Region update - California

I thought I'd finish off the year with an update on the water situation in California.  If there were some pools of rain, I'd've punned about this being a reflection.  Instead, after beginning behind, a slow start on water-measures mid-year, early predictions of a strong El Nino subsequently waning, and no deluge yet this winter, we'll be starting 2015 still lagging.  Father Time needs a new gardening tool.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reports/EXECSUM

Region update - California

A lot can change in 1.5 months.  Although rainfall and water supplies are still below average for the year, a suite of late winter storms during March has bolstered reservoir supplies in California. For example, http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/resDetailOrig.action?resid=FOL
Fields are verdant again, the air clear, and views of snow-capped Sierras spectacular. 

And emerging on the horizon is the seemingly increasing likelihood of a much wetter winter 2014/15.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/figure6.gif

Region update - California

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.