IS CALIFORNIA IN A DROUGHT?
by Timothy K. Parker, GRA Board Member
May 2002
State wide, we are not in a drought with average runoff at nearly 80 percent. At present there is impact on Southern California, with precipitation at 5 percent in the Colorado River Hydrologic Region, 30 percent in the South Coast Region, and 35 percent in the South Lahontan Hydrologic Region. This is evidenced from the Palmer diagram at at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/palmer.gif.
A good portion of these southern California areas rely largely on surface supplies so the short term impact on groundwater is likely to be low. If the southern California drought continues into next year and beyond, we may end up seeing some historically low groundwater supply levels in the southern regions of the state. Below are a number of contacts for additional, more specific information on California hydrology data, drought in California, and groundwater level data.
Information Links on California Hydrology
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