Can California survive a 100 + year drought ?

jackdog · Oct 20, 2014

Saw a artcle over at WUWT on how sequoas are responding to the current 3 year drought and that got me wondering on how these 3000 year old trees had fared during historical droughts. A little research shows that the state has seen much, much longer droughts than the current 3 year one. During the middle ages there was a 200 year long drought which was followed by a 180 year one. The last 600 or so years California has been blessed by a remarkably favorable climate, lets hope the current drought breaks soon, otherwise California is in for one long rough ride.

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24993601/california-drought-past-dry-periods-have-lasted-more

edit a link to the full article on sequoas at the Fresno Bee http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/10/18/4184871_giant-sequoias-may-surprise-us.html?sp=/99/217/&rh=1

waltky · Sep 29, 2015

Even the trees are gettin' thirsty in Calif....

Long Drought Affecting Californias Sequoias
September 28, 2015 - California is suffering under a historic four-year drought and scientists say even the state's famed sequoia trees are feeling the pain. The National Park Service has started detailed research to see how it can help the oldest living things on earth survive.

Slowly and painstakingly, University of California tree biologist Anthony Ambrose climbs up a giant sequoia in Californias Sierra Nevada mountain range, the only place on earth where these magnificent trees live. Its an amazing experience to be able to climb up into these things and know that it's been growing in this same spot for a thousand years or more, he said. Sequoias grow over 90 meters tall, their trunks are up to 15 meters wide and some of them are more than 3,000 years old.

Once-rich mountain streams have dwindled to trickles and the trees - that each need more than 3,000 liters of water a day - are now getting much less. Some of them are showing signs of thirst. We've observed some unusual and abnormal levels of foliage die-back, which haven't been observed in the park before, Ambrose said. Sensors installed in tree canopies, examinations of seedlings, data from individual trees and images collected by observational planes will help scientists measure the seriousness of the danger.

One possible solution would be to cut down less important species of trees that compete with sequoias for water. They'll have more water than they would have in a denser forest, more nutrients and light and therefore be more resistant and resilient to these hot droughts they're faced with in the future, said Koren Nydick, who is with the National Park Service. Scientists say that over thousands of years, sequoias have gone through many droughts, forest fires, insect infestations and other calamities, so they will probably survive this drought, unlike many less-resilient California trees.

VIDEO
Click to expand...

waltky · Feb 3, 2017

No more drought in California...

Record-breaking Snowfall Ends Drought in Northern California
February 02, 2017 - Record-breaking snowfall has put a huge dent in California's severe drought, scientists said Thursday.

Back-to-back-to-back blizzards in January left snowpack 173 percent above average in the Sierra Nevada, providing three-fourths of the state's yearly precipitation in just a few weeks. "It gives everything a brighter outlook," Department of Water Resources official Frank Gehrke said.

Fog and mist shroud the Sierra Nevada near Echo Summit, Calif., Feb. 2, 2017. Three January blizzards left snowpack 173 percent above average in the mountains.

While the officials said Northern California was now out of drought conditions, Governor Jerry Brown is waiting until the end of the traditional rainy season in April to decide whether he will declare an end to the statewide drought emergency.

California has been in a drought emergency since 2014. Officials said 95 percent of the state had been affected by the severely dry conditions.

http://www.voanews.com/a/record-breaking-snowfall-ends-drought-northern-california/3704553.html
Click to expand...

See also:

Officials: More Than 40 Percent of California Out of Drought
January 12, 2017 — More than 40 percent of California is out of drought, federal drought-watchers said Thursday at the tail end of powerful storms that sent thousands of people fleeing from flooding rivers in the north, unleashed burbling waterfalls in southern deserts, and doubled the vital snowpack in the Sierra Nevada in little more than a week.

Declaring California as a whole to be past its official three-year drought emergency will be up to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will probably wait until the end of the winter rain and snow season to make that decision. But for people in northern cities such as Sacramento, where state workers opened flood gates to ease pressure on levees for the first time in a dozen years, releasing a two-mile-wide torrent of excess water from the surging Sacramento River, the call on declaring the dry spell over in Northern California looked much clearer.

Heaviest rain in 20 years

“It's hard to say we have a drought here right now,” said Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California at Davis. Lund spoke as he returned from taking students to see the wrenched-open, century-old flood gates in Sacramento, which got its heaviest rain in 20 years this week. The weekly drought report by federal and academic water experts showed 42 percent of the state had emerged from drought. This time last year, only 3 percent of California was out of drought.

A rainbow appears over a flooded landscape in Hollister, California, Jan. 11, 2017. More than 40 percent of California has emerged from a punishing drought that covered the whole state a year ago, federal drought-watchers said.

Southern California remains in drought

Southern California, which is also receiving welcome rain from the storms, remains in drought but experienced a dramatic reduction in severity. Just 2 percent of the entire state, a swath between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, remains in the sharpest category of drought that includes drying wells, reservoirs and streams and widespread crop losses. Forty-three percent of the state was in that direst category this time a year ago. The Cachuma reservoir near still-arid Santa Barbara was at just 8 percent of capacity, even as authorities at Northern California's Shasta Dam opened spillways for the first time in six years to make room for more water to come.

Rains bring rockslides, mudslides

Like many people in Northern California, winery tasting-room supervisor Nate Hayes went out to marvel when this week's heavy rains started and enjoyed taking his canoe down the flooded streets of his town of Rohnert Park. By Thursday, Hayes and others were tired of the rockslides and mudslides complicating commutes and the round-the-clock downpours keeping everyone inside. “We're all really excited for the rain,” Hayes said. “But at the same time we kind of want it to be over.”

'Atmospheric river'
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Can California survive a 100 + year drought ?

jackdog Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Can California survive a 100 + year drought ?

jackdog Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches