California drought has no end in sight

While water-starved residents of California did certainly appreciate this past week's early April rains, I'm afraid that it was the case of "far too little" moisture, "far too late" in the rainy season to alleviate the worst drought in the Golden State in modern times.

Meteorologist Randy Mann and I see the moist upper-level jet stream shifting well to the north of California by this next week. A huge ridge of high pressure will build back into California and the sweltering Desert Southwest by mid to late April. Precipitation in May south of Oregon and Idaho will become very scarce and almost nonexistent during the following four months of the dry season ending in early October. In other words, it's going to be a long, hot, dusty summer in areas already extremely dry.

The 2015 fire season throughout the far western U.S. may turn out to be one of the worst in recorded history, especially if we see those dreaded 'Santa Ana Winds' in southern California later in the season.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland will be left fallow (unplanted) in the central valleys of California this 2015 crop season. Many of the farmers that have been denied irrigation water for this year's crops have been pumping out what's left of the dwindling supplies of groundwater.

California's vineyards are worried about their drought-parched plants absorbing too much salt from the dry ground, which could easily kill the grapevines.

As of April 1, Governor Jerry Brown of California asked for a voluntary water consumption reduction of 25 percent across his state. There will likewise be a mandatory order requiring golf courses, college campuses, cemeteries and other large water users to curb their consumption of the increasingly short water supplies. Many homeowners are vowing to "let their lawns die" to save this precious commodity.

The recent orders prohibit new home developments from using drinking water for lawn irrigation, particularly if these homes lack the now required efficient drip systems of watering. In addition, there will be no watering of decorative grasses and plants in public places or on the street medians.

Despite this week's rain and snow in California, a new survey this past Wednesday showed a statewide snowpack of just 6 percent of the historical average. This means that there will be a shortage of critical irrigation water resulting from snowmelt down more than 80 percent this summer growing season, bad news especially for thousands of farmers. People often forget that California's farms and orchards produce most of the fruit, nuts and vegetables consumed by Americans and a significant part of the rest of the world.

It's my long-range outlook that California's worst drought in modern times will continue into a fifth year into at least early 2016, probably well beyond that point.

Needless-to-say, things longer-term appear "bleak" at best for thirsty residents of California and the parched Southwest, no rain, no gain.

We are so fortunate that we live in water-abundant North Idaho. We are truly blessed!

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

This past Monday morning, April 6, saw a record snowfall for the date of 3.3 inches in Coeur d'Alene, a record that had stood for 120 years since 1895, when just .4 inches was measured in town. Our normal April snowfall for an entire month is only .7 inches. Last April, in 2014, we gauged a puny .1 inches of the white stuff on Player Drive.

What's amazing to this climatologist is that the 3.4 inches of snow this month - we had .1 inches on April 1 as well - has been more snow than had previously been measured locally in the months of February and March combined - a meager 2.4 inches, a full inch less than this April of 2015's total thus far.

It's still possible that sometime during the next week to 10 days, we may see some additional snowfall, especially above 3,500 feet, during the colder overnight hours when temperatures will be near the freezing mark. But, most of the precipitation at the lower elevations below 2,500 feet will still be in the form of rain or small hail.

As far as planting gardens is concerned, I would wait until the very end of April or early to mid May this spring due to a slightly cooler than normal upper-air wind flow pattern across the region from the Gulf of Alaska. We may not be safe from a hard freeze until around May 7, the date of our last frost in the area last spring.

As things still stand weatherwise, both Meteorologist Randy Mann and I see a cooler and wetter spring than usual across North Idaho with more thunderstorms than normal, particularly during the 60-day span from May 3 through early July. Some small-sized hail and gusty winds should accompany these brief 'boomers.'

The summer of 2015 still looks warm to hot with a bit less rain than normal overall due to a strong stationary ridge of high pressure camped over the Inland Empire.

Also, my new book, "Weather and Bible Prophecy," has been completed and we received the books late last week. All orders are going out in the mail. For more information, go to www.WeatherProphecy.com.

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