The Official Drought Thread

[byu71]

Just ask them if they've ever putted on a dirt green.

Here is what I see eventually happening. We have had these water rights since the 50's. We can afford to dredge out the lakes we have and build capacity or build a well.

If serious rationing eventually comes the neighbors probably will be pissed as their lawns burn up and we are watering. I can see them bringing Obama out to give a speech on equality. These CC folks didn't earn those water rights!!!

[USUC]

Central Utah now up to 100% of normal.

But California still in a world of hurt. Amazing that there is such a big difference.

I hope we get another couple of good storms in. This is the last year that the secondary water on my family's property won't be metered. I have to take advantage of this with the garden before it gets too expensive to do it on a larger scale. I need there to be enough secondary water to make through September.

[splitbamboo]

Idaho is still one area code? Or does Boise have another?

We just moved up into the panhandle--60 miles from the border--and we've inherited the 208...

[Jeff Lebowski]

UPDATE: After a very wet February, Utah is now up to 83% of normal snowpack. California has gone from disaster-of-biblical-proportions to catastrophic.

I found a very cool website with up-to-date data in case anyone is interested.

http://cires.colorado.edu/~aslater/SNOW/

Click on the state in one of the menus on the left and then click on one of the dots to see snow depth vs time at selected stations. For example, here is one from Utah:



The red line is current year. The other lines are from all other years. The mean is somewhere in the middle. This is what a typical california station looks like:



Notice the little bump in Feb/Mar? That helps, but still unbelievably low.

If you click on the Seasonal Rank Status link, you get a color map of water storage vs location. As you can see, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado are in great shape. Cali and southern Oregon is a disaster.

Expect food prices to be very high this year.

[USUC]

KSL has the state at 91% but I'm not sure how they get their numbers. Northern Utah is sitting great right now. Logan has something like 120%.

[Soccermom]

I live on the border of San Joaquin and Alameda County. I'm very nervous about the drought here. I feel bad for our firefighters because I fear they may be extremely busy this summer. I don't wanna see any more fires at Yosemite dangit. But with the drought added to the stupidity of people, I fear we may see a lot of smoke.

[Pelado]

UPDATE: After a very wet February, Utah is now up to 83% of normal snowpack. California has gone from disaster-of-biblical-proportions to catastrophic.

I found a very cool website with up-to-date data in case anyone is interested.

http://cires.colorado.edu/~aslater/SNOW/

Click on the state in one of the menus on the left and then click on one of the dots to see snow depth vs time at selected stations. For example, here is one from Utah:



The red line is current year. The other lines are from all other years. The mean is somewhere in the middle. This is what a typical california station looks like:



Notice the little bump in Feb/Mar? That helps, but still unbelievably low.

If you click on the Seasonal Rank Status link, you get a color map of water storage vs location. As you can see, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado are in great shape. Cali and southern Oregon is a disaster.

Expect food prices to be very high this year.

A bunch of stations in California and southern Oregon are at 0% of mean. That can't be good.

[pellegrino]

I live on the border of San Joaquin and Alameda County. I'm very nervous about the drought here. I feel bad for our firefighters because I fear they may be extremely busy this summer. I don't wanna see any more fires at Yosemite dangit. But with the drought added to the stupidity of people, I fear we may see a lot of smoke.

Doesn't Yosemite prohibit open fires during the summer under conditions like these? You'd think that with the drought they're facing they'd get pretty strict and very active in preventing visitors from lighting fires in any situation.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I live on the border of San Joaquin and Alameda County. I'm very nervous about the drought here. I feel bad for our firefighters because I fear they may be extremely busy this summer. I don't wanna see any more fires at Yosemite dangit. But with the drought added to the stupidity of people, I fear we may see a lot of smoke.

You are going to be breathing smoke all summer. Count on it.

[Soccermom]

Doesn't Yosemite prohibit open fires during the summer under conditions like these? You'd think that with the drought they're facing they'd get pretty strict and very active in preventing visitors from lighting fires in any situation.

Oh, they are strict, but with the drought alone, it doesn't take much. And unfortunately some people just don't care and do stupid things.

[Soccermom]

You are going to be breathing smoke all summer. Count on it.

Gonna be a fun summer for pregnant me. . .LOL. Heat, drought, smoke. . .yippee.

[Paperback Writer]

From the local news, North Texas has the 5th worst year-to-date start with rain (dating back to the late 1800's) . Water rationing will probably be even more stricker. Right now, we can only water lawns twice a month. That won't be enough when the long, hot Texas summer arrives.

[pellegrino]

Oh, they are strict, but with the drought alone, it doesn't take much. And unfortunately some people just don't care and do stupid things.

They should go TSA on all back country visitors by requiring pack inspection before departure and then patrol popular trails and campsites vigorously. You'd think the extra funds put into prevention would be worth it.

[Soccermom]

They should go TSA on all back country visitors by requiring pack inspection before departure and then patrol popular trails and campsites vigorously. You'd think the extra funds put into prevention would be worth it.

Yup, an ounce of prevention.

On another note, my town has really high water bills because it includes an assessment to cover the water treatment facility--town was built from the ground up right with the water treatment facility. So now that we are in a drought and we have restrictions, some people are saying "eff it, I pay enough in taxes. I'm gonna do whatever I want." And whatever they want includes washing leaves away with a hose when they could easily be raked. Just bugs me. I mean I hate taxes, but anyone who moved here was made aware of the higher cost of living in a town built on a cow pasture. And since no businesses are out here, it isn't like anybody needs to be here.

I hear a storm is coming, though. Doing a dance and hoping for a downpour!

[FMCoug]

They should go TSA on all back country visitors by requiring pack inspection before departure and then patrol popular trails and campsites vigorously. You'd think the extra funds put into prevention would be worth it.

Even better, MOVE TSA to the back country trails and solve two problems in one fell swoop.