First, the case against “drought.” In California, a drought only happens when a governor declares it to be so.
Yes, dry years strung together are important.
But looking back at California’s weather so far this century, we have been “dry” (as in below-average precipitation) two years out of three.
For lack of a better term, it is like a Semi Drought.
The University of Arizona recently documented the emerging problems of the Semi Drought.
And Southern California, even with intensive groundwater management, has not been immune from the impacts.
Perhaps this weather trend is rarely discussed, and never declared, because we haven’t settled on a catchy word that describes what has steadily emerged to be our most challenging long-term weather problem.
As Gershunov intimated, the Scripps research also pointed to more frequent dry years in the future.
If we truly are in a long and challenging Semi-Drought, or whatever we end up calling it, whether it is very wet or very dry or very “average” in any given year is important in the short term.
This article originally appeared on Water Deeply.