A good stretch of my life was spent living in Seattle, WA, and we loved it. We moved there for my growing career. My son was born there. We loved the city and the rural beauty surrounding the city. The one thing I hated was the constant rain. Using my “inside voice” I would complain endlessly for days and sometimes weeks at a time. In that, we cherished the summer seasons in Seattle. They were mostly dry, sunny, and warm.
Fast forward to moving to California’s Central Coast and learning that our new home is mostly dry, sunny, and warm all the time. We had, in fact, arrived at the beginning of several years of drought that would see an increasingly growing wildfire season. By that I mean the fire season grew in terms of length of time and also grew in terms of intensity.
Last summer I blogged about the dangers that heavy equipment operators are exposed to in fighting wildfires and about some of the lives lost in the effort.
Now it looks like we may be catching a break.
The State of California is now officially out of a drought for the first time in 7 years. The United States Drought Monitor summarizes the situation in the west:
“Well-above-average precipitation continues in the West, improving long-term soil moisture deficits, building snow pack, and filling reservoirs, therefore leading to more widespread drought improvement. Areas of western Utah received up to double their typical precipitation in the last month, improving conditions across the region. From northern California into Oregon and Idaho, snowpack continues to build at mid and high elevations, compensating for long-term dry soil moistures. Reservoirs have also continued to fill. Improvements were made across this region, including a vast reduction in severe drought (D2) in Oregon and a return to normal conditions across most of Idaho and northern Nevada. Idaho’s central mountains received more snowfall in February than the previous three months combined. Snow there continued to accumulate, with continuing colder-than-normal temperatures. As such, no irrigation issues are anticipated and water supplies are expected to be adequate. Dry conditions also improved to normal to the north across parts of eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana. Precipitation in recent months, including for the water year to-date, has been above average and enough to erase long-term impacts. In the Southwest, improvements were seen along the Mogollon Rim and White Mountains of eastern Arizona. Many of the lakes are full and spilling, and snow remains to melt in the higher elevations. Normal conditions also returned to most of southwestern Arizona to the Salton Sea in southeastern California. The rest of the region in Southern California is still abnormally dry due to very dry previous years. Reservoirs in San Diego County are only at 65% capacity. Big Bear Lake was down 18 feet in early March, although expected to continue to rise.”
My hope is that this leads to a less severe and dangerous wildfire season and, ultimately, less to zero deaths of heavy equipment operators who bravely fight those fires.
