It's often dry in California's Central Valley, a massive region with agriculture that provides a large portion of food for the USA, but we're apparently in the middle of something special. Usually around this time of year we'd be donning a light water-proof jacket or carrying an umbrella (you never need to wrap up against the cold). Instead, Governor Jerry Brown just declared a drought emergency.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-declares-drought-emergency-in-california-20140117,0,3244744.story#axzz2qt9Q6PM7
The unwatered lawns around town are brown, instead of the usual January green. Daffodils are emerging in my garden, and the air has it's usual summer haze; just the wrong time of year. With reports of snowpack at ~20% of normal (snowpack usually provides ~2/3rds of the State's water) and indications that much farmland will be left fallow, it sounds like the start of a tough year.
If you've watched Ken Burn's "The Dust Bowl" http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/ recently, as I did the last two nights, or read Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Time" (New York Times Review), this isn't anything like that yet, but you'll understand why there might be a tangible air of pessimism.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-declares-drought-emergency-in-california-20140117,0,3244744.story#axzz2qt9Q6PM7
The unwatered lawns around town are brown, instead of the usual January green. Daffodils are emerging in my garden, and the air has it's usual summer haze; just the wrong time of year. With reports of snowpack at ~20% of normal (snowpack usually provides ~2/3rds of the State's water) and indications that much farmland will be left fallow, it sounds like the start of a tough year.
If you've watched Ken Burn's "The Dust Bowl" http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/ recently, as I did the last two nights, or read Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Time" (New York Times Review), this isn't anything like that yet, but you'll understand why there might be a tangible air of pessimism.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We don’t particularly approve anonymous comments, but they will be tolerated as long as they are not used to make “ad hominem” attacks to any of the IBS members.
Comments that do not meet this principle will not be published.