California should expect a ‘fourth dry year’ as drought persists for fifth straight year, California drought map shows
Loss of snowpack and severe weather in 2015
An air quality alert exists for the City of Fresno. There is a red alert for the City of Fresno and another red alert for the City of Lodi and Tulare.
The National Weather Service says the areas of southern and central California hit by the most intense and prolonged periods of thunderstorms have endured the fifth year in a row without measurable snowpack, and in the cases of Fresno and Lodi it is the sixth year.
California Drought Map: 2014-2016
Photo by: U.S. Drought
In the Central Valley, where the snowpack is the most at risk, the State Water Resources Control Board announced today it had reached its capacity for water storage, with an additional three days and three more weeks for rain to restore the critical supply.
The news was a mixed bag for the agricultural industry. Cattlemen were encouraged by the dry weather, but were fearful about its effect on their crops and stock. Farmers also are fearful about the effects of drought on food prices.
“I’m hopeful and optimistic that the drought is lifting, that the rain will come, but it will take time,” said Dave McCurdy, who farms at Oasis Acres in the Imperial Valley. “I do not feel like we need to panic or panic about the price of food.”
While some farmers are able to make up for a year of rain with a year of snow, farmers in the Central Valley’s dry heartland will have to rely on rain or irrigation water from the San Francisco Bay Area or other sources to get through the year, said McCurdy, who was optimistic that the drought will lift.
Rain was in short supply and droughts in the Pacific Northwest as well as parts of the Southwest had left some regions as dry as their counterparts in California.
The National Weather Service reported that as of Wednesday night, there were 864 consecutive days with measurable temperatures of 32 degrees or higher, the most since the National Weather Service started keeping records for those highs starting in 1942. The record high for the San Joaquin Valley was 48 degrees, set in July of 1983.
According to the weather service, there were only nine days last year with measurable temperatures of 32 degrees or higher when