California residents slack on water cutbacks

I'm getting numerous phone calls and emails concerning California's worst drought in modern times. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Drought Monitor, "100 percent of the Golden State is currently experiencing drought conditions."

It was more than seven months ago in early January that Governor Jerry Brown declared "a drought emergency" in California asking residents to "cut water consumption by at least 20 percent."

But, a survey released in July showed that the state actually used 1 percent more water in May and June than during the previous three-year average for the same period.

This disappointing news comes at a time of "dangerously low" water levels in the state's reservoirs, rivers and streams, and the remaining snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is 'virtually gone.'

A July 15 report from the University of California at Davis estimated that the current drought "will cost the state more than $2 billion with some 17,000 seasonal jobs lost in agriculture due to nearly 2 million acres left fallow, totally unplanted."

In a last-ditch effort to awaken dumbed-down Californians, state water officials have recently put in effect the first statewide emergency water-usage restrictions ever issued.

The curbs on lawn watering and other outdoor uses carry fines up to $500 per day for each violation, issued by the so-called 'water police'

When will this horrible drought end? Well, it's possible that a new moist El Nino will provide a welcome juicy 'Pineapple Connection' from Hawaii eastward into California and the parched Desert Southwest later this fall and winter. But, as usual, only time will tell.

Next week, Meteorologist Randy Mann will have updates on the new El Nino and the latest sunspot activity.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

We finally got our first 100-degree-plus afternoon in Coeur d'Alene this past Tuesday in nearly five full years since Aug. 20, 2009.

The mercury at my station on Player Drive soared to 102.1 degrees at 3:24 p.m. It was 103 degrees at Fernan Lake, 100 degrees at Kellogg, Rathdrum and Spokane, and 99 degrees, just missing the century mark, at Post Falls, Athol and Hayden.

Elsewhere around the Inland Empire, it was 108 degrees at Hanford, Wash. Pasco, Wash., reached 107 degrees. Lewiston had a new record high for July 29 of 106 degrees. Walla Walla, Yakima and Wenatchee, Wash., each came in with 105 degrees. Pendleton and Medford, Ore., each had 104 degrees. Closer to home, Ritzville, Wash., likewise reported 104 degrees on Tuesday.

Longer term into early August, Meteorologist Randy Mann and I see more hot weather, but no more triple-digit temperatures, at least for the next 10 days, are foreseen.

Due to a strong ridge of high pressure camped over the Inland Empire, we see August being drier than usual like July. There will likely be some scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms, but most of these rains will remain to the east and south of Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.

As of this Wednesday, July 30 writing, we had received just .72 inches of rain this July, all but .29 inches coming in a strong thunderstorm on July 24 in a very brief 22-minute span. Our usual July precipitation since 1895 has been .92 inches, normally our driest month of the year. Last July in 2013, we gauged a mere .47 inches of moisture on Player Drive in the entire 31-day period.

Looking ahead to this year's edition of the annual North Idaho Fair and Rodeo, we still see warm, but not excessively hot temperatures, and only a slight threat of brief afternoon or evening thundershowers.

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com