankers, helicopters, hand crews, bulldozers and engines - to keep the fire from gaining heat).
In the Ponderosa / Spruce / Conifer forests up higher, fire is typically carried more by pine needles and accumulated duff material. At first they burn much slower, with a deeper heat. In drought conditions with the right wind, right fuel conditions temps humidity and who knows what else, they roar to life.
I've already been reading about smoke reports from the Rim Fire (one of the largest fires in recorded CA history started burning sometime August 2013 around Yosemite NP). The pilots I talked to on the incident spoke about this possibility due to the size of the fire.
Anyway, whatever moisture we do get, will melt quicker (warmer daytime temps / higher angle of sun / longer days) and do less to wet down all those huge heavy logs lying on the forest floor which surely are as dry as newspaper.
Hope that helps.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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One thing you could do is pile the dead brush, concentrate it in areas as far from infrastructure as possible. (Edit: Create your own wide fuel break).
It looked awful brown when I flew from Portersville to Oregon in a helo early last August. And all the reservoirs and rivers appeared to be so empty.
We shall see what the climate has in store for us the next few months, winter isn't over yet.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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There's been a dearth of activity just north of the equator all winter.
In the last couple of winters there's been a strong westward flow of evaporatively derived moisture that rides along the equator and then gets picked up north over Bangladesh and Indochina and eventually becomes the pineapple express.
Not much has been going on along the equator all winter. (maybe it's been too cool?)
http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/satellite/ssec/wide-view-us-pacific-asia-sat.html
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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There will have to be some serious decisions about what kind of ag is suitable for California. Things that need lots of water, such as alfalfa or rice, should not be grown there.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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pretty good taco truck in Planada,
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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It made me sick to see green grass and wet sidewalks in San Bernardino and Redlands year round. I'm from BC and for the last 30 years we have had summer watering restrictions even though we have more water than you. I have no pity for California right now. Waste not want not.
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Sredni Vashtar
Social climber
The coastal redwoods
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I agree, all the overvwatering to keep so Cal lawns green is ridiculous. Angelinos are in denial they live in a desert clime
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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In years like this we in California are almost completely dependent on stored ground water. The water table is like a bank that had large deposits in the past till it was full. Now we have been spending it as fast as possible with only a few deposits so the bank is very low. Really, we could require that every drop taken from the water table has to be repaid with interest, just like any other bank. That would be the conservative thing to do.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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It's amazing how much we depend on groundwater when things dry up.
The conversation we had the other day in Reinero's while the Super Bore bore on was enlightening and I'm glad that I finally met a guy I've wanted to know these many years since moving back to town.
His name is Ed Mitchell and is a professional well driller with a sterling conscience. We need plenty of men who think like he does, uses his pull to get the right things done, and is really more concerned than ever, now he's retired, with the problems of groundwater pumping and levels lowering, etc.
He said that when one large rancher, drilling for a 450 hp turbine, will eat up the supply for the surrounding ranches and farms for miles by going deeper, sucking up water they can't reach with shallow wells, and these suckers (my epithet) get away with it and then turn around and sell it to the neighbors.
He's done it himself, as he's a business man, but at the same time he is on the MID board and has been for years, helping to direct them away from this policy, or so he implied. I do know he is one of the smartest guys I've ever heard say ANYTHING because he is as articulate as Ed Hartouni or even Bridwell.
Cheers. Adam's Ale. The very best.
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