DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 735 AM PDT MON AUG 4 2008 ...DRY WEATHER TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR... SYNOPSIS...ON JUNE 4TH...CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER PROCLAIMED A STATEWIDE DROUGHT. ON JUNE 12TH...A STATE OF EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION DUE TO DROUGHT WAS MADE FOR MERCED...MADERA...KINGS... FRESNO...TULARE AND KERN COUNTIES. THE U.S DROUGHT MONITOR IS INDICATING A SEVERE DROUGHT /CLASSIFICATION D2/ FOR KERN...KINGS... MERCED AND TULARE COUNTIES...AND THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND SIERRA FOOTHILL PORTIONS OF FRESNO...MADERA AND MARIPOSA COUNTIES. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...AGENCIES ARE BEGINNING TO FEEL SOME IMPACTS. KERN COUNTY IS UNDER A WATER EMERGENCY. FRESNO AND KINGS COUNTIES ARE UNDER LOCAL DECLARATIONS OF DROUGHT...AND ON JULY 29TH THE KINGS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS EXTENDED THE LOCAL DROUGHT DECLARATION. DRY TIMBER AND BRUSH HAVE INCREASED THE FIRE DANGER IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY RANGELAND LOSSES AS OF MID-JULY WERE... KERN COUNTY...9.8 MILLION DOLLARS MERCED COUNTY...7.4 MILLION DOLLARS TULARE COUNTY...3.3 MILLION DOLLARS MADERA COUNTