Feb. 14, 2020 – Autumn 2019 was record dry across parts of northern California. Despite an early December reprieve (especially in southern California), conditions have increasingly become increasingly dry across most of the state since that time. Parts of California have now gone 3-4 consecutive weeks without any meaningful precipitation during what is typically the wettest month of the year. As a result, increasingly wide swaths of the state have fallen well below typical seasonal precipitation accumulations–many locations in the northern half of the state are running below 50% of the Oct 1-Feb 12 average. Recent record warmth in some areas has compounded this dryness, further reducing Sierra Nevada snowpack and even allowing regional vegetation to support a (low) level of potential wildfire activity.
Unfortunately, there’s very little (if any) relief on the horizon over the next 10+ days. The next 7 days may feature completely dry conditions across 85% or more of California; the following week may feature a chance of showers in some spots, but will very likely be mostly dry in most places. That will bring us to the end of February without any widespread significant precipitation–meaning that existing precipitation and snowpack deficits will continue to grow.
Read the full story on Daniel’s Weather West blog.