California Declares Drought State of Emergency

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENTS
CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS
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Gov. Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency amid worst dry conditions in 119 years

Brown had earlier described the drought as being “really serious,” adding that 2014 could be California’s third consecutive dry year. “In many ways it’s a mega-drought.”

With California facing water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history, Governor Brown has proclaimed a State of Emergency and directed state officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for these drought conditions, said a statement posted on the official website.

“We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California’s drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas,” said Brown. “I’ve declared this emergency and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible.”

Excerpts from California Gov Proclamation

• The State of California is experiencing record dry conditions, with 2014 projected to become the driest year on record.

• Meanwhile, the state’s water supplies have dipped to alarming levels, indicated by: snowpack in California’s mountains is approximately 20 percent of the normal average for this date; California’s largest water reservoirs have very low water levels for this time of year; California’s major river systems, including the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, have significantly reduced surface water flows; and groundwater levels throughout the state have dropped significantly.

• Dry conditions and lack of precipitation present urgent problems: drinking water supplies are at risk in many California communities; fewer crops can be cultivated and farmers’ long-term investments are put at risk; low-income communities heavily dependent on agricultural employment will suffer heightened unemployment and economic hardship; animals and plants that rely on California’s rivers, including many species in danger of extinction, will be threatened; and the risk of wildfires across the state is greatly increased.

• Extremely dry conditions have persisted since 2012 and may continue beyond this year and more regularly into the future, based on scientific projections regarding the impact of climate change on California’s snowpack.

• The magnitude of the severe drought conditions presents threats beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat; and

• Therefore,  conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist in California due to water shortage and drought conditions with which local authority is unable to cope.

Water Shortages and Rationing

• 2013 was California’s driest year since records began 119 years ago.
• 2014 drought could be worse than last year’s.
• Many California reservoirs are at their lowest levels in years.
• The snowpack is less than 20 percent of the normal at this time of year.
• Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir is holding just over a third of its full capacity,  down from the normal of more than a half at this time of year, according to officials.
• Sacramento City Council has voted to enact severe water rationing as the region is faced with historically low water levels on the American River with a long-range forecast showing little, if any, rain.

U.S. Drought Monitor

Nearly 63 percent of California is covered by Extreme Drought (D3 drought level), and more than 27 percent of the land by Sever Drought (D2 drought level), with  about 9 percent of the state experiencing Abnormal Dry to Moderate Drought conditions.

The land area covered by Extreme Drought (D3 drought level) has more than doubled since last week from 27.59 percent to 62.71 percent.

California Drought Monitor Map.  Source: The U.S. Drought Monitor, The National Drought Mitigation Center.

Crop Disaster Declared due to Drought

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued 45 county-level crop disaster designations in 39 California counties on January 15 due to drought.

The drought disaster areas are Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura and Yolo counties.

U.S. Drought Disaster Map 2014. Dated January 15, 2014. Source USDA/FSA

Notes:
1. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.
2. The total number of counties designated as agricultural disaster areas includes both primary and contiguous disaster areas.

Related Links

• California Governor to Declare Drought Emergency January 17, 2014
• High Fire Danger in Southern California amid Driest Conditions on Record January 17, 2014
• 520 Counties across 16 States Declared Crop Disaster Areas due to Drought January 16, 2014

Related Links

• Drought 2013
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Praying for rain in parched Guyana

People across drought-hit Guyana pray for rain

Drought has devastated the small South American nation’s rice and sugar production, triggering food shortages among its indigenous communities.

Political Map of Guyana.

Summary of Geography and Demographic

• Capital: George Town (6°46′N 58°10′W)
• Ethnic groups:
  • East Indian,  43.5%
  • Black, 30.2%
  • Mixed, 17%
  • Indigenous Amerindian, 9.1%
• Area:
  • Total 214,999 km² (World’s 84th largest )
  • Water 8.4% water (!)
• Population:
  • 2009 estimate 772,000 (World’s 160th most populous)
  • 2002 census 751,223
  • Density 3.5/km² (world’s 225th ranking)

Little Water for Irrigation

“The government of the former British colony of about 750,000 people is struggling to irrigate farmland, with water at storage points reaching dangerously low levels.” Reuters reported.

Guyana, Venezuela, and several countries in the region have experienced drought since the onset of El Niño last year.

“The Amerindian communities are really badly hit,” President Bharrat Jagdeo was reported as saying on Friday, referring to to the indigenous people who make up 10 percent of Guyana’s population. “We have been supplying food to some communities but I need to increase that significantly.”

