Today's map: the real drought.

[Brian Howell]

Yes, yes, we all know California is experiencing a drought. But so are Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. (And several eastern states, too, but they're on the other side of the Rockies.) Much of that area is moderate to extreme. (A significant percentage of California rates exceptional.) 

According to meteorologists, this drought is a harbinger of even worse ones to come. And it leads me to consider California's future. After all, desalination can go only so far: it may be able to meet residential and commercial demand—maybe—but agricultural?

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176036/tomgram%3A_william_debuys%2C_entering_the_mega-drought_era_in_america

[Vince Koloski]

The map referenced in the article is startling

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/MapArchive.aspx

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[Brian Howell]

I forgot to mention: for a close-up view of the West's drought, select Climate Region from the Climate (2nd-from-left pulldown, and West from the CONUS (third-from-left) pulldown.

On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Vince Koloski <vkst...@gmail.com> wrote:

The map referenced in the article is startling

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/MapArchive.aspx

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Brian Howell
www.linkedin.com/in/bdhowell

[Scott Hotes]

On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 9:09 AM, Brian Howell <bdho...@gmail.com> wrote:

California may be entering a mega-drought, but in terms of historic rainfall alone, it does not appear conclusive:

http://www.weatherwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/multigraph_fullprecip.png

Scott 

[Scott Hotes]

And regarding a study released yesterday, there's this:

One thing the results show for sure is that the drought is not simply the result of natural processes, he said: "There are lots of people who are under the impression that this drought is entirely caused by natural climate variability. That is not the case."