Extreme Weather And Droughts In California

Along with global warming, factors such as population growth and increased demands, inefficient use of water resources, overuse of groundwater, mismanagement of water supply systems, misguided policies, and so on contributed to the occurrence of one of the worst droughts that California is experiencing in 2014-2015, which has a negative impact not only on environment, but also on social and economic sectors of California.

The California Drought is one of the most catastrophic weather and climate related events in recent history. It has singlehandedly altered the geographic landscape of the state and brought down entire industries to a grinding halt. Not since global warming became a prominent fixture in the national spotlight has a climate issue so deeply challenged Californians to reconsider their lifestyles according to their climate conditions. This essay will examine the origins of climate change and the California Drought, how the two are related, the current state of California as a result of the drought, and the future outlook of California.

Samenow (2015) argues that climate change is best regarded as as a drought amplifier rather than the source of the drought itself. He provides instances showing links between drought and climate change. One is that the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, have risen about 25 percent since 1958. Heat-trapping gases, like carbon dioxide, act like a performance-enhancer when it comes to warm weather extreme, because they considerably intensify the probability for setting new records for hot

The intensity, frequency, and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s (Bell 2012). The increase in hurricanes can be linked to higher sea surface temperatures caused by multiple outside sources. Human induced emissions of heat-trapping gases and particulate pollution are two of the possible sources that are affecting the sea surface temperature. Humans are the main contributor contributing to climate change and global warming, but most seem not to care. Not only is the amount of hurricanes increasing, but heat waves are increasing and intensifying in some western parts of the country. Heat waves have become more frequent across The United States in recent decades. Western regions are setting records for numbers of heat waves and droughts in the 2000s. Data collected suggests that the droughts over the last decade in the West represent the driest conditions in the last 800 years (Vose 2005). With varying weather all over the country, the real estate market is beginning to be affected as well. Popular ski capitals will no longer have their icy slopes and eventually the popular beaches will be too hot to visit or will not have any beach left, causing drops in vacation rentals and permanent housing

Over the years the droughts in North America have become worse. In 2012 80% of America was affected by very dry months and this is only by mid July. Climate change also has an effect on our health as humans. In 2012, at least 74 Americans were killed from extreme heat. This is nothing compared to 2011. During 2011 there were at least 206 people died from extreme heat.

In the article, “What We Can Say About The Louisiana Floods and Climate Change”, Chris Mooney states that due to climate change our planet is warming, causing the increase the of rainfall throughout the world. He claims that a warming planet overall breaks warm temperature records more frequently than cold temperature records. Due to the atmosphere warming its ability to retain water increase as the water vapor increased this past year, and dumping more than two feet of rainfall. He points out that heat and moisture helps caused heavy rainfall due to the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. The purpose of this article is to help us explore and understand that climate change could be a possible reason why extreme weather is occurring more

We Californians are to blame for California's Water Shortage.It's as simple as that we really don't think about the consequences that will come with washing our cars (thinking were saving something such as money),Taking long showers and baths,filling pools,and watering our plants more often than is necessary.Also In the article In paragraph 3 states “Brown ordered The State Water Resources Control Board To put Forced Restriction In Place To Reduce Water Use by 25 percent”Yet even the restriction did nothing to help California's drought.This again is the fault of Californians many of us Have the mindset to just not care until its to late to care..And California doesn't have time to finally have people truly caring about how much water they use

This desolate outlook on Southern California’s future is a result of excessive water usage and rapidly diminishing water supplies.

California has been in a drought for about 4 years now and it has been considered the most severe drought in the last 15 years. The California drought has been causing multiple ongoing problems for the last few years. The state of California has tried to take actions toward ending the drought, but the efforts put forth are clearly not enough to end this drought. The main focus in ending the drought has been water conservation, but many California resident are taking the seriousness of the drought too lightly. The drought has already caused several problems, for example water shortages, dying crops, and wildfires all across the state. If serious actions towards ending the drought are not taken soon, California will continue to surface or may get worse. There are a few ideas underway to try and end the drought in California such as, desalination, wastewater recycling, ground water digging, and the main focus water conservation. All of the solutions to ending the drought will cost a good amount of money, so the fact of the matter is which idea would be most efficient and less costly.

Over the last four years, California has been experiencing one of the worst droughts in its history, and its lasting consequences are starting to become apparent. In the next 65 years, the state's average precipitation will likely decrease to 2 to 16 percent of current levels and average temperature could increase by 7 degrees Fahrenheit, according to current climate models. Croplands throughout the Central Valley will suffer greatly as conditions will reduce food production, a major component of California's economy. Also, water will become more scarce, which will affect cattle on ranch lands and people in urban areas. The conditions for drought are becoming more frequent in the state as a region of high atmospheric pressure is preventing

Can El Niño save California from wildfires, wilting crops and weary front lawns? The tropical event which causes the Pacific to warm and generally increases precipitation may be California’s Hail Mary. Indeed, there are reasons climatologists are optimistic about its arrival as California experienced two of its wettest years during two of El Niño’s visits -- in 1982 and 1997. The expectation that the powerful brewing storm will pummel California with precipitation sounds reasonable, but will that be enough? According to a NYT article, the state may just be hard-wired for continued drought and needs a real solution, not a hope and a prayer. Riding into the storm with a yearlong rain deficit, El Niño, the hopeful hero of the drought would theoretically

One problem facing our world today is the California drought. California has hardly any water in their state and it is hurting them.

The current drought in California has being going on for 3 years now, and continues to worsen. A drought is an extended period of time without rain, and has resulted in California being deficient in water. This has severe consequences for all residents, not just those within the agriculture industry and has affected the area immensely. This drought not only affects the growth of crops, but dries up streams, water reservoirs and wells. The first map below shows the most recent conditions of the drought in California. California is approximately 423, 970 km2, and the majority of this area is affected by the drought. The least severe areas are still considered ‘abnormally dry’ as shown in the map below. California’s agriculture is largely based

Pacific Ocean west of Peru hit 5 degrees above average, outpacing the abnormally warm temperatures seen at this time of year in 1997, which developed into the strongest El Niño on record” (latimes.com). California and a majority of South America have gotten unusual rainfall since January because of this El Nino effect. “Mudslides, heavy rainfall, one storm after another like a conveyor belt,” is how they described the oncoming weather for the Western region. This rise in sea temperature did not just cause heavy rainfall in the western states and the South America countries but caused droughts in places like Australia and Indonesia. The frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes have been more common since the early 80’s. “El Niño has already

Thanks the weather, farmers and ranchers are really getting hammered this year, and the hits just seem to keep coming. According to information from the National Centers For Environmental Information, there have been nearly a dozen weather and climate disaster events (not including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, or wildfires) in 2017 where damages have totaled at least a billion dollars.