it’s marvelous – and ominous – at the same time. While much of the United States has been enduring extreme cold temperatures and hard Winter weather, those of us on much of the West Coast (certainly here in Southern California) have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather. I think it’s been in the mid-seventies to mid-eighties for at least a month and we’re now approaching the “dead” of Winter with no end in sight.
Another week of unseasonably warm Winter weather
If this continues, it does not bode well for those of us who live in this neck of the woods. The reason. Drought. According to the California Department of Water Resources, we are now into what may be the third year of drier than normal conditions. They point out it’s a bit too early to conclude this year will be as dry as the previous two, as half of the previous years that started out this dry ended by catching up to normal at the end of the season. They also point out, even if there’s plenty of seasonal rain, it still won’t compensate for low soil moisture and depleted water storage.
So . . . while we’re enjoying the weather here, especially when contrasted to what the Polar Vortex has wrought to our East, it’s important to keep in mind what it means in the long run. It doesn’t matter if you believe in climate change, anthropogenic or not. We are now into our third year of drought in the West, and this wonderful weather may come at a far higher price than I care to contemplate. There’s no reason to brag about it.
Systems Savvy 
January 26th, 2014 at 10:21 am
Yeah, getting kind of scary. And yet… it’s so pleasant – especially compared to the friends I went to school with in Minnesota, or even my folks in Kansas City. I don’t ever have the urge to gloat, but I do try to restrain myself from publicly worrying on Facebook about drought — seems to be rubbing it in, a bit, but I do worry.
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January 26th, 2014 at 10:49 am
My real concern is the growing evidence of climate change. While no one, specific instance of extreme weather can be proof of a global change (most likely warming) in the climate, there seem to be far too many instances of weather extremes in the last decade or so to ignore. I live in an area that is essentially desert. Without water from reservoirs in northern and central California, as well as whatever we get from the Colorado river (I’m not even sure where all our water comes from), if any, we’re toast. Having a swimming pool will prove worse than superfluous; it will be downright criminal. I was kind of hoping we’d become more of a rain forest, but that doesn’t seem likely. 🙂
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