Author Topic: Monthly reports for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.  (Read 13836 times)

elagache

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Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

For the northern hemisphere, we are moving into the autumn-winter wet season.  I decided to be a bit more systematic about reporting the rainfall at my weather station.  Here is the first report:



Comparison of observed rainfall at Canebas Weather station with seasonal averages for Orinda as reported by: idcide.com.    Two unusual storms in September resulted in receiving our normal monthly rainfall.  However, some rain is expected in July and August so for the 2014-2015 wet season we are already behind by our cumulative normal rainfall by over 25%. 

I will archive the images so that they can be compared as the months evolve and I'll try to post a new entry here around the first of each new month.

I certainly encourage anyone else to start up threads like this recording the climatic conditions around their station.  I would be interesting if we could follow each others weather on a month by month basis.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Blicj11

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Re: Monthly reports for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2014, 09:01:09 AM »
Edouard:

What software are you using to produce your graph?
Blick


elagache

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Oh da' shame!!! (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season. )
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2014, 10:00:57 PM »
Dear Blick and WeatherCat victims of da' ol' evil empire . . . .

What software are you using to produce your graph?

Oh da' shame!!   How can I face my friends when I used Microshaft (un)Excel!!    It is part of Office 2011.

As much as I hate Excel it does have some very nice graphing options.  It is just extremely hard to use!  [banghead]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Blicj11

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Re: Oh da' shame!!! (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season. )
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2014, 10:40:35 PM »
How can I face my friends when I used Microshaft (un)Excel!!

Ha ha! I too am an Office for Mac junkie. I have tried twice to use Numbers and it's just not as powerful. I have converted to Pages for simple stuff, but complicated reports with footnotes are way simpler in Word.

I tried to re-create your graph with my data but can't quite figure out how you did it. Would you mind emailing (or PMing) me a copy of your spreadsheet? I like the layout.
Blick


elagache

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Sent! (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season. )
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2014, 09:41:14 PM »
Dear Blick and WeatherCat drought watchers,

I tried to re-create your graph with my data but can't quite figure out how you did it. Would you mind emailing (or PMing) me a copy of your spreadsheet? I like the layout.

Okay, I just sent it to you, but . . . . . . . .

 ;)  . . . . . . Remember!  You're askin' for it!!! . . . . . .

 [lol2]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

elagache

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October report for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2014, 09:15:07 PM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Here is the October precipitation report and sadly it definitely isn't good.



As before this is a comparison of observed rainfall at Canebas Weather station with seasonal averages for Orinda as reported by: idcide.com.    October brought a number of storms but all fell significantly short in rainfall.  Only 56% of the normal rainfall was received this October.  To date for the 2014-2015 wet season only 21% of the expected rainfall has fallen.  So indeed the drought continues.

Oh well,. . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

elagache

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November report for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2014, 09:18:45 PM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Here is the November precipitation report and sadly it still isn't good.



As before this is a comparison of observed rainfall at Canebas Weather station with seasonal averages for Orinda as reported by: idcide.com.    Like October, November brought a number of storms but all fell significantly short in rainfall.  Only 60% of the normal rainfall was received this November.  The only good news is that November represents a sizable fraction of the total rainfall, so even with the below average rainfall, we caught up to being 60% of a normal rainfall to November.

There is a monster storm supposed to hit us tonight through Wednesday, so that should put us into the plus column for the start of December.  Also the Climate Predication Center is forecasting above normal rainfall for December.  So, we'll see if we can play catch-up or not.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

elagache

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December's report (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.)
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2015, 10:30:29 PM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Here is the December precipitation report for Northern California and at last there is good news!



In December we got almost 3 times the normal rainfall for the month.  As a result, we more than caught up for all the previous months of drought.  We are somewhat ahead of January.  At the moment we are once more suffering from a blocking high-pressure.  However, there is a chance of rain next week and if the CPC predication for January to March turns out correct, that should be enough to break the drought for at least Northern California.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

elagache

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January's report (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.)
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2015, 10:11:35 PM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Here is the January precipitation report for Northern California and sadly there was a complete reversal from December.  This is the graph I have of the difference from normal rainfall at the end of the day yesterday:



As you can see, there wasn't a single bucket tip at Canebas weather station for all of January.  As a result, the overall precipitation graph is identical to December:



The blocking high pressure that appeared at the end of December has remained through the entire month of January.  We go no rain at all which is a record and most of the San Francisco Bay Area also set that abysmal record that obviously can only be tied.

The current forecast is more encouraging.  At the end of next week we are supposed to have another "atmospheric river" phenomenon that should bring a good amount of rain at least to the northern part of the region.  However, the latest forecasts from the climate predication center aren't encouraging at all.  The drought in California is now expected to get worse.

Oh well, . . . .

Edouard

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Re: Monthly reports for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2015, 07:41:44 PM »
Bummer. Our area went through a prolonged drought a few years ago - five years or so of subnormal rainfall. The Chattahoochee River, which flows through Atlanta, reached historic low levels. Municipalities, farmers and industry below Atlanta got very concerned about their water supply. Ended up in court - Georgia Water Wars - with Florida, Alabama and Georgia suing one another over water rights. Then North Carolina jumped in for good measure. Worst flooding in a century rendered the immediate concerns, insufficient water supply, moot, but they are still trying to sort through the ramifications of water rights.

elagache

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Civility in short supply (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season. )
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2015, 11:20:53 PM »
Dear LesCimes and WeatherCat water resource watchers,

Bummer. Our area went through a prolonged drought a few years ago - five years or so of subnormal rainfall. The Chattahoochee River, which flows through Atlanta, reached historic low levels. Municipalities, farmers and industry below Atlanta got very concerned about their water supply. Ended up in court - Georgia Water Wars - with Florida, Alabama and Georgia suing one another over water rights. Then North Carolina jumped in for good measure. Worst flooding in a century rendered the immediate concerns, insufficient water supply, moot, but they are still trying to sort through the ramifications of water rights.

Sadly, "water wars" is a fine art practiced all over California.  Instead of working together to make sure we have sufficient water for everyone, political bullying is used to steal water from others who don't have the political muscle.  Considering that droughts which would bring down civilization in California have been observed in tree rings, this sort of infantile behavior is utterly inexcusable. 

Oh well, . . . .

Edouard

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Re: Monthly reports for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2015, 11:01:35 PM »
Alas, it isn't just water wars that we fight.

elagache

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Feburary's report (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.)
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2015, 10:15:01 PM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

Another month and alas more bad news.  Here is the rainfall graph updated with February's totals:



We did get some rain in February but only about 60% of normal.  That leaves us with 80% of normal to date, but since most of that rain fell in December, the situation is more dire that the 80% figure suggests.  The latest climate forecasts aren' t encouraging either.

Oh well, . . .

Edouard

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Re: Monthly reports for the Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.
« Reply #13 on: March 03, 2015, 02:02:42 AM »
Pretty fascinating to see these stats but a real bummer for those on the ground. The consequences, obviously, are not trivial. Hope the pattern shifts for you Californians soon.

elagache

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March results (Re: Northern California 2014-15 rainy season.)
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2015, 12:08:54 AM »
Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

I'm afraid the news is just getting worse for the California drought.  We only got 0.21" in March - about 5% of normal:



That leaves Orinda with about 67% of normal rainfall to April first.  However, essentially all that rainfall fell in the deluge of December and only the water that was saved in reservoirs remains.  What snowpack fell must be long gone with warm winter and spring.  Our governor announced today mandatory 25% water conservation although details were missing.  He also mentioned that he was "studying" measures to streamline drought relief efforts and develop new infrastructure to provide water.  Clearly our governor doesn't have a rain gauge at his residence as he apparently didn't notice the problem has been going on since January.

So much for politicians who can . . . . . lead

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard