The most recent US Drought Monitor released on December 30th finally shows a small glimmer of improvement for California’s drought. Over the last few weeks, a series of major storms dropped significantly higher than normal rains across much of Northern California. In fact, rain in some major Bay Area cities fell at the fastest clip ever recorded there. Oakland received 455% higher than average rainfall in December. San Francisco recorded 424% higher than average rainfall, and San Jose recorded an astonishing 736% of its average rainfall this December. Unfortunately, all of this rainfall put only a small dent in the drought conditions that mire the state. According to the US Drought Monitor, exceptional drought covers 32.21% of the state this week versus 55.08% at the beginning of the December. Continue reading
Category Archives: Hydrologic Risk
A Tale of Two Colorado River Basins
There is an interesting trend in the Bureau of Reclamation’s 24-Month studies projecting future elevations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead: The Bureau projects recovering elevations in Lake Powell and continued deteriorating elevations in Lake Mead. Continue reading
What can we Learn from the Aftermath of the Tragic Floods in Colorado last Month?
In September, 2013, as you probably know, Colorado faced some of the worst floods to the state in recent history. Lives were tragically lost, many thousands of survivors were displaced, and the overflowing of rivers caused widespread damage. The flooding in terms of intensity in some areas is unrivaled to any event since the tragic flooding of 1976. In this year’s floods, some areas along the Big Thompson River received an average year’s worth of rainfall in just a few short hours. In the aftermath of this devastating flood, what can we learn from the event to plan better in the future? I would like to offer my thoughts on a few areas related to this. Continue reading
Increasing Hydrologic Risk in the Colorado River Basin
Climate change received added buzz with President Obama’s second inaugural speech on January 21st. Climate change poses at least three issues for water resource management and investment:
- What is the anticipated magnitude and timing of climate change?
- Has anticipated changes already been reflected in actual hydrologic conditions?
- What does it mean and what to do about it?
For the Colorado River Basin, the issue of changing hydrologic conditions has been alive for decades and steps have already been taken. Judging by the changes in actual hydrologic conditions, the challenge is significant—especially for water users down the priority list of water rights. Continue reading