If you take a close look at the cheerful packages above, you'll see such labels as Red California Poppy or Mexican Hat, Red. Long-time readers may recall that in a fit of optimism about the El Nino bringing Prescott a wet winter, I bought lots of wildflower seeds to scatter up the hill in advance of our anticipated storms.There the seeds sit, on the kitchen table. It's too cold to go walking. The various weather sites put the temp at 30 or 32 degrees F (roughly 0 C). All that we got from that big storm that's working its icy way across the Rockies and the Great Plains is bright sunshine and a furnace that's working overtime.
Bah! Several major storms have crossed the country, as befits an El Nino year. Not here. Prescott is way under its average precips for Nov/Dec and now Jan. It's all my fault -- I tried to outguess the Weather Gods by buying a one pound bag of red California poppy seed. Mea culpa.
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All the "Storms" they have forcasted have been duds. I remember reading that 70% of the needed precipitation for trees, plants, animals, wells, etc., comes during the winter. The other 30% is during the Monsoons. Unfortunately, this winter has provided nothing except light dustings. We are going to have a really bad fire season and a lot of trees will die this spring due to the lack of snow.
Reading the latest reports from hydrologist states that well levels are dropping. The Prescott & Prescott Valley "Big Chino Water Project" is in the process of getting bids. It is up to $240 million! They are estimating that the final costs will be around $300 million! Plus, Prescott is being sued by an environmental organization out of Phoenix to prevent the Big Chino Aquifer pumping. They claim that the pumping will cause the first 25 miles of the Verde River to run dry. Thereby causing animal life to die as they need the Verde River to get their water during droughts. The Verde River is fed by underground springs from the Big Chino Aquifer. The Verde River was also just named as one of Top 10 Endangered Rivers in the United States.
Prescott & PV has already raised their water rates and more rate increases are on their way!
So, we need PRECIPITATION and A LOT of it. More snow and rain!!!
You've spelled it out well, Anon. The problem is that the real Verde River clout is the Salt River Project-- and apparently they can't get involved until the(ir) surface water is affected. I have heard via the gossip route that the real, real problemis that 1) there's actually plenty of water in the Big Chino Basin but that 2) the water for the upper 25 miles of the river comes from the top of that basin. So -- almost any drop in the level will hit the Verde. There's one obvious solution nobody has talked about yet -- which should really give the environmental folk the creeps. That is to draw enough water from the Basin to satisfy Prescott et al plus extra water to send down the Verde channel. Apparently the Basin holds enough water to do this for quite a few years. BTW, have you read the series of articles in the ReadItNews?
Sounds like you have the same weather forecasters as we have here 'Down Under', WP...we've hardly had any storms so far this summer...usually November/December are our months of storms here in Queensland, Australia, but we've had hardly any. Rain has been threatening for the past few days...but the grey clouds are too high...every now and then a light sprinkle falls but I want it to pour! I love rain! I love the sound of it upon my roof (metal). I lock away here in my cabin and shut the rest of the world out. I have much here with which to amuse myself and have no desire or need to join the madding crowds! :)
We need a decent, lengthy wet season here in Aus...everywhere is experiencing drought conditions and there seems to be no improvement on the far horizons.
Lee, in past years, my bro over in Perth and I have found that this is the basic rule: when he gets a good wet season, we are dry here in AZ; when we get the moisture, he dries out over in Western Australia. Don't know about this year, though. BTW, my daughter, who lives about 70 miles as the crow flies further north and 2000 ft elevation higher, got 15 inches of snow from the same storm that eluded us down here at 5000 ft!
While I do NOT agree to everything Al Gore stands for, nor do I really like the guy, he did have some valid points on his documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth'.
I believe the weather we are experiencing will only get worse. As stated in the video, the earth is headed for some serious problems, all within the next 10 years. Areas will have severe droughts while others will get flooded. Add population growth, more development, etc., we are going to have some critical events that will change the course of mankind...
Actually, when I read that planets other than the earth are undergoing global temperature increases, I really got worried -- that means that the sun might be acting up -- and, if so, there's nothing at all that we can do about it.
The trouble with the global warming enthusiasts is that, basically, what they appear to want more than anything else is to deindustrialize the USA, which is where I live, rather than do something about the problem. Why don't they talk more about albedo laws ... to give just one example ... if roof tops, parking lots, roads and highways were light colored rather than black, a lot of heat would be reradiated back into space (think of the heat island effect, esp. in cities like Phoenix).
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