[dohboi]

Here's a different picture (from Drought Monitor maps) of the drought pattern in the US now:



Really shows how dry it is in much of the far West and especially the NW.

Here's the link to the most recent Drought Monitor map, though note that the Palmer Index map is for the entire month of August, whereas the DM map if for last week--kind of shows what a whiplash TX and environs have been going through--drought to flood now back to drought. CA and the rest of the far west may be about to follow this pattern.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[Apneaman]

80s Climate Scientists Predict Drought and Political Tension in the Mideast


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iKF-hWUOHk

[Apneaman]

Experts: Record drought conditions only getting worse


"If this year was the worst season, last year was the worst season, how are we going to cover the fires next year when we're already short resources?" Central Pierce Fire and Rescue's Ed Hrivnak asked.

Washington is in back-to-back record-setting fire seasons, and new forecasts show conditions will only get worse for the next 10 years."



http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Expe ... 03721.html

[Subjectivist]

I can verify that this part of Ohio just east of Toledo is three inches above yearly average at this point, we just got another quarter inch yesterday according to the weather service.

[Apneaman]

Residents run for safety as California wildfire explodes

"Evacuees crowded roads in the area, with firefighters warning that more than 1,000 structures were threatened. There were reports Saturday night that some homes were lost and that people were trapped awaiting rescue."


http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-b ... story.html

[GHung]

I have 5 rain gauges, 4 electronic (Davis) all calibrated over time to a CoCoRaHS manual 4" gauge. The map shows us as being in moderate drought, although my data shows we've had between 44.56" to 45.45". Confidence is high that this is an accurate range, and compared to previous years on this date, we're well within the normal rainfall range. I've been logging weather data for over 16 years, and doing so consistently for at least 10 years.

To see CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain Hail, and Snow) network data in thousands of locations, go here:
http://data.cocorahs.org/cocorahs/maps/

You can purchase the CoCoRHaS rain gauge for about $30 plus shipping here: http://www.weatheryourway.com/cocorahs/store.html (more expensive elsewhere), and the site has detailed instructions for taking accurate precipitation measurements.



Join the network if you like and submit daily or weekly reports for your specific location. The map, above, was likely made using (at least in part) CoCoRHaS data. Also includes Canada. Data is used by the weather services, non-governmental services, researchers, etc..

All of my data streams to various weather data collecting entities via CWOP/APRS (Citizen Weather Observation Program/Automatic Packet Reporting System). Enables high-resolution analysis of ongoing weather and climate data. CWOP does running assessments of data accuracy and reports anomalies. My systems seem to be quite accurate; well within their data quality parameters. All of this distributed/redundant data gives a pretty good picture of what's going on out there.

[Apneaman]

Social media posts from Valley Fire include dramatic photos, videos


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S ... to-8622671

[dohboi]

Yeah, I just saw that over on rs. Here's what Wharfrat is saying about it over there:

A horrific story is unfolding there, about 80 miles SE of me. Yesterday at 1 PM, 50 acres had been burned. This morning, 40,000!! People are missing, and there was an anecdotal report that one road had been blocked...

And this: https://instagram.com/p/7jvwOLzgT9/
And: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/official-ex ... n-weather/

But we should probably take further discussion over to the "Wildfire" thread (though of course the drought is a major factor in these fires, and GW is likely a factor in the drought, and of course as ad would want to remind us capitalism is the root of all evil... )

But getting back to drought:

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/1 ... -0009.html

1 Million Guatemalans Hungry as Drought Parches Central America

[Apneaman]

Sierra Nevada snowpack lowest in 500 years


http://phys.org/news/2015-09-sierra-nev ... years.html

[onlooker]

How long before the nexus of drought/failed crops/water shortages, poverty, crime violence etc. signifies a mass exodus from Central America. Already we are seeing some of that from the children leaving Central America.

[Apneaman]

What California can learn from Saudi Arabia’s water mystery


https://www.revealnews.org/article/what ... r-mystery/

[Apneaman]

Saudi Arabia squandered its groundwater and agriculture collapsed. California, take note.


http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9323379/sa ... ed?ref=yfp

[jedrider]

Saudi Arabia squandered its groundwater and agriculture collapsed. California, take note.


http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9323379/sa ... ed?ref=yfp

If California doesn't get washed away from extreme flooding this year, I expect that Saudi Arabia will be our model for the future. It would really have to rain continuously for us to recover ground water resources this year, and THAT never really happens here. So, flash floods may NOT be sufficient IMO. Also, the less it rains the harder the soil becomes, and the flash floods DO NOT really penetrate. I am wondering, does this make structures much more vulnerable as well, with hard packed soil that merely fractures?? I am not a soil engineer, so I don't really know.

[dohboi]

IIRC, drought can indeed lead to structural damage to foundations, but that depends on the soil type, I think.

Others that have more knowledge of the subject should chime in.

[dohboi]

From the PO newsfeed:

http://peakoil.com/enviroment/decades-l ... nasa-warns

Mega-Drought Looms for Entire US

[onlooker]

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/v ... iotd_title

Soil moisture or lack thereof in the Western US satellite view.

[Keith_McClary]

Sierra Nevada snowpack lowest in 500 years
September 14, 2015

[dohboi]

As Fires Grow, a New Landscape Appears in the West

Droughts are certainly not new, nor are large fires or even intense fires, Dr. Swetnam acknowledged. But the greater number of intense and large fires, and the repeated “burns on top of burns” like the ones that cleared the landscape around Cochiti canyon, are part of a pattern of worsening conditions exacerbated by the hotter droughts.

He has studied sections of many trees from the former forest near the canyon, which provided 300 years of fire history before the 2011 Las Conchas blaze, which ultimately burned 150,000 acres. “Obviously, the forest had survived many, many, surface fires,” he said. “But this fire — this fire — killed all of the trees in this area. “

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/scien ... -west.html

[Plantagenet]

Some Californians blame the drought on a government conspiracy

growing-number-believe-californias-drought-is-a-government-conspiracy

No wonder California is known as the land of fruits and nuts.

[kuidaskassikaeb]

Just one of those strange things



This is at the end of your link. Are these the same How did Texas go from very moist to extreme drought/
I know these calculations are strange but?