Pacific Northwest
Washington State
January 9, 2016
| The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. |
As many of the readers know, the West as well as other parts of the world has experienced significant drought this past few years and particularly this past year. Washington State and the Pacific Northwest were no exception. Its usual watershed, the mountain snow-pack, was at a long time low over the past summer. This low reserve was not from lack of precipitation per se which was close to normal State wide. Rather, it was due to warmer temperatures such that much of the winter precipitation fell as rain which in turn melted what snow was there.
Many people are ascribing these warmer temperatures and the resultant drought to the early effects of climate change. But, is this so? Was this lack of significant snow pack that typically fills our reservoirs and rivers due to climate change and global warming? This diary takes a look at the drought and its possible causes.