Despite scattered bouts of rain in the past two weeks, South Florida is still on the U.S. Drought monitor’s watch list. The weekly report released Thursday shows 70 percent of the county continues to be in a moderate drought, with the remainder “abnormally dry.” Related: Atmospheric quirk protects Florida during busy hurricane seasons Some areas northwest of Palm Beach County have fallen into severe drought. South Florida water managers said Lake Okeechobee is 12.77 feet above sea level as of Thursday – a result of the prolonged dry spell. That’s nearing the low end of where the Army Corps of Engineers likes…

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Reclamation released its long awaited Central Valley Project allocation for the upcoming growing season. Generally speaking, all contractors are receiving full supplies with the exception of south-of-Delta M&I who will receive 90% and south-of-Delta agricultural contractors, who will receive 65%. Yesterday, I posted the reactions I could find at the time; here are a few more, again, listed in alphabetical order: From Byron Bethany Irrigation District: Farmers left waiting in limbo to learn how much water they would receive from the Central Valley Project (CVP) finally have their answer – and it is stunningly disappointing. On Wednesday, after weeks of inexplicable delays that hamstrung farmers at the outset of the growing season, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation finally announced a mere 65% allocation for South-of-Delta CVP contractors, including Byron-Bethany Irrigation District (BBID). The CVP, one of the state’s largest infrastructure projects, is managed by the federal government and delivers water to the Central Valley. “If there was ever a year for a full, 100% allocation, this is it,” said BBID GM Rick Gilmore. “This is the wettest year ever in California. The state has double the water it normally has this time of year. Our reservoirs are literally overflowing. Our snowpack is at more than 150% of normal. This delayed decision extends our regulatory drought and shows how badly broken California’s water system is.” Instead of utilizing what should be abundant water supplies to grow farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to feed California and the nation, growers in BBID’s CVP service area will yet again face shortages. The lack of a timely decision was damaging enough. Without knowing how much water is available, farmers can’t make critical decisions about how many acres to plant, or how many people to hire. The 65% allocation adds insult to injury, and may reduce how much local produce is available for California’s families. Meanwhile, water that could be used in cities and on farms, or to recharge the state’s taxed groundwater flows into the ocean, in the name of failed environmental policies. Federal fisheries are hoarding water to keep river temperatures at arbitrary levels to protect fish – with no concrete improvements. These policies aren’t good for California’s communities, its farms or even its environment. “The District is more committed than ever to doing whatever necessary to fix the system,” Gilmore added. “We must finally build new infrastructure to store more water in wet…

Researchers have identified a climate feedback mechanism that could have catastrophic consequences for one of the world’s great rainforests. They report that a dangerous mix of human-induced devastation and cyclic drought in the Amazon could launch a vicious circle of forest dieback. The drought that killed the trees could intensify because of the intricate relationship between the rainforest and the rainfall, in which trees play a role in maintaining a pattern of precipitation by pumping fallen water back into the atmosphere. “We already know that, on the one hand, reduced rainfall increases the risk of forest dieback, and, on the other hand, forest loss can intensify regional droughts. So more droughts can lead to less forest, leading to more droughts, and so on,” says Delphine Clara Zemp, of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who led the international team of scientists behind the finding. Amazon forest loss “Yet the consequences of this feedback between the plants on the ground and the atmosphere above them so far was not clear. Our study provides new insight into this issue, highlighting the risk of self-amplifying forest loss, which comes on top of the forest loss directly caused by the rainfall reduction.” Dr Zemp and other scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Brazil report in Nature Communications that their results suggest frequent extreme drought events in…

Mammoth Lakes, Calif. — The majestic beauty of California’s Sierra Nevada never fails to impress. But the mountain range, which stretches hundreds of miles, is much more than a stunning vista. It’s a linchpin that helps make living in an arid state possible. That’s because one of California’s most important water supplies is melted snow. Each spring and summer, the Sierra sends runoff down its slopes that recharges rivers and reservoirs, allowing crops to be irrigated and drinking glasses to be filled. Knowing with precision how much snow has accumulated is crucial for farmers and water managers. That’s where a mapping project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory known as the Airborne Snow Observatory comes in. Using measurements gathered by specialized instruments on a plane, scientists have been able to gain an unprecedented understanding of the amount of water present in the Sierra’s snow. This year, after California’s very wet winter, the totals have been remarkably big. Using the NASA data, we compared this year’s snowpack with that of 2015, when the state was in the grip of drought (which, at least officially, is still ongoing). In the interactive maps below, the white areas had a meter, or 3.3 feet, or more of snow on the ground in March. High in the mountains, this year’s snow blankets the ground in layers tens of feet deep in many places. In 2015, almost none of this area had snow that thick: At the lower elevations around the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which collects most of the melting snow runoff in this area and supplies…

As California pulls out of the drought, expect to see a weird thing: water agencies opposing plans to help the state get through future droughts. Water agencies are working on dozens of projects to boost Southern California’s water supply. Combined, these projects could provide enough drinking water for several million people. But many of the agencies are simultaneously boosting their own projects and arguing that others shouldn’t be built – partly out of a fear that ratepayers will only tolerate so many projects, and partly because of politics and territorialism. Water districts in Southern California overlap and…

A stubborn dry spell in Florida has finally morphed into a “moderate” drought for much of the Orlando area, according to the widely watched U.S. Drought Monitor, which updates its national map every Thursday. The online report shows that the eastern half of Orange County, most of Seminole and all of Osceola are in a “D1” or moderate drought. Lake County is still in the category of abnormally dry. Late winter and early spring ordinarily span the region’s driest part of the year and forecasters have taken that into account, said David Zierden, state climatologist in Tallahassee. But during the past three months, much of Central Florida…

The New Hampshire House voted Thursday to distribute $2 million dollars to dairy farmers hurt by last year’s drought. After nearly an hour of debate, two-thirds of the house voted in favor of a relief fund for struggling dairy farmers across the state. Opponents of the bill argued that agriculture suffered statewide from the drought, and that singling out dairy farmers gives…

() Spring has sprung, but the Washington region is deprived of water. Drought covers much of the area, and in some places it is severe. Last week’s winter storm and its messy mix of ice and snow offered some relief, but drought conditions persist. Much of the region along Interstate 95 and to the west of it is in a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the weekly assessment from federal agencies. And the zone from roughly Manassas to Fairfax to Rockville is classified as being under a severe drought. A drought warning is in effect for Central Maryland, including Frederick and Carroll counties, along with portions of Montgomery County (not served by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission public water systems). Water conservation is encouraged in these areas. A drought watch is in place for much of Northern Virginia except for water systems using the Potomac or Occoquan rivers. Since late summer, Washington has run up a rainfall deficit of more than 10 inches. In fact, rainfall has fallen short of…

CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire House on Thursday passed legislation to provide up to $2 million in state-funded relief to New Hampshire dairy farmers who suffered as a result of the recent drought. The vote was 257-96. The House changed the distribution formula that was in the original bill, which was passed by the state Senate a month ago. The amendment gives dairy producers discretion to choose whether 2015 or 2014 was their worst year for the purpose of calculating the amount they will receive. As a result of the change, the bill will now be sent back to the Senate, which will either concur or non-concur with the House version. If the Senate refuses to concur with the change, a House-Senate committee of conference will likely be established to negotiate a compromise. If…

For the first time in months, there is an improvement in drought conditions across Connecticut. On Thursday, U.S. Drought Monitor said a section of the southwest Connecticut shoreline from Greenwich to around Westport is now under an “abnormally dry” classification, a reduction in intensity from the moderate drought rating from a week ago. Farther away from the shoreline, areas from New Canaan to Danbury/Newtown to the southern half of New Haven County are in a “moderate drought,” a change from the “severe drought” status from last week. “A late-winter…