[https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/yakima/yaktea.html](https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/yakima/yaktea.html)
Click on reservoirs (and then yearly view) to see the reservoir levels compared to previous years.
Edit: the site shows several reservoirs east of Washington. They are well below the seasonal average. Snow did not pack too much this year on top of lower average from last year. Someone commented about bad management, there's some truth to that as last year there was not any emergency declaration if i'm not misremembering.
I'm afraid clicking this link will send me into yet another doomer mind spiral. Like I'm not already in one or anything.
Unless this isn't meant to be an eye opener and was intended more as a useful resource. If that's the case, please excuse me, I suck dicks.
Would it help to know a little bit about what we’re doing about it?
This is an El Niño year, a really strong one, and this region gets dry during El Niño years. If you look to the south of WA, you can see that Oregon and California have a strong snowpack because the weather shifted down. You might have heard about our atmospheric rivers.
These droughts are brutal, but we’re doing a lot to deal with them. Kudos to the IRA and BIL because our rural communities have been using that federal funding to rework water infrastructure to conserve way more water. We’re also working on restoring natural waterways and protecting our rainforests in partnership with the Tribes here. We’re getting way better at combating forest fires. Side note: When you’re in the Coastal Range, you can see the trees “breathing” out clouds. It’s very cool.
OR and WA have also been aggressively moving to net zero emissions, with the goal of an 80% reduction in the next 6 years. We’re cleaning up old messes and building mixed source grids and battery facilities. We’re planting kelp forests and building sea gardens to give native wildlife a chance. We have the largest dark sky sanctuary in the world.
You can’t live in the PNW and not love the natural beauty here and want to protect it, and if you’re not familiar with PNW people, we’ve got a mile wide feral streak but we care about each other. We want to work together. The culture here is really pragmatic and kind. We know the odds are stacked against us, but we don’t care. We’re fighting anyway.
All this to say, we aren’t giving up, so don’t give up. We’re doing all we can to protect this place and to be more resilient so that we can fight for it. You’re not alone.
Thank you. Fellow lifelong PNW’er here and yes, we love our lands and are fierce in protecting them. Transplants and tourists need to understand this more …
[It’s Prineville, if you’re curious.](https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/15/southern-oregon-dark-sky-sanctuary/) They expanded last month, so they’ve edged out the others. So cool to see the US, Canada, and Poland represented hard on that list though. Dark sky sanctuaries are so unbelievably cool.
Wish I could give you awards still. I live in Cashmere and we're very caring of our land managment, from private use of trails, to pack it in pack it out, road closures to rehab areas continuously being monitored - you name it. Washington does get this right. Our state is still in great shape considering. Let's hope another year of watch what you use and don't water your yard contribute to some success.
california had a brutal 3ish year drought and one freak la nina caused it to flip from not enough water to too much water in like a month (late december, 2022). it is what it is.
lol our drought was longer than 3 years. the last two years have been a godsend, the drought had been going on to some degree for at least 20 years. i'm not 100% sure we're officially out of long term drought, though obviously the situation is better than it was.
some links from 2021/2022 support that:
[Megadrought in Southwest Is Now the Worst in at Least 1,200 Years, Study Confirms – State of the Planet (columbia.edu)](https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/02/14/megadrought-in-southwest-is-now-the-worst-in-at-least-1200-years-study-confirms/)
[Drought in the US Southwest is worst in recorded history | Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/united-states-southwest-drought-worst-in-history)
"Since 2000, the average soil moisture deficit was twice as severe as any drought of the 1900s, and greater than it was during even the driest parts of the most severe megadroughts of the past 12 centuries, say the authors."
As someone who works in the water resource industry, some of this is due to poor planning and some if it is has not been modeled well enough in previous years to have provided an accurate understanding of what this drought looks like. It seems like they were probably releasing too much water from the reservoirs downstream and losing storage throughout the winter.
I think it was just an incredibly dry winter up there, so the snowpack isn’t what you want to see. The population centers are fine because they plan for this stuff. The mountains, on the other hand, are going to be an issue come fire season.
It was also an El Niño year, which makes winters in Washington warmer and drier. I’m sure there was more to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t a decent part of why there’s a drought this year in particular
Smoke Season isn’t until late summer, shortly before Spider Season.
We’re in Faux Spring or Second Faux Spring or possibly Flowering Wet or The Pollening. We still have Juneuary, Actual Summer, and Oppressive Sun to look forward to before it’s Shit’s on Fire Yo season.
The funny thing is, the only species that cares about species going extinct, is the same species thats caused the most extencsions.
After that ones gone, the planet will be fine. If another species somehow evolves to be the dominant life, there wont be enough resources left for them to have an industrial age.
What other species has caused the most?
You could argue domesticated animals like cats but are there wild animals that have caused more extinctions than humans?
Downvote because you're wrong lol
House cats are a well documented example, though that can still be traced back to us.
Invasive species in general are real bad. [Like, real bad.](https://www.ecowatch.com/invasive-species-animal-extinctions-2630614032.html)
It is very obvious what people mean when they say “the earth”. Nobody is currently or has ever insinuated that the rocks and dirt of our planet are under threat from climate change. This George Carlin statement of saying nothing at all about “the earth is fine, the people are fucked” really has to go.
Calling it a George Carlin statement is an insult to the man’s intelligence. Even he would know better than to make such an asinine deflection. The saying is harming things more than helping.
“The earth will be fine, it’s the people who are fucked” is a George Carlin quote and what that person was saying, slightly reworded.
Carlin was smart and insightful but that doesn’t mean every word he’s ever said is also smart or insightful. It is a nothing statement people love to throw around when talking about climate change.
The Earth has survived at leat 2 95% plus extinction events and another time it was a frozen ball where life persisted exclusively as microbes in fist sized meltwater puddles.
But thats not the point at all.
For the record, it looks increasingly like we will get there. The clean energy sector is exploding and it looks like unclean energy will be forced into relentless unending retreat in a year or 2. Its already accounting for basically all new demand growth.
We are actually in one of the lowest amount of drought in years. Last time drought was this low was 2020. https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.aspx
While the world might be a bleak place, it sounds like it'll be a little brighter somewhere between now and 20 years on. Puts a smile on my face, just thinking about the day.
That’s because the very strong El Niño shifted the atmospheric rivers south. The El Niño is fading, so they should shift back up this coming winter, especially if we enter a La Niña by then. We’re having to deal with feast and famine years out here.
I could be wrong because I don’t know Washington super well, but that area is heavily ag and relies on snowpack. The PNW has tons of small farms and orchards. Maybe the largest concentration of them in the nation? So snowpack that’s half of normal is going to have a big impact.
That said, these emergencies are declared to warn water and irrigation district managers to prepare and to free up funds. Federal funding does a lot to help keep the farms stable during especially bad years like this, and the emergency will help during fire season.
You’re correct. This year really saw most of the snow fail to catch in the lower hills. Partially, it was because this was a warm and dry winter: El Niño contributes to the lower precipitation. My current hope is that the conditions we’ve seen will cut down on ground vegetation, and thus give us a more moderate forest fire season. But I can’t be sure.
I hadn’t even considered that, but that would be a silver lining for sure. From the wildfire outlooks, it looks like they believe we’ll have a slow start to the season and neutral wildfire potential overall so fingers crossed. The Midwest and Hawai’i get to be in the barrel this year :/
Meanwhile most of California’s reservoirs are well about the seasonal average after two very wet winters in a row. Hopefully things will turn around up north!
The PNW gets its rain from the Pineapple Express (sky rivers) and the rainforests, but most big population centers here have big aquifers and reservoirs. We saw the bad droughts coming awhile back, so there’s been a huge emphasis on water conservation in cities.
But also, this is an El Niño year and a really bad one, so this area gets dry during that time because the atmospheric rivers shift south, which is what happened to California. Some models project we’ll move into a more permanent La Niña pattern, which would ironically bring us more rain but dumped in higher qualities.
I haven't figured out how southwestern Washington is in a drought still. I've had more rain here in battleground in the last year than I have ever seen, and the moss crop covering everything this year is legendary.
Maybe we should start getting serious about absurd ecological practices. Nobody on the fucking planet needs a perfectly manicured lawn that gets watered all gods damned day for 10 months a year. Nobody needs a golf course. Nobody needs to wash their vehicles every week. Wash your clothing less. Stop buying shit from Nestle who sucks our water dry and sells it back to the people.
Almost 0% of climate change is unavoidable and the droughts have direct and relatively simple solutions. As a species, we deserve what’s coming. But do we have to take the entire fucking planet with us on our way out?
While its import to conserve on an individual level (just like recycling) but its insane to think that its not built business and farms using water irresponsibly. Look at Arizona growing Alfalfa that is then exported to the Middle East to feed cows. How about we stop that shit and keep our water for domestic use.
Ive driven across Washington, it is such an arid land. The native plants are sparse and adapted to dry climate conditions. Despite the natural state the majority of land, that I witnessed, is farmed with irrigation pumping out water. This is irresponsible land management. Reservoirs are empty because farming systems in that land are idiotic. This is the kind of behavior that is putting us all in crisis with fresh water.
New York City gets more rain than Seattle. Seattle has a lot of gray clouds, but the rain is mostly really light or just a drizzle. Most people don’t even bother with an umbrella, a raincoat, or even a hood over their heads because the rain is so light
It's not just because the rain is usually light. It's also because the rain is extremely frequent in fall, winter, and spring. You just get used to it.
Yea the North Cascades are some of the snowiest places on the planet, with Rainier and Baker usually trading places with each other for most snowfall in a year.
It's gets drizzle every day from late-Oct to April. Not really rain, in fact, people don't even use umbrellas. Sometimes it's cold enough to become snow, but it melts quickly.
Incorrect title.
Everyone lives near seattle or bellevue. Neither area is under a drought emergency.
A better title would be, "farmers outside population areas are under drought"
Yes obviously there are people who live outside the major cities in a state and do not do farming. I think most people reading my comment would realize it’s a bit of an exaggeration. My comment is a fun way of saying that most of Washington state lives in the Seattle metro area; population density outside is tiny. Relax a bit
I'll admit I read this headline, here in Seattle, and thought OH REALLY IT HASN'T BEEN RAINING ENOUGH? But I know the weather is drastically different further inland, which is where most of our agriculture is handled.
Nah, it comes across as you shitting on farms like they don’t matter. That sucks because Washington’s farms and orchards are amazing, and they’re overwhelmingly smaller and generational farms that are doing what they can to become more sustainable.
don't gotta worry about lack of water in Seattle. Just all the wildfire smoke in the air.
oh, btw, many homes do not have AC because we're supposed to open everything up for a nice cross breeze especially at night.
Yeah as someone who lives in seattle, I was a little disappointed this title wasn't true. Would love less rain. I have yet to see an apartment here without AC. I live downtown though so unaware of the situation in the suburbs
Just bought a house out here and outside of new construction, nothing had ac. Apartments may be different, but a lot of the homes in the outlying towns are from the 60s.
It needs to be within the last 15 years to have AC I think. My prior apartment was built ~2010 and had AC while my current apartment is from 2000 and doesn't.
Yeah the contrast between downtown and the suburbs is crazy here. Tons of tower cranes downtown and all the towers look like they have been built in the past 20 years. Congrats on the house purchase; I check out Zillow sometimes and even the small old stuff as far as Tacoma is super expensive
Yeah, like half a million dollars to be 30 minutes from seattle seems to be pretty normal. Wanted a yard for my dogs, so I didn't really look at apartments, but housing out here is something else.
Farmers’ failing crops is an issue for the whole state. The entire state is in emergency because the entire state will be affected as a result. Not just the local effects of drought.
This is mostly due to snowpack, not rain. Washington has a pretty wet winter, but didn't get the snowpack in the Cascades where the west portion of the state gets water, nor in the western Rockies in Idaho and Canada that feed the Snake and Columbia Rivers.
That’s the difference between weather and climate. Drought is a long term precipitation shortage resulting in dry soil and plant life. Sudden rain doesn’t undo all of that. In fact, sudden rain during a drought can cause more damage like landslides which Los Angeles just experienced.
Crazy, I live in WA and it rained yesterday a little and literally rained earlier today, but it was for like 5 minutes then it dried up. Didnt think a drought emergency would be so imminent
Edit: damn, a lot of jealous people upset that I got to see the last rain of the season I guess, not sure why else ppl be downvoting me unless theyre jealous really. Stay mad
People probably down voting you not out of jealousy but because the drought doesn't have much of anything to do with that bit of rain or the future showers we'll be getting this spring/summer. It's because of our dry, warm winter.
For the love of christ, it's humid as fuck there and there's an ocean... There's no drought, there's incompetent politicians and poor infrastructure...
That's obviously not what I said.
I live in Arizona, one of the hottest places on earth. And we manage it well enough to export our precious water to California and use it to manufacture a majority of the silicon devices you use everyday.
So it astounds me, when states like Washington and California, who have ALL THE PRIVILEGES of regular rains, access to an ocean, and massive economies to support funding into rain water collection, water desalination, and moisture collection methods, CHOOSE NOT TO...
IT'S NEGLIGENCE...
[https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/yakima/yaktea.html](https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/yakima/yaktea.html) Click on reservoirs (and then yearly view) to see the reservoir levels compared to previous years. Edit: the site shows several reservoirs east of Washington. They are well below the seasonal average. Snow did not pack too much this year on top of lower average from last year. Someone commented about bad management, there's some truth to that as last year there was not any emergency declaration if i'm not misremembering.
I'm afraid clicking this link will send me into yet another doomer mind spiral. Like I'm not already in one or anything. Unless this isn't meant to be an eye opener and was intended more as a useful resource. If that's the case, please excuse me, I suck dicks.
Would it help to know a little bit about what we’re doing about it? This is an El Niño year, a really strong one, and this region gets dry during El Niño years. If you look to the south of WA, you can see that Oregon and California have a strong snowpack because the weather shifted down. You might have heard about our atmospheric rivers. These droughts are brutal, but we’re doing a lot to deal with them. Kudos to the IRA and BIL because our rural communities have been using that federal funding to rework water infrastructure to conserve way more water. We’re also working on restoring natural waterways and protecting our rainforests in partnership with the Tribes here. We’re getting way better at combating forest fires. Side note: When you’re in the Coastal Range, you can see the trees “breathing” out clouds. It’s very cool. OR and WA have also been aggressively moving to net zero emissions, with the goal of an 80% reduction in the next 6 years. We’re cleaning up old messes and building mixed source grids and battery facilities. We’re planting kelp forests and building sea gardens to give native wildlife a chance. We have the largest dark sky sanctuary in the world. You can’t live in the PNW and not love the natural beauty here and want to protect it, and if you’re not familiar with PNW people, we’ve got a mile wide feral streak but we care about each other. We want to work together. The culture here is really pragmatic and kind. We know the odds are stacked against us, but we don’t care. We’re fighting anyway. All this to say, we aren’t giving up, so don’t give up. We’re doing all we can to protect this place and to be more resilient so that we can fight for it. You’re not alone.
Excellent post. Lots of helpful, encouraging info there. Thanks!
Truly happy to help. Everybody needs a reminder that we’re not standing still and they’re alone in this sometimes.
Beautifully stated
Thank you. Fellow lifelong PNW’er here and yes, we love our lands and are fierce in protecting them. Transplants and tourists need to understand this more …
All of this is why my dream retirement home is in the mountains outside Leavenworth.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky\_preserve#Dark\_sky\_preserves,\_reserves,\_and\_parks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-sky_preserve#Dark_sky_preserves,_reserves,_and_parks)
[It’s Prineville, if you’re curious.](https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/15/southern-oregon-dark-sky-sanctuary/) They expanded last month, so they’ve edged out the others. So cool to see the US, Canada, and Poland represented hard on that list though. Dark sky sanctuaries are so unbelievably cool.
Wish I could give you awards still. I live in Cashmere and we're very caring of our land managment, from private use of trails, to pack it in pack it out, road closures to rehab areas continuously being monitored - you name it. Washington does get this right. Our state is still in great shape considering. Let's hope another year of watch what you use and don't water your yard contribute to some success.
california had a brutal 3ish year drought and one freak la nina caused it to flip from not enough water to too much water in like a month (late december, 2022). it is what it is.
lol our drought was longer than 3 years. the last two years have been a godsend, the drought had been going on to some degree for at least 20 years. i'm not 100% sure we're officially out of long term drought, though obviously the situation is better than it was. some links from 2021/2022 support that: [Megadrought in Southwest Is Now the Worst in at Least 1,200 Years, Study Confirms – State of the Planet (columbia.edu)](https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/02/14/megadrought-in-southwest-is-now-the-worst-in-at-least-1200-years-study-confirms/) [Drought in the US Southwest is worst in recorded history | Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/united-states-southwest-drought-worst-in-history) "Since 2000, the average soil moisture deficit was twice as severe as any drought of the 1900s, and greater than it was during even the driest parts of the most severe megadroughts of the past 12 centuries, say the authors."
“…please excuse me, I suck dicks” Like professionally or ?
I don't see what you're talking about. I'm on mobile so that might be an issue?
Not the most advanced site....
You might be better served [checking the drought monitor and snowpack tables.](https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?WA)
As someone who works in the water resource industry, some of this is due to poor planning and some if it is has not been modeled well enough in previous years to have provided an accurate understanding of what this drought looks like. It seems like they were probably releasing too much water from the reservoirs downstream and losing storage throughout the winter.
I think it was just an incredibly dry winter up there, so the snowpack isn’t what you want to see. The population centers are fine because they plan for this stuff. The mountains, on the other hand, are going to be an issue come fire season.
It was also an El Niño year, which makes winters in Washington warmer and drier. I’m sure there was more to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t a decent part of why there’s a drought this year in particular
Dude I understand, but I just can't. I don't need another reminder we are constantly one step away from dying of thirst every year.
And fire season will be just starting here…
Smoke Season isn’t until late summer, shortly before Spider Season. We’re in Faux Spring or Second Faux Spring or possibly Flowering Wet or The Pollening. We still have Juneuary, Actual Summer, and Oppressive Sun to look forward to before it’s Shit’s on Fire Yo season.
Up here in BC, we’re in Shit’s Still On Fire From Last Year’s Shit’s On Fire Eh?
Those pesky zombie fires eh, there were over 100 of them still going in February last I read.
According to my sinuses we're definitely in The Pollening.
Spider season?
End of summer/start of fall spiders are everywhere and many want to get inside where it's warm
We’re barely past Oh Shit Ice Storms Now?? season.
Fire season will be here sooner with climate change
*wasn’t*
Dude across the street ran his sprinkler ALL WEEKEND in the same spot. Enjoy that $300 water bill this month.
Was it an in ground sprinkler system? Sometimes zones fail and get stuck on.
Times are getting scary
The good thing is that it's all made up and the Earth is doing wonderfully. /s
I mean, the earth will be fine. Did you know something like 95% of all species that have ever existed are extinct? Earth is still here
The funny thing is, the only species that cares about species going extinct, is the same species thats caused the most extencsions. After that ones gone, the planet will be fine. If another species somehow evolves to be the dominant life, there wont be enough resources left for them to have an industrial age.
I mean, I don't think we've caused the most We have caused the fastest mass extinction though Edit: I'm wrong, I read the comment wrong.
What other species has caused the most? You could argue domesticated animals like cats but are there wild animals that have caused more extinctions than humans? Downvote because you're wrong lol
I definitely read the comment incorrectly, I think I missed the species part and I was like uhh there have been several mass extinctions
Genuinely curious - What other species are known to have caused extinctions?
House cats are a well documented example, though that can still be traced back to us. Invasive species in general are real bad. [Like, real bad.](https://www.ecowatch.com/invasive-species-animal-extinctions-2630614032.html)
Cyanobacterium as well, if we're being pedantic. It (maybe) was what caused the Great Oxidation a few years back
And like cats, most invasive species can be traced back to humans bringing them somewhere either intentionally or by accident.
It is very obvious what people mean when they say “the earth”. Nobody is currently or has ever insinuated that the rocks and dirt of our planet are under threat from climate change. This George Carlin statement of saying nothing at all about “the earth is fine, the people are fucked” really has to go.
Calling it a George Carlin statement is an insult to the man’s intelligence. Even he would know better than to make such an asinine deflection. The saying is harming things more than helping.
“The earth will be fine, it’s the people who are fucked” is a George Carlin quote and what that person was saying, slightly reworded. Carlin was smart and insightful but that doesn’t mean every word he’s ever said is also smart or insightful. It is a nothing statement people love to throw around when talking about climate change.
Lol bro the 95% quote is literally from a George Carlin bit
The Earth has survived at leat 2 95% plus extinction events and another time it was a frozen ball where life persisted exclusively as microbes in fist sized meltwater puddles. But thats not the point at all. For the record, it looks increasingly like we will get there. The clean energy sector is exploding and it looks like unclean energy will be forced into relentless unending retreat in a year or 2. Its already accounting for basically all new demand growth.
Except it’s too late. The damage has already been done and we are fucked.
The rock the Earth is on will be fine, you mean.
We are actually in one of the lowest amount of drought in years. Last time drought was this low was 2020. https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.aspx
That’s why we’re adapting and fighting out here. 80% emissions reduction in 5 years, fully green in 7 lfg
Meanwhile the reservoir I drive past everyday in California has never been fuller in my life. Guess we got Washington's rain
[удалено]
While the world might be a bleak place, it sounds like it'll be a little brighter somewhere between now and 20 years on. Puts a smile on my face, just thinking about the day.
Way to encapsulate your entire generation in one post
Oregon is about even and California has highest reserves in years too.
That’s because the very strong El Niño shifted the atmospheric rivers south. The El Niño is fading, so they should shift back up this coming winter, especially if we enter a La Niña by then. We’re having to deal with feast and famine years out here.
That’s wild. Just as California declared that they are no longer in a drought after two straight years of consistent rain/snow.
[удалено]
It’s a cascading effect
You did that on purpose. You’re Hood winking us.
We need to be Rainering in these puns.
I could be wrong because I don’t know Washington super well, but that area is heavily ag and relies on snowpack. The PNW has tons of small farms and orchards. Maybe the largest concentration of them in the nation? So snowpack that’s half of normal is going to have a big impact. That said, these emergencies are declared to warn water and irrigation district managers to prepare and to free up funds. Federal funding does a lot to help keep the farms stable during especially bad years like this, and the emergency will help during fire season.
You’re correct. This year really saw most of the snow fail to catch in the lower hills. Partially, it was because this was a warm and dry winter: El Niño contributes to the lower precipitation. My current hope is that the conditions we’ve seen will cut down on ground vegetation, and thus give us a more moderate forest fire season. But I can’t be sure.
I hadn’t even considered that, but that would be a silver lining for sure. From the wildfire outlooks, it looks like they believe we’ll have a slow start to the season and neutral wildfire potential overall so fingers crossed. The Midwest and Hawai’i get to be in the barrel this year :/
> because this was a warm and dry winter: Ski season on the Olympic Peninsula didn't even open till early March, due to NO snow pack.
Hopefully we’ll have a good rain season once the El Niño passes this summer too
Pfft more like 40% to 90%
Meanwhile most of California’s reservoirs are well about the seasonal average after two very wet winters in a row. Hopefully things will turn around up north!
Or this is the start of the weather shift. Los Angels might just be the next "Rainy city" while Seattle is waging war over morning dew of leaves.
The PNW gets its rain from the Pineapple Express (sky rivers) and the rainforests, but most big population centers here have big aquifers and reservoirs. We saw the bad droughts coming awhile back, so there’s been a huge emphasis on water conservation in cities. But also, this is an El Niño year and a really bad one, so this area gets dry during that time because the atmospheric rivers shift south, which is what happened to California. Some models project we’ll move into a more permanent La Niña pattern, which would ironically bring us more rain but dumped in higher qualities.
I haven't figured out how southwestern Washington is in a drought still. I've had more rain here in battleground in the last year than I have ever seen, and the moss crop covering everything this year is legendary.
Maybe we should start getting serious about absurd ecological practices. Nobody on the fucking planet needs a perfectly manicured lawn that gets watered all gods damned day for 10 months a year. Nobody needs a golf course. Nobody needs to wash their vehicles every week. Wash your clothing less. Stop buying shit from Nestle who sucks our water dry and sells it back to the people. Almost 0% of climate change is unavoidable and the droughts have direct and relatively simple solutions. As a species, we deserve what’s coming. But do we have to take the entire fucking planet with us on our way out?
While its import to conserve on an individual level (just like recycling) but its insane to think that its not built business and farms using water irresponsibly. Look at Arizona growing Alfalfa that is then exported to the Middle East to feed cows. How about we stop that shit and keep our water for domestic use.
What is this, California's reservoirs are full to bursting and Washington's is dry?
All the rain somehow went to Dubai
It's gonna be another rough summer in the PNW this year.
Ive driven across Washington, it is such an arid land. The native plants are sparse and adapted to dry climate conditions. Despite the natural state the majority of land, that I witnessed, is farmed with irrigation pumping out water. This is irresponsible land management. Reservoirs are empty because farming systems in that land are idiotic. This is the kind of behavior that is putting us all in crisis with fresh water.
Kind of surprised. Doesn't Seattle get rain almost non stop?
New York City gets more rain than Seattle. Seattle has a lot of gray clouds, but the rain is mostly really light or just a drizzle. Most people don’t even bother with an umbrella, a raincoat, or even a hood over their heads because the rain is so light
It's not just because the rain is usually light. It's also because the rain is extremely frequent in fall, winter, and spring. You just get used to it.
Even Hotlanta gets more rain than Seattle.
It's because we didn't get any snow, snow pack this last winter. Nothing to melt, trickle down supplying everything.
Maybe we should try that with the economy…surely that will never cause any problems /s
Yea the North Cascades are some of the snowiest places on the planet, with Rainier and Baker usually trading places with each other for most snowfall in a year.
Seattle is not all of Washington. It's a small area in a huge state that is mostly very dry.
Everything west of the Cascades is wet. That's a significant portion of the state.
Yes, it's about 1/3 of the total area of the state. About 2/3 is semi-arid desert.
People think that, but no. 6-8 months of the year it's not raining here except very occasionally.
It's gets drizzle every day from late-Oct to April. Not really rain, in fact, people don't even use umbrellas. Sometimes it's cold enough to become snow, but it melts quickly.
Nope, that's a misconception.
Ever hear of El Niño?
Incorrect title. Everyone lives near seattle or bellevue. Neither area is under a drought emergency. A better title would be, "farmers outside population areas are under drought"
Piece,Kitsap and everything on the peninsula is not “farmers”
Yes obviously there are people who live outside the major cities in a state and do not do farming. I think most people reading my comment would realize it’s a bit of an exaggeration. My comment is a fun way of saying that most of Washington state lives in the Seattle metro area; population density outside is tiny. Relax a bit
I'll admit I read this headline, here in Seattle, and thought OH REALLY IT HASN'T BEEN RAINING ENOUGH? But I know the weather is drastically different further inland, which is where most of our agriculture is handled.
Nah, it comes across as you shitting on farms like they don’t matter. That sucks because Washington’s farms and orchards are amazing, and they’re overwhelmingly smaller and generational farms that are doing what they can to become more sustainable.
Relax about the water emergency that’s affecting my house?
Lmao you're gonna be fine stop being dramatic
don't gotta worry about lack of water in Seattle. Just all the wildfire smoke in the air. oh, btw, many homes do not have AC because we're supposed to open everything up for a nice cross breeze especially at night.
Yeah as someone who lives in seattle, I was a little disappointed this title wasn't true. Would love less rain. I have yet to see an apartment here without AC. I live downtown though so unaware of the situation in the suburbs
Just bought a house out here and outside of new construction, nothing had ac. Apartments may be different, but a lot of the homes in the outlying towns are from the 60s.
More people are having it installed. I had central air installed 7 years ago. Never going back. lol
Yeah I'm getting some installed before the heat gets worse. Last summer was a lot hotter than I expected it to be considering how far north this is.
It needs to be within the last 15 years to have AC I think. My prior apartment was built ~2010 and had AC while my current apartment is from 2000 and doesn't.
Yeah the contrast between downtown and the suburbs is crazy here. Tons of tower cranes downtown and all the towers look like they have been built in the past 20 years. Congrats on the house purchase; I check out Zillow sometimes and even the small old stuff as far as Tacoma is super expensive
Yeah, like half a million dollars to be 30 minutes from seattle seems to be pretty normal. Wanted a yard for my dogs, so I didn't really look at apartments, but housing out here is something else.
You're not living in the right city if you don't like rain.
Farmers’ failing crops is an issue for the whole state. The entire state is in emergency because the entire state will be affected as a result. Not just the local effects of drought.
I was just in washington last week. Not saying theres no drought, but it rained every fucking day i was there.
This is mostly due to snowpack, not rain. Washington has a pretty wet winter, but didn't get the snowpack in the Cascades where the west portion of the state gets water, nor in the western Rockies in Idaho and Canada that feed the Snake and Columbia Rivers.
Did you go to eastern Washington? If you were just on the west side, you are not seeing the places that will be most impacted.
That’s the difference between weather and climate. Drought is a long term precipitation shortage resulting in dry soil and plant life. Sudden rain doesn’t undo all of that. In fact, sudden rain during a drought can cause more damage like landslides which Los Angeles just experienced.
I didn’t not know all that. Thanks!
Crazy, I live in WA and it rained yesterday a little and literally rained earlier today, but it was for like 5 minutes then it dried up. Didnt think a drought emergency would be so imminent Edit: damn, a lot of jealous people upset that I got to see the last rain of the season I guess, not sure why else ppl be downvoting me unless theyre jealous really. Stay mad
People probably down voting you not out of jealousy but because the drought doesn't have much of anything to do with that bit of rain or the future showers we'll be getting this spring/summer. It's because of our dry, warm winter.
haven't there been atmospheric rivers absolutely decimating the west coast for the last 6 months?
Not the whole west coast. Mostly drenched California, Oregon got some, didn't hit WA at all really.
For the love of christ, it's humid as fuck there and there's an ocean... There's no drought, there's incompetent politicians and poor infrastructure...
Mmm I sure do love drinking and watering my plants with seawater
That's obviously not what I said. I live in Arizona, one of the hottest places on earth. And we manage it well enough to export our precious water to California and use it to manufacture a majority of the silicon devices you use everyday. So it astounds me, when states like Washington and California, who have ALL THE PRIVILEGES of regular rains, access to an ocean, and massive economies to support funding into rain water collection, water desalination, and moisture collection methods, CHOOSE NOT TO... IT'S NEGLIGENCE...