The National Weather Service presented a webinar this week about Southeast Alaska’s drought.
Southeast Alaska is the kind of place where you can get a lot of rain but still be in the middle of a drought.
“Drought is one of those things that, it seems like, oh, everybody knows what a drought is,” National Weather Service climate scientist Rick Thoman said.
The deficiency level and the time period can vary, Thoman said.
Ketchikan, for example, received record rainfall levels in August.
“Starting in September, we see that precipitation in Ketchikan totaled a little over 11 inches,” Thoman said.
But by Ketchikan standards, that was actually below normal.” Normal in September is closer to 15-16 inches.
“October, again, over 11 inches of rain, but that’s well below normal in Ketchikan in October, followed by well-below normal precipitation in November, as well,” Thoman said.
All that means overall precipitation in Southeast Alaska since fall has been below normal.
“If Southeast Alaska doesn’t get that rain in that October, November and into December time frame, there could be deficits in water levels that may not be able to recover.” When hydroelectric dams don’t have enough water, communities need to use more-expensive diesel power.

ISLAMABAD, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pakistan’s water crisis has become increasingly visible in recent months: levels in the largest dams are low; parched irrigation canals mean farmers in the south planted less cotton; and the commercial capital Karachi has long queues at hydrants.
In March, IRSA said the dams had, for the first time in 15 years, reached the “dead level”: the point at which their water cannot be drained by gravity, and can only be pumped out.
“We will go down to 500 cubic metres per person per year.” The impact of climate change will cut that another 20 percent, he said, to 400 cubic metres.
The policy, which was delayed more than a decade, covers an array of water-related issues: from the impact of climate change to hydropower, from transboundary water-sharing to irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, and from drinking water to sanitation.
Amir said its 41 pages have 33 objectives, and that makes it hard to convert it into an action plan.
But in practice such high-level councils rarely meet.
Given that most of the Indus water is used in agriculture, he said, the policy should focus on that.
Pakistan must improve how efficiently water is used in all sectors, the GCISC’s Banuri told the CSCCC meeting.
Poor water use is a key part of the problem, agreed Hammad Naqi Khan, who heads WWF-Pakistan, an environmental non-profit.
That will be something for the next government to consider.

With 99.3 per cent of NSW either in drought, almost in drought, or heading towards drought, it’s clear life on the land is a battle.
Once fertile paddocks have turned to dust, water resources are dry or drying up and fodder supplies are critically low.
Many farmers have been forced to buy feed from interstate as local supplies run dry – and they are paying exorbitant freight costs to transport it to their farm.
The Advertiser along with its sister papers has joined a campaign to be heard.
Fairfax Media has launched a petition calling on the state government to offer farmers relief on the cost of freight, fodder, water and Local Land Service rates as well as offer the collection of livestock genetics, and restocking/replanting loans after the drought breaks.
The key figure is 10,000 signatures which would ensure a parliamentary debate on the issue.
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison will take the petition to NSW Parliament on Fairfax Media’s behalf and speak on the issue during the debate.
Print off the petition, sign it and send or drop it in to the Advertiser office at Suite 1, The Exchange Building, 1 Elyard Street, Narellan NSW 2576

CAPE TOWN – Government said on Wednesday that the national state of disaster it declared in March over a drought that ravaged parts of the country, had lapsed after significant rainfall.
The three-year drought hit Cape Town particularly hard, threatening to leave residents of the country’s second-largest city without drinking water.
The government said it had conducted assessments which showed that the severe phase of the drought that affected agricultural production in a number of provinces was at an end.
The minister in charge of local governance, Zweli Mkhize, "confirmed that a national state of disaster that was declared on 13 March 2018 has lapsed," a government statement said.
READ: Big winter storm eyeing Western Cape Over R400-million was mobilised from various disaster grants to implement relief operations in an attempt to avoid turning taps off under a so-called "Day Zero" scenario and provide water to all regions.
In recent weeks, the Cape region, which typically receives rainfall between May and August, has experienced significant rains.
The Cape Town municipality said the water level in dams had risen to almost 32 percent from over 21 percent this time last year.
However, the city — battling its worst drought in 100 years — has called on the population to continue conserving water "given the uncertainty of rainfall".
"We have to make sure that we adhere to our goals and restrictions" — namely a daily consumption of 50 litres per person, the municipality said.

A number of wildfires are currently ablaze in the Western U.S. as severe drought envelops much of the region.
The 416 Fire in Colorado, which has scorched 27,420 acres since it broke out on June 1, has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 homes and the closure of all 1.8 million acres of the San Juan National Forest.
The fire is currently 15 percent contained and no structures have been destroyed, the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team said.
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group noted that the blaze has been fueled by abnormally dry conditions and prolonged drought.
Large fires in the West are also burning the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona, the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, Manti-Lasal National Forest in Utah and Medicone Bow-Routt National Forest in Wyoming, the National Interagency Fire Center reported Tuesday.
New Mexico’s Santa Fe National Forest, one of the state’s most popular recreation sites, has been closed since June 1 due to fire danger.
The Buffalo Fire, a new fire in Colorado that erupted Tuesday, is edging dangerously close to a ski resort town and has already prompted the evacuation of more than 1,300 homes, the Associated Press reported.
Western states experienced a winter with very little precipitation and a hot spring, which poses a threat come fire season.
Climate change has been found to intensify drought conditions in the West.
High temperatures and dry conditions increase the chance of a fire starting and help fan an existing fire.

Water clarity in Lake Tahoe reached a record low annual average in 2017 due to a historic drought, record-breaking precipitation and warmer than usual lake temperatures, according to a new study.
The average annual clarity level for 2017 clocked in at 59.7 feet — a roughly 9.5 foot decrease from 2016 — and surpassed the previous recorded low of 64.1 feet in 1997, according to a report released by the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at UC Davis.
“The combination of arguably the most extreme drought period ending with the most extreme precipitation year produced the low clarity values seen,” said Geoffrey Schladow, the research center director.
Media: Brandpoint The Tahoe Basin recorded roughly 300 percent of its normal precipitation, which was bolstered by an early winter storm in November 2017.
California was nearing the end of its worst drought in roughly 1,200 years in 2017 and recorded heavy rains.
Those rising temperatures coupled with unusually low wind speeds in July and August caused warm water temperatures to last through September, which is later than normal for Lake Tahoe.
The water clarity report suggests that warming lake temperatures help in holding sediment particles to the surface of the water for a longer period of time, causing a drop in clarity.
“It’s important to continue to make those smart investments for the long-term health of the lake and its environment.” Researchers with the Tahoe Environmental Research Center have been using water sensors, NASA buoys and manually collecting samples to help better understand under-examined areas of the lake during different weather conditions.
Clarity analyses efforts were funded through the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and UC Davis.
Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

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Climate Change, Droughts Impacting Forests And Trees Sequoias, the world’s largest trees by volume and thousands of years old, are no longer as resilient because of climate change.
As droughts occur, other species of trees nearby suck up the water stored on the ground, which leaves the sequoias susceptible to dying.
A 2017 study suggested that a large number of trees are dying because of warmer temperatures and drought.
Severe droughts are likewise killing several species of trees in India’s tropical forests and pines trees in China.
Now, the mysterious death of some of the oldest and biggest baobab trees in Africa over the past 12 years is also possibly linked to climate change.
Ancient Baobab Trees Are Dying Adrian Patrut of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania started to notice the death of the ancient baobab trees amid efforts to use radiocarbon dating to estimate the age of major baobab trees.
"We report that 9 of the 13 oldest and 5 of the 6 largest individuals have died, or at least their oldest parts/stems have collapsed and died, over the past 12 years; the cause of the mortalities is still unclear," the researchers reported in a study published in the journal Nature Plants on June 11.
Mysterious Die-Off Possibly Caused By Climate Change Patrut and colleagues suspect that the die-off of the ancient trees may be caused by climate change.
They think that the trees are dying partly because of changes in climate conditions that particularly impacted South Africa.

The three-year drought hit Cape Town particularly hard, threatening to leave residents of the country’s second largest city without drinking water.
The government said it had conducted assessments which showed that the severe phase of the drought that affected agricultural production in a number of provinces was at an end.
The minister in charge of local governance, Zweli Mkhize, "confirmed that a national state of disaster that was declared on 13 March 2018 has lapsed," a government statement said.
Over 400 million rand ($29 million) was mobilised from various disaster grants to implement relief operations in an attempt to avoid turning taps off under a so-called "Day Zero" scenario and provide water to all regions.
The drought has affected water intensive companies, such as winemakers who make up 11 percent of the southwestern region’s economic output and sustains 300,000 jobs.
In recent weeks, the Cape region, which typically receives rainfall between May and August, has experienced significant rains.
The Cape Town municipality said the water level in dams had risen to almost 32 percent from over 21 percent this time last year.
However the city—battling its worst drought in 100 years—has called on the population to continue conserving water "given the uncertainty of rainfall".
"We have to make sure that we adhere to our goals and restrictions"—namely a daily consumption of 50 litres per person, the municipality said.
By comparison, a single toilet flush uses nine litres of water and a one-minute-long shower uses 10 litres.

The National Weather Service has operated an office in Corpus Christi, Texas since 1887.
It moved to property at the international airport in 1995.
Chris Ramirez/Caller-Times Get your umbrellas ready.
The weather service has forecast a 40 percent chance of rain for Thursday and Friday, and a 50 percent chance of rain on Saturday.
The rain is much-needed in the area, as the Coastal Bend is in drought conditions.
On Wednesday, the city of Corpus Christi imposed Stage 1 water restrictions.
That may trigger additional stages in the drought contingency plan.
The first stage encourages voluntary water restrictions when the combined capacity of Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon reservoirs drop below 50 percent, according to the plan.
Those voluntary restrictions include using a sprinkler system once a week, while avoiding sprinkler use between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and encourages restaurants to serve water only upon request.
Stage 2 aims to reduce water use by 10 percent, according to the plan.

Weather whiplash is the perfect descriptor for what’s on tap for the Southwest.
Things have been hot and dry since this winter, but they could get wet and wild this weekend as the remnants of Hurricane Bud drench Arizona and parts of New Mexico.
And it’s almost certainly not going to make up the precipitation deficit currently plaguing the region.
New Mexico isn’t far behind, with 99 percent of the state in drought save a sliver of its southern edge.
The dry conditions have raised the risk of significant fires, and a number are already burning.
“If it does materialize, the precipitation will definitely help, but I am concerned about a long break in precipitation after this,” Crimmins said.
“We could spur a lot of summer vegetation to start growing and it may run headlong into several weeks of hot and dry conditions if the monsoon season precipitation doesn’t materialize later this month.” The current drought conditions can be tied back to a very dry winter.
Arizona had its sixth-driest November-April on record while New Mexico had its third-driest.
Relentless heat has cranked the drought into overdrive, with the states respectively having their warmest and second-warmest November-April on record.
Crimmins said the looming storm shows it “can be feast or famine” for precipitation in the Southwest.