http://www.californiadroughtupdate.org/pdf/20170112-California-Drought-Update.pdf
And the skies opened up; rain and snow poured down upon the Earth; the people rejoiced.
At least that appears what the past week has been like. Yes, as reported, the drought has ended in the northern part of the state, or at least the reservoirs are full. Officially, 40 percent of the state is now out of drought, but that still leaves 60 percent in drought, and that part being where most of the population lives. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s discussion goes into the details.
In addition, as reported below, the aquifers will not recover for years, if not decades, from the intense use of groundwater that has occurred over the past few years.
So, what is the weather phenomenon we have experienced the last couple of weeks? Atmospheric Rivers, which is discussed below. Ben Deniston of the LaRouche PAC Science Team, discussed atmospheric rivers in his 2015 discussion of how to solve, long-term, the ongoing water problem in the West: New Perspectives on the Western Water Crisis https://larouchepac.com/20150401/new-perspectives-western-water-crisis.
Perhaps the worst of the drought is over, perhaps not. But, as I reported last week, maybe we have entered a new climatic period, or rather, returned to the dominant climate of the past 2,000 years: Alternating mega-droughts and mega-floods. To give you an idea of the nature of mega-floods , here is a short excerpt from the item I mentioned last week. And, not surprising, atmospheric rivers play the central role.