“The state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation said this week that cane growth and development had been affected at five of its eight estates. Replanting had to be cut back on four estates, it said.” Reuters reported.

The full impact of drought on sugar production would be known at the end of the second crop of 2010, Guyana Sugar said.

Related Links:

• Drought and Deluge
• Avila Fire Outside Caracas Consumes 120 ha

Calif Drought: Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency

California drought: An ecological time bomb

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday declared a state of emergency because of three  consecutive years of drought.

He urged Calif residents to cut their water consumption by 20 percent or risk mandatory cuts.

Layers of sun-baked earth are exposed in an area of the San Luis Reservoir near Gustine that was previously underwater but was dried out in January because of drought conditions. (Patrick Tehan / Mercury News). Image may be subject to copyright.

The governor said drought conditions were having “a devastating impact” on people, causing enormous financial harm to California’s economy, with losses to the farmers  approaching $3 billion in 2009.

Schwarzenegger reportedly said the water crisis was “self-inflicted, it’s not mother nature’s fault.”

“This drought is having a devastating impact… making today’s action absolutely necessary,” Schwarzenegger said.

“We have a water system that is for 18 million people [but] now we are 38 million. We’ve got to go and redo our water system [to] bring it up to date.”

“The Santa Clara Valley Water District board is expected to consider recommending mandatory reductions of 10 to 20 percent for customers, which include more than a dozen towns and cities, including San Jose.” Mercury News reported.

“Our board was already considering calling for mandatory conservation, and the governor’s proclamation will give them another reason to move ahead with it,” said Susan Siravo, a spokeswoman for the district.

Related News Links:

• Schwarzenegger declares California drought state of emergency

Related Links:

• Images of the Day: California Drought & Folsom Lake
• Warning: California Is Being Mojavefied!
• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?
• Topsoil
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Schwarzenegger Proclaims Water Emergency in Nine Counties
• Drought and Deluge

Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?

The Riddle of the Chinese Paratroopers

China parachutes 100 paratroopers to “cut-off” quake area

The first batch of 100 elite paratroopers were parachuted into an area near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake in southwest China [“cut-off” area in Maoxian county, northeast of the epicenter in Wenchuan] Wednesday afternoon [about 60 hours later], reported Xinhua.

Elite Paratroopers landing near quake epicenter. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

So what’s the problem?

1. There are an estimated 30,000 people burried in the area. How could 100 paratroopers help rescue such large number of victims?

2. The paratroopers landed two days after the mainshock had struck. By then the survival chances of the victims who had been buried alive had already been reduced by about 80 percent.

3. Anyone rescued from the rubble would need medical attention, freshwater, food, blankets, tents … to survive. Did the paratroopers carry all of the vital supplies in their rucksacks?

Therefore, the question remains: Are the paratroopers sent to rescue the “survivors,” or to “finish off the job,” i.e., bury everyone, alive or dead, to prevent potential outbreaks of plague and other pandemics? [The Beijing Olympics are just around the corner!]

Related Links:

• Official worries over possible plague at Sichuan quake epicenter
• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath

• The Anguished Cries of Chinese Quake Nurse

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Canceling Your Life Insurance Policy with Nature

WILD FACTS SERIES

Ice and Snow

Humans are in a great hurry to cancel their life insurance policy with nature, melting the snow and ice. As a result of climate change, mountain snow and glaciers are melting earlier, in the spring instead of summer, resulting in water scarcity during the hotter summer months when the precious water is most needed.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 (Image credit: Luca Galuzzi via wikimedia commons)

“This is just a time bomb,” said hydrologist Wouter Buytaert at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna.

Areas most at risk from water shortages include the United States, South America, Australia, the Middle East, southern Africa, and the Mediterranean.

The most vulnerable places are earth’s sub-tropic zones, where 70 percent of the world’s population live. Report

The following information is mirrored from the USGS Webpage

Ice caps influence the weather

Just because water in an ice cap or glacier is not moving does not mean that it does not have a direct effect on other aspects of the water cycle and the weather. Ice is very white, and since white reflects sunlight (and thus, heat), large ice fields can determine weather patterns. Air temperatures can be higher a mile above ice caps than at the surface, and wind patterns, which affect weather systems, can be dramatic around ice-covered landscapes.

Some glacier and ice cap facts

• Glacial ice covers 10-11 percent of all land.
• According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet (70 meters).
• During the last ice age (when glaciers covered more land area than today) the sea level was about 400 feet (122 meters) lower than it is today. At that time, glaciers covered almost one-third of the land.
• During the last warm spell, 125,000 years ago, the seas were about 18 feet (5.5 meters) higher than they are today. About three million years ago the seas could have been up to 165 feet (50.3 meters) higher.
• Largest surface area of any glacier in the contiguous United States: Emmons Glacier, Washington (4.3 square miles or 11 square kilometers)

ice caps and global water distribution

Even though the amount of water locked up in glaciers and ice caps is a small percentage of all water on (and in) the Earth, it represents a large percentage of the world’s total freshwater. As these charts and the data table show, the amount of water locked up in ice and snow is only about 1.7 percent of all water on Earth, but the majority of total freshwater on Earth, about 68.7 percent, is held in ice caps and glaciers.

One estimate of global water distribution

Water source	Water volume, in cubic miles	Water volume, in cubic kilometers	Percent of total water	Percent of total freshwater
Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent snow	5,773,000	24,064,000	1.7%	68.7%
Total global freshwater	8,404,000	35,030,000	2.5%	—
Total global water	332,500,000	1,386,000,000	—	—
Source: Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather, ed. by S. H. Schneider, Oxford University Press, New York, vol. 2, pp.817-823.

Related Links:

• Drying Aquifers, Sinking Cities

Hell Hath No Fury Like the Australian… Bushfire!

Water, Water… My Bloody “Kingdom” for a Drop of Water

Drought-ravaged Australia recorded its sixth hottest year. Global Climate change raised the mean maximum temperature by almost a full degree above normal to 28.6 Celsius (83.5 Fahrenheit) in the heavily populated southeast.

“The standout year is 2005, which was Australia’s warmest year on record, but essentially all the warm years that we’ve had have been in recent years,” said climate analysis spokesman David Jones.
Full report: Global warming hits Australia with fires and floods

The temperatures can only go higher in 2008!

Drought, Floods, Crop Damage, Grain Losses…

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is suffering its worst drought in a decade, millions of people are short of drinking water, reservoirs and rivers have shrunk. The surface area of the country’s largest fresh water lake, Poyang, in the southern province of Jiangxi, has fallen to a record 50 sq km (19 sq miles) from several thousand sq km at its peak.

Children play in a dried-up pool in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Source: Embassy of the PR China in the U.S.

About 400,000 hectares (1,545 sq miles) of crops have been damaged by drought this year, resulting in total grain losses of 37.4 million metric tones. The meteorologists have blamed the crisis on increased extreme weather conditions. About 50 million Chinese face drinking water shortages. Full report…

Related Link: The First Wave of the World’s Collapsing Cities

Repeat After Me!

WASHINGTON (AFP) — “A small group of US experts stubbornly insist that, contrary to what the vast majority of their colleagues believe, humans may not be responsible for the warming of the planet Earth.

“These experts believe that global warming is a natural phenomenon, and they point to reams of data they say support their assertions.”

There’s no such thing as global warming!

• Global Warming is a figment of our imagination [AAR, is has nothing to do with human activity. ]

• It makes no difference whether you have 290, 450, or 560 ppm (parts per million) of CO2 in the atmosphere. A million is a 1 followed by six zeros, you know how big a number that is? [AAR, what is to do with you, are you a f**king scientist or something?]

• There’s NO toxic pollution in the environment. Do you know how toxic dioxins, mercury … blah, blah are? They are so toxic even a minute trace of them in your breast milk could cause permanent brain damage to your baby. [AAR, it has nothing to do with industrial production.]

• There’s NO ozone hole in the atmosphere [AAR, the NASA conjurers could easily make anything disappear. ;-)]

• Our oceans are so clean and teeming with fish, you could eat from them. [AAR, they were OK just a few years ago; ask your grandma, she would tell you!]

• There’s no global shortage of potable water [AAR, what’s wrong with buying your own bottled water like the rest of us?]

• If fertilizers are good for the crops and vegetables, then sewage discharge into the rivers and coastal waters must be good for the fish. [AAR, just because you don’t eat fish, it doesn’t mean they should be starved!]

• There is no deforestation [or habitat what?] anywhere on the planet. [AAR, if we don’t cut all the trees they catch fire and pollute the air- heard about global warming, buster?]

• Land degradation is scientific mumbojumbo. [AAR, the same scientists have calculated that our planet can easily feed 14 billion people and produce enough ethanol to run 2 billion cars. How could it do all of that, if it were running out of cropland?]

Now close your eyes, take a big breath of fresh air and repeat after me…

Related Links:

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic
26 most common climate myths and misconceptions
Climate myths: Assessing the evidence

[Problems with IPCC data? Absolutely none! Perhaps … only a minor issue of a time lag-a slight delay of about 30 years compared with the real-time events.]