Drought: Are We In or Out?
August 13 & 14
California’s history is written in great droughts.
As of December 2014, the ongoing California drought
has turned more serious. Entering our 4th year
of below-normal rainfall and snowpack,
California faces its most severe drought emergency in decades.
Governor Jerry Brown has called for Californians to voluntarily reduce water, and mandatory rationing could be ordered soon so that homes, businesses and farms don’t run dry.
And, of course, the wildfire danger is also unusually high.
How did we get into this drought?
In part, blame it on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or “PDO,”
a slowly oscillating pattern of sea surface temperatures
in the Pacific Ocean. At the moment, the PDO
might being ‘flipping’ out of its dry phase – a condition
historically linked to extreme high-pressure ridges
that block West Coast storms
and give the Midwest and East Coast punishing winters.
Did a much advertised El Nino give us drought relief?
How does drought impact the Southern California coastal marine environment? To find out how this story developed this winter,
what happened to this drought
and how we deal with future droughts,
attend this talk!
Speaker:
Dr. William Patzert, Climatologist, JPL
Location:
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015, 7pm
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
Also:
Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, 7pm
The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College
1570 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA