How California's weather catastrophe turned into a miracle

[RussBLib]

This is some fantastic news. Now if we could just break this frikkin' heat wave!

How California’s weather catastrophe turned into a miracle
Gushing waterfalls, swollen lakes and snow-covered mountaintops transformed the state’s arid landscapes.

FRESNO, Calif. — Californians were preparing for another year of unrelenting drought in 2023. Instead, they got months of incessant rain and some of the heaviest snowfall they have ever seen.

They feared blasts of spring warmth would quickly turn snow into floods, adding to the havoc from a series of winter storms. But, until recently, temperatures remained mercifully cool, allowing for a slow and steady melt.

The result: A return of water to California that has erased drought maps, poured into long-dry irrigation systems and raised expectations that, after months with water bursting from their gates, reservoirs will end the summer melt filled to capacity.

It has been a stark transformation, with arid landscapes and trickling rivers replaced with swollen lakes, gushing waterfalls and snow-covered mountaintops. Instead of pumping groundwater to keep crops alive, farmers have access to brimming canals carrying more water than they could use.

Gifted Article: https://wapo.st/4735VLC

[BigmanPigman]

1. It was very cold and rained like Hell for 4 months...

And I loved, loved, loved it since I knew what a freak and rare occurrence this was and will likely not happen again for a long while.
I looked at my electric bill and it compared last year's usage with a bar graph. Aug., Sept., and Oct. were very hot then in one month it dropped by 35%. Unfortunately, the rains have brought about a sense of "we don't need to conserve anymore". Humans have such short term memories.

[stopdiggin]

2. the rivers and (a lot) of reservoirs

are in much better shape. The groundwater situation (which remains the main supply for a great deal of ag and homes) is barely improved at all.

What happened was certainly good fortune and exceedingly welcome - but the great fear attached to that is that the 'take away' on too many parts will be, "Okay .. problem solved." When in fact, that is not the case at all - and real conservation measures are still absolutely essential going forward.

[usonian]

3. Some winter.

Just above Fresno, we got brutal winds and two feet of snow, breaking countless trees. I am still filing claims for property damage to windows, roof and driveway. Making progress.

For me personally, the most beautiful Manzanita tree, some 20 feet tall, was leveled. Only fortunate part is that I got great photos of it "prior".



Yeah, too damn hot. I'm putting a tagine on the back stairs to make Morrocan stew.

[SalamanderSleeps]

4. Miracle?

No it's a harbinger of doom.

The real kind.

This is really bad news.

Examine the tree lines.

The eco systems therein are all dead for centuries when this type of thing happens.

We are getting way too close to killing the planet.

Maybe I'm just a fool.

I hope I am.

[calimary]

5. Either way, it's troubling - at the very least.

California needs the rain. I hope you’re wrong, but either way, humans ARE over-stressing the planet.

ZPG (Zero Population Growth) needs to be the rule - across the globe.

[pecosbob]

6. A poor choice of words, at best

I would have chosen temporary respite.

[Duppers]

8. "temporary respite"?

That helps solve the problem?

[pecosbob]

9. In no way does it change the long-term picture...I posted nothing to indicate that.

[Duppers]

10. Sorry for my misunderstanding.

[Hortensis]

7. Among other things, it's an indication that certainty, never a sensible thing

where climate and weather are concerned, is inappropriate. Yes, there's beyond-enormous change, most destructive of what we've known, but the change is extremely complex, not all one direction to the "end."

Scientists are busily studying every event for clues in what's happening to what can be done. I tried to nudge my 3 grandsons toward one of the many fields growing up to save the planet, but no takers so far. They have their own dreams, happily good ones too.

The new climate doomers, just as inevitable as deniers have been, need to keep their heads on straight and not be carried away in what's likely to become floods of doom-based opposition to the work others commit to.

Most of the serious doomsaying will be faith, not science, based, of course -- secular or religious based faith, or just general woo-woo, all the same, and it will grow into resistant, oppositional "things." Passions tied to other passions those involved are the last to admit or understand. Nothing anyone here would want to be part of, except for those who find transcendent wisdom in it of course.

Happy Monday.

[Stuart G]

11. NO ONE KNOW THE OUTCOME....(OF THIS SHOW).................maybe we will be visited by...;ALIENS"

& THE ALIENS WILL ORDER US TO SAVE THE PLANET....( several movies were made about this idea)