# 2021 US West drought and wildfire thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 10, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991 "2021-06-10T18:17:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 14
### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/261 "2021-10-21T17:25:16Z")
Ahh, that really is wonderful news!! Thanks for sharing it!!
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/262 "2021-10-21T17:28:03Z")
Hooray! I hope there’s not too much flooding from denuded areas.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/263 "2021-10-21T17:57:49Z")
This! Post-fire flooding is a thing.
There was a bad fire back in 2017 (Goodwin Fire) back behind Mayer. Despite reseeding and much time, parts of Mayer have flooded every year since.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/264 "2021-10-22T06:54:50Z")
This happened/is happening:
> **[Farmer fined $304K over alleged water theft during drought](https://apnews.com/article/business-droughts-washington-theft-water-rights-f2d7ba349f97c435c7eb832e18236579)**
>
> RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — A farm in southeastern Washington has been fined $304,000 by the Washington state Department of Ecology for irrigating 250 acres (101 hectares) without rights to the water. Frank Tiegs LLC in Franklin County has 30 days to...
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### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2021, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/265 "2021-10-23T02:21:30Z")
There’s going to be a lot more of this, I’m afraid.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/266 "2021-10-23T02:35:14Z")
Aye; I wonder how often it will make the news or the papers or even an internet blog, tho.
I thought this story was notable simply because it was being publicized and because it was a resolution.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/267 "2021-10-25T16:19:51Z")
Well, California and other parts of the West got some rain (and some wind to go with it):
> **[West Coast slammed by record-breaking bomb cyclone](https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/west-coast-slammed-by-record-breaking-bomb-cyclone/1037655)**
>
> The parade of storms walloped the region over the weekend, leaving behind destruction triggered by the heaviest rainfall in a 24-hour period some areas have ever seen.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/268 "2021-10-25T16:36:42Z")
This reminds me of the movie The Big Short, the one about the 2008 market collapse, and specifically the guy (played by Christian Bale) who saw it coming and made a fortune by shorting mortgage-backed securities.
At the end, text appears on the screen to tell us what each character is doing now. Christian Bale’s character is now very interested in…water.
Ominous.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/269 "2021-10-25T17:04:41Z")
Yeah, that was unusual, for sure. Been living in the Sacto area 20+ years and never seen it rain that hard for 24+ hours non-stop. Oct 24 rainfall and one-day records all over the area were shattered yesterday. We got over 5 inches at my place - the yearly average is around 24 inches. Average rainfall for October is around 1.5 in., and yesterday alone beat any monthly average, easily.
While I would not say it was a drought-breaker, it certainly ended the wildfire season in this area.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/270 "2021-12-28T17:29:05Z")
And now, near the end of the month, a TV weatherperson today said that this is the wettest December “since the 80’s,” although he didn’t say for what area – San Francisco Bay area (the TV station’s market), northern California, or something else. And it’s still raining a little more this week, and picking up again on Monday. Still not a drought-buster, but if it continues into March it will be very welcome indeed.
The irony, of course, is that the rain and relatively temperate climate mean that forest undergrowth will shoot up, and then dry out after the rainy season to become kindling for next year’s forest fires. More water does not mitigate increased dry-season temperatures and seasonal dryness.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/271 "2021-12-28T17:36:32Z")
18’ of snowfall on Donner Pass. SoCal just got soaked yesterday and there is a lot more arriving tomorrow. Sure, it makes the plants grow so they can burn in August, but at least there will be water in the lakes and reservoirs to fight the fires with.
The thing I’m happy about so far is that the storms are spaced out, so the water has a chance to soak in. No landslides from the El Dorado scar, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow. That’s the slide zone I can see from the back yard.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/272 "2021-12-28T17:36:39Z")
AP article has some stats:
> **[Snow blasts California and freezes Pacific Northwest](https://apnews.com/article/mountains-environment-and-nature-california-nevada-weather-22301cab3d6120a289cb47935e2c90b2)**
>
> Severe weather sweeping parts of the U.S. has brought frigid temperatures to the Pacific Northwest, heavy snow to mountains in Northern California and Nevada, and unseasonable warmth to Texas and the Southeast.
> [@](#):
>
> At Donner Pass in the Sierra, officials with the University of California, Berkeley’s [Central Sierra Snow Laboratory on Monday](https://twitter.com/UCB_CSSL/status/1475511462588211200?s=20)said recent snowfall has smashed the snowiest December record of 179 inches (4.6 meters), set in 1970. The record is now 193.7 inches (4.9 meters) as more snow is expected.
>
> The Northstar California Resort in Truckee closed its mountain operations on Monday amid blizzard conditions. The ski resort has received more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) of snow over the last 48 hours, according to the [resort’s Facebook post.](https://www.facebook.com/Northstar)
> [@](#):
>
> The snowpack in the Sierra was at dangerously low levels after recent weeks of dry weather but the state [Department of Water Resources](https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action) reported on Monday that the snowpack was between 145% and 161% of normal across the range with more snow expected.
> [@](#):
>
> The storms that have been pummeling California and Nevada in recent days also brought rain and snow to Arizona. A record inch of rain in one day was reported at the airport in Phoenix Friday when 11 inches (28 centimeters) of snow fell at the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort just outside Flagstaff. Another 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow were recorded in the 24 hours ending Monday morning.
>
> More storms are expected to hit the desert state starting Monday afternoon and continuing throughout the week.
>
> Temperatures were unseasonably warm in parts of the Southern Plains, including in Arkansas, where several cities broke records on Christmas Day for daily high temperatures.
And those systems are steadily moving eastward, so Alabama, Mississippi, etc. are gonna have to watch out as the week progresses.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/273 "2021-12-28T21:06:03Z")
Very high Colorado mountains here. We finally got enough snow that I needed to plow on Christmas. VERY strange. I often start plowing in October.
Was in Denver on Christmas Eve and… It rained. Also very odd.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/274 "2021-12-28T21:47:18Z")
We all need to get used to saying “Unusual weather we’re having.” Unusual is the new normal.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/275 "2021-12-30T00:27:40Z")
Yeah. Global Climate changes does not mean droughts, necessarily.
CA used to cycle, but my WAG is the cycle will be much more pronounced- really dry years, followed by super wet, etc.
It will get warmer, that is all we can be sure of. That doesn’t mean we can’t have record cold one week, like I think the weatherman said.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/276 "2021-12-30T01:25:40Z")
It’s gonna get weird I think. I am not seeing the snow that I usually see after 30 years in the Colorado mountains like I used to. Been at elevation for 30 years.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/277 "2021-12-30T02:06:43Z")
Related thread:
> [@What do you think will happen when the water level at Lake Mead falls below 1050 feet?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201):
>
> Lake Mead sits just outside Las Vegas, created by the construction of the Hoover Dam back in the 1930s. Lake Mead is the largest capacity water reservoir in the US and that water is used, in part, to generate electricity at the dam. Hoover Dam has 17 turbines that generate electricity. 5 of those have been upgraded to newer, more efficient models that can run at lower water levels than the previous/original turbines. The 12 that have not been upgraded cannot function when the water level in …
I’m pretty sure this is going to happen no later than May 2022.
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### Author:  [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/278 "2021-12-30T03:56:32Z")
Things are going to get dire here as well. Due to a 20 year recording breaking wet monsoon season the deniers are pointing at as proof of no climate change or drought.
The rain caused plants to grow. More food made the deer breed like deer and move closer to people because of deer overcrowding. Deer and cars do not have a good relationship, the across the street neighbors totaled three vehicles by being hit by deer playing Frogger after dark.
The plants that haven’t been eaten are drying out and will be tinder for next years fires.
There are a bunch of reasons getting old sucks, knowing that I’m going to miss the very worse times is a bit of a consolation.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/279 "2021-12-30T16:39:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> It will get warmer, that is all we can be sure of. That doesn’t mean we can’t have record cold one week, like I think the weatherman said.
There is a major storm (actually a series) coming down from the north, with record lows starting to sink down. If the models they use are correct, it should be a pretty wild couple of weeks with some really large storms hitting across the country. As you say, global warming doesn’t mean we won’t get record cold snaps and doesn’t mean only drought.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2021-us-west-drought-and-wildfire-thread/943991/280 "2021-12-30T22:51:46Z")
2021 is about to end but the wildfires continue!
> **[Colorado wildfires burn hundreds of homes, force evacuations](https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-colorado-denver-ad43bbca5cd0f099740a9a66d783c29c)**
>
> DENVER (AP) — An estimated 580 homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people were evacuated in wind-fueled wildfires outside Denver, officials said Thursday evening.
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