[OC] Maps showing water shortages during May have become increasingly extreme in California

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by sdbernard
image showing [OC] Maps showing water shortages during May have become increasingly extreme in California

heshewewumbo0 on May 14th, 2021 at 15:52 UTC »

Droughts have gotten worse in recent years, but these maps don’t tell the whole story, because they show roughly average precipitation years alongside a significantly below average precipitation year. Precipitation is highly variable in CA, partially due to the fact that CA receives a significant portion of annual precipitation in just a dozen/ few dozen precipitation events known as atmospheric rivers. So CA’s annual precipitation depends (in part) on the frequency and intensity of these atmospheric rivers which are influenced by larger weather patterns such as El Niño/la Nina. In 2021/2022 CA could have an above average rainy season (October - April), bringing CA out of drought conditions.

It would make more sense to compare drought conditions in years with similar levels of precipitation. Droughts have definitely gotten worse over the past few decades though.

redditseddit4u on May 14th, 2021 at 16:21 UTC »

Welp, here we go again. Time to stop flushing my toilets

STAlexFree on May 14th, 2021 at 18:45 UTC »

This is 3 years of data and 2019 was one of the wettest for CA