Gov.
Jerry Brown recently declared California’s brutal five-year drought to be over.
Many weeks of powerful storm systems brought heavy rain to the coasts and valleys of California while burying the mountains in 30 or more feet of snow.
The way weather patterns usually work, when one region receives excessive moisture, another is deprived .
Much of the Southeast began slipping into drought in early fall and much of it remains dry, despite some intense downpours around Atlanta last week that scrambled air travel .
Virginia has been on the periphery of this dryness, falling into light to moderate drought through mid- to late fall, then bouncing in and out a bit through the winter.
Roanoke got 0.81 inch of rain early last week, then another third of an inch late in the week.
Getting about 0.8 inch a week would keep us level with our norm.
Central U.S. high pressure may prevent this from happening for several days.
It remains to be seen whether we lapse into a more severe drought that lasts through the summer.

New research points out that climate change will increase fire activity in Mediterranean Europe.
A recent study published in Scientific Reports, led by researchers of the University of Barcelona in collaboration with several other research institutions, shows that the direct effect of climate change in regulating fuel moisture (droughts leading to larger fires) is expected to be dominant, regarding the indirect effect of antecedent climate on fuel load and structure -that is, warmer/drier conditions that determine fuel availability.
For instance, the direct effect of climate change in regulating fuel moisture could be counterbalanced by the indirect effects on fuel structure.
In addition, the drought-fire relationship is stronger in northern regions," says Marco Turco, researcher at the Meteorological Hazard Analysis Group (GAMA) of UB, led by Professor M. del Carme Llasat.
Thus, in the forthcoming decades, and especially in northern Mediterranean regions, the direct effect of climate change is expected to be more dominant, regarding the indirect effect of the previous climate.
In the past few decades, the measured trend of the burned area in Mediterranean Europe has been generally negative, while drought conditions have been increasing.
However, keeping fire management actions at the current level might not be enough to balance a future increase in droughts.
Finally, the ability to model the link between drought and forest fires is crucial to identify key actions in adaptation strategies.
Also, according to the researchers, seasonal climate forecasts enable a more effective and dynamic adaptation to climate variability and change, offering an underexploited opportunity to reduce the fire impact of adverse climate conditions.
On the key role of droughts in the dynamics of summer fires in Mediterranean Europe.

A study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers has found that drought dramatically increases the severity of West Nile virus epidemics in the United States, although populations affected by large outbreaks acquire immunity that limits the size of subsequent epidemics.
The study, published February 8 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, involved researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Stanford University, and the New York State Department of Health.
They analyzed 15 years of data on human West Nile virus infections from across the United States and found that epidemics were much larger in drought years and in regions that had not suffered large epidemics in the past.
"We found that drought was the dominant weather variable correlated with the size of West Nile virus epidemics," said first author Sara Paull, who led the study as a post-doctoral researcher at UC Santa Cruz and is now at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
In the new study, Paull and Marm Kilpatrick, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, analyzed patterns in the number of severe West Nile virus infections each year in each state and nationally.
Model projections indicated that increased drought could double the size of future West Nile virus epidemics, but that outbreaks would be limited to regions that have yet to sustain large numbers of cases.
"Drought identified as key to severity of West Nile virus epidemics: Study finds transmission of West Nile virus is higher in drought years, but after large outbreaks acquired immunity limits the size of subsequent epidemics."
ScienceDaily, 7 February 2017.
Drought identified as key to severity of West Nile virus epidemics: Study finds transmission of West Nile virus is higher in drought years, but after large outbreaks acquired immunity limits the size of subsequent epidemics.
"Drought identified as key to severity of West Nile virus epidemics: Study finds transmission of West Nile virus is higher in drought years, but after large outbreaks acquired immunity limits the size of subsequent epidemics."

Why New Hampshire’s drought was good for its moose.
Preliminary numbers from a project that puts tracking collars on moose show that only one of the calves – the most vulnerable group – died from winter ticks this year.
It was 71 last year.
Permits also are down to 80 in Vermont, from 165 last year.
Vermont, which joined the study this year and didn’t have drought issues as serious as New Hampshire, has seen five of its 30 collared calves die, so far.
The wildlife federation says it understands the Fish and Game Department’s goals to maintain a healthy moose population, as well as the challenges of trying to reopen a hunting season once it is stopped.
Some feel it’s time to stop moose hunting, period.
“Why would you threaten it further?” Moose population densities are taken into account in all hunting areas.
She said parasites are the bigger problem, and will continue to be so in the future.
… We could stop (hunting) tomorrow, and what’s going to happen to these animals will continue to happen.” Share

Drought was tough on farmers, but good for moose.
Preliminary numbers from a project that puts tracking collars on moose show that only one of the calves — the most vulnerable group — died from winter ticks this year.
Project leaders are still watching with caution, as winter ticks are in the adult stage in April and are feeding heavily.
It was 71 last year.
Permits also are down to 80 in Vermont, from 165 last year.
Vermont, which joined the study this year and didn’t have drought issues as serious as New Hampshire, has seen five of its 30 collared calves die, so far.
Some feel it’s time to stop moose hunting, period.
In New Hampshire, there were only about 50 moose in 1950.
Rines notes the hunt is targeting about 1 percent of the moose population in New Hampshire.
That will have a bigger impact … We could stop (hunting) tomorrow, and what’s going to happen to these animals will continue to happen."

CALIFORNIA, 4/10/17 — Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order Friday, officially ending the drought state of emergency for most of the state but maintaining prohibitions on wasteful practices and continuing water reporting requirements by the State Water Resources Control Board.
A press release from the Governor’s office notes that “damage from the drought will linger for years in many areas.” During the drought, which is considered to have spanned water years 2012-2016, urban Californians made a 25% reduction in water use.
On Friday, state water agencies also issued a report called “Making Water Conservation a Way of Life,” calling for further legislation to conserve water and plan for future droughts.
Here’s the full pres release, from the governor’s office: SACRAMENTO – Following unprecedented water conservation and plentiful winter rain and snow, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today ended the drought state of emergency in most of California, while maintaining water reporting requirements and prohibitions on wasteful practices, such as watering during or right after rainfall.
“Conservation must remain a way of life.” Executive Order B-40-17 lifts the drought emergency in all California counties except Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne, where emergency drinking water projects will continue to help address diminished groundwater supplies.
Executive Order B-40-17 builds on actions taken in Executive Order B-37-16, which remains in effect, to continue making water conservation a way of life in California: The State Water Resources Control Board will maintain urban water use reporting requirements and prohibitions on wasteful practices such as watering during or after rainfall, hosing off sidewalks and irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians.
In a related action, state agencies today issued a plan to continue to make conservation a way of life in California, as directed by Governor Brown in May 2016.
Although the severely dry conditions that afflicted much of the state starting in the winter of 2011-12 are gone, damage from the drought will linger for years in many areas.
The consequences of millions of dead trees and the diminished groundwater basins will continue to challenge areas of the state for years.
California’s Drought Response The drought that spanned water years 2012 through 2016 included the driest four-year statewide precipitation on record (2012-2015) and the smallest Sierra-Cascades snowpack on record (2015, with 5 percent of average).

As California Lifts Drought Restrictions, Rural Areas Still Lack Running Water.
While the deep snowpack in California’s mountains is easing drought concerns, there are still people in the state’s rural Central Valley who don’t have water running from their taps.
In some of the hardest hit areas in the rural Central Valley, there are still thousands of people living without any running water.
By all accounts, California looks to be finally emerging from a brutal drought.
SIEGLER: In the gravel driveway of Mendez’s tidy stucco house is a huge, black 2,500-gallon water tank.
MENDEZ: Yeah, this is the well.
MENDEZ: Yeah, we go to the laundromat.
SIEGLER: People here are relieved that the governor’s emergency drought aid isn’t going away, as feared.
SIEGLER: So people here seem much more comfortable talking about the long-term solution going forward, which is to hook homes with dry wells onto nearby municipal water systems so there’s less risk.
SIEGLER: Roberto Aguilar, a fruit picker who lives on this street, tells Snyder that his family’s well hasn’t run out yet.

After epic drought, California experienced an equally epic rainy season this past winter. And the state’s deserts have responded with an explosion of wildflowers and other vegetation. Maybe you’ve seen those almost unreal photos of hills blanketed in emerald green grass, and bright yellow, orange and purple wildflowers? If not, check it out: You’re going to want to visit Carrizo Plain National Monument after seeing these wildflower pics! #California #TracktheBloom pic.twitter.com/yYZPAuUrRe — US Dept of Interior (@Interior) April 3, 2017 Now, NASA’s Earth Observatory has published before-and-after satellite images of the Anza-Borrego Desert showing what the spectacle looks like from space. I put them together in the animation above. And while the photos shot on the ground certainly are more dramatic, even from space, the impact of precipitation following extreme drought is quite evident. Make no mistake about it — most of California has been deluged with precipitation. For the water year, starting on October. 1, 2016, almost all parts of…

Record snow year in Sierras ends drought.
MOUNT ROSE SUMMIT — A short but strenuous trek by snowshoe to a measuring station here on Monday confirmed what pretty much everyone expected: A record water year has been reached in this mountainous area west of Reno.
After another 27-inch snowfall over the weekend, the water content of the snow at the “SNOTEL” measuring station stood at 89 inches, beating the record of 87.1 inches measured on May 17, 1995.
“With this weekend’s storm, we’ll see on Monday if the measurement breaks the all-time record for Mount Rose,” Anderson said.
“This storm could push 2017 past the record if we get three feet of new snow, as predicted.” It did.
Anderson said western Nevada’s drought has been eliminated with the record water year seen in Nevada and the region.
High water levels David Wathen, chief deputy water master for the region, said his agency now has to manage the water flows to ensure enough is released from storage, starting with Lake Tahoe, to ensure no flooding later this year.
Lake Tahoe, for example, is expected to reach 3 feet above it’s natural rim, 1.4 feet more than legally allowed.
As a result, Pyramid Lake, which is vulnerable to drought, is forecast to rise 8.2 feet this year, where in a typical year it loses two to three feet, Wathen said.
Hundreds of such sites are in use around the country but were first used to measure water content in the Lake Tahoe region.

California’s drought and recovery defying climate odds.
Meteorologists expected precipitation debts accrued during California’s historic drought to last decades, but a new analysis suggests the debts could be erased this year.
Between October 2011 and September 2015, California experienced its driest four-year spell since scientists began tracking precipitation totals in 1895.
"But, that may be what’s happening right now if very wet conditions continue into spring."
Extreme El Niño conditions have buoyed rainfall totals during the last two years.
As a result, the state’s drought recovery has been faster than 80 percent of the bounce backs from similar dry spells.
Though official precipitation records only date back to 1895, researchers can use paleoclimatic data from soil cores, rock samples and other geochemical signatures to track historic precipitation totals and droughts.
Research suggests the drought between 2011 and 2015 was especially historic for two of California’s climate regions, the San Joaquin Drainage and the South Coast Drainage.
Scientists estimate the two climate divisions hadn’t experienced a comparable four-year dry spell since at least 1571.
Models estimated the chance of the two regions recovering from such a spell in less than two years was effectively 0 percent.