Posted on 03/21/2017 11:37:25 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Here’s a question that Stanford climatologist Noah Diffenbaugh gets asked a lot lately: “Why did California receive so much rain lately if we’re supposed to be in the middle of a record-setting drought?”
When answering, he will often refer the questioner to a Discover magazine story published in 1988, when Diffenbaugh was still in middle school.
The article, written by veteran science writer Andrew Revkin, detailed how a persistent rise in global temperatures would affect California’s water system. It predicted that as California warmed, more precipitation would fall as rain rather than snow, and more of the snow that did fall would melt earlier in the season. This in turn would cause reservoirs to fill up earlier, increasing the odds of both winter flooding and summer droughts.
Diffenbaugh, who specializes in using historical observations and mathematical models to study how climate change affects water resources, agriculture, and human health, sees no contradiction in California experiencing one of its wettest years on record right on the heels of a record-setting extended drought.
“When you look back at the historical record of climate in California, you see this pattern of intense drought punctuated by wet conditions, which can lead to a lot of runoff,” said Diffenbaugh, who is also the Kimmelman Family senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “This is exactly what state-of-the-art climate models predicted should have happened, and what those models project to intensify in the future as global warming continues.”
It’s not too late, however, for California to catch up or even leap ahead in its preparations for a changing climate, scientists say. Diffenbaugh argues that there are plenty of “win-win” investment opportunities that will not only make Americans safer and more secure in the present, but also prepare for the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.stanford.edu ...
..... Note that they are saying that it has always been a pattern ...... And for some reason California always falls into extreme drought conditions even though it is a known pattern. For some reason the Chuckleheads here in California never seem to come up with the bright idea of creating MORE reservoirs and basins to capture that "Runoff" caused by the rain.
.... Nope ... these are good Cash Cow Crisis' for the Libs.
Climate is several, multiple years
A wet year is weather
Here is another example of why Global Warming doesn’t sell.
When it rainsand floods, or when there is a severe drought, a blizzard or unseasonably warm temps. Even arctic cold...it’s due to Global Warming?
It think that if these exalted brains would just research history they would find that California has had excessive rains in the past. Mudslides are par for the course.
Yes, I know, maybe I should have prefaced it more clearly, “for the climate hysterics, there is not weather event . . . “
The Grant money is almost gone and mama needs a new pair of shoes.
Stalinists lie. Always
Depends which part of California you are talking about. And the correct term is hot-semi-arid which southern CA is.
Dry is too broad a definition. About as broad as desert- like from my statement.
SOGgy Weather
(Save Our Grants!)
And it was climate change during the drought - they want it both ways.
I was considering the whole state. I think your description is fine. The coastal areas from San Diego to at least Santa Barbara are very unique climates, of which there are only three others like it in the world. The eastern desert areas are huge, but very different from the rest of the state.
One science writer citing another science writer while both showing themselves to be scientifically illiterate.
A beautiful state, no doubt. :)
Stanford Report, September 30, 2014
Causes of California drought linked to climate change, Stanford scientists say
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/september/drought-climate-change-092914.html
If it’s wet, it’s climate change. if it’s dry, it’s climate change. If it’s hot, it’s climate change. If it’s cold, it’s climate change. A “theory” which “explains everything” actually explains nothing.
Golly. You mean the "climate" has cyclical fluctuations? I thought the climate was always in a perpetual state of perfection.
Isn’t this ‘normal’ when a long, multi-year drought finally breaks?
Kiddie diddling by the DC Pedo Alliance/Pizza Lover crowd = Climate Change
Perfect.
Idiots.....Droughts aren’t forever. Look around at the land....the deserts of California...the dust bowls.
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