Hurray!! Some rain for Northern California!

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

The crisis definitely remains, but at last we got some much needed rain here in Northern California:



This first storm was expected to be unorganized and bring us little rain, but they underestimated it:



We got 0.31" (7.874mm) in total out of it.  The rainfall rates were strong enough to penetrate tree and shrub leaves and wash the dust and pollen away after months of nothing but dry.  A second storm is expected Monday with a band of moderate to heavy rains.  That should give anything that doesn't any any water but rainfall considerable relief from the stressful dry conditions.

I doubt anything can happen at this point to head off rationing, but at least the land is getting some relief and if we get a relatively wet spring, the trees and wild plants will have a much better chance of surviving the heat of summer . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Blicj11]

Nice photo. Glad to see some rain in your back garden.

[Bull Winkus]

Congratulations Edouard! Maybe this is the turning point.

 

[HantaYo]

Awesome   Calling for snow in Colorado on Wednesday/Thursday

[elagache]

Dear Blick, Herb, HantaYo, and WeatherCat drought watchers, . . . .

The promised second impulse came through early this morning as promised.  It was a juicy line delivering 0.90" (22.86mm) of rain with a peak rate of 1.25"/hour (31.75mm/hour.)  I managed to photograph some very unusual sights for this spring in Orinda.  Here is some water vapor steaming off of a wooden fence:



Here is some water in a local creek:



Alas, the promised afternoon showers aren't materializing and the longer term forecast doesn't look good at all.

Awesome   Calling for snow in Colorado on Wednesday/Thursday

What does your extended forecast look like?  This morning the models do not bring any significant storms all that way to April 20th.  It is definitely a possibility that this is the last major storm of the 2014-15 rainy season.

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

[HantaYo]

Unfortunately all that California moisture appears to staying north of central and southern Colorado.  Just calling for a 30% change of rain/snow tomorrow night.  Another shot appears to be next Tuesday.    I dare not look beyond that.  All of that abundant February snow has melted in the dry heat wave of March    My guess is we are just going to get one or two nice storms this springs.  Continuing the feast/famine cycle.

[Bull Winkus]

William Shatner suggests $30 billion Kickstarter to fund California water pipeline

The planet is in danger and Captain Kirk has a solution! William Shatner recently sat down with Yahoo! Tech?s David Pogue and explained his plan to crowdfund a water pipeline that would bring the increasingly precious commodity from Seattle to California, which is in the middle of a vicious drought.

?I?m starting a Kickstarter campaign. I want $30 billion?to build a pipeline?Say, from Seattle. A place where there?s a lot of water. There?s too much water.? ?

 

[Blicj11]

Beam me up Scotty. And get me a glass of water.

[Bull Winkus]

 

 

[elagache]

Dear Herb, Blick, and WeatherCat drought watchers,

William Shatner suggests $30 billion Kickstarter to fund California water pipeline

Alas, Jim Kirk just isn't as sharp as he was back in the 1960s (when my trusty wagon was new.)  There is just one minor flaw in this scheme, the drought extends as far north as Washington state.  They aren't facing water restrictions, but they are suffering from a shortage of hydro-electricity.  There were times this winter when the blocking ridge of high pressure was as far north as Alaska!! 

Sadly another case of:

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat drought watchers,

There had been waffling in the forecast models for over a week as to whether or not we might get a little rain Friday night/Saturday morning.  In the end the models decided we would get some rain and even so they were unreasonably pessimistic.  Ultimately we got a decent little storm:



The most rain that was expected was 1/4" so we almost double what was forecast.  Also the rainfall rate was strong enough to get the ground nice and wet, even under trees and shrubs.  So plants that desperately needed the water got it.

Alas, it is most definitely too little, too late:



As you can see, even with this rain we are still almost 3/4" behind normal rainfall for the month of April alone.  No more rain is expected this month so it is guaranteed that April will only leave us further behind.  It is possible to get a bit of rain as late as June, but with this sort of deficit, I fear trees and other wild plants are going to have a horrible time surviving the summer.

Oh well, . . . . . . Edouard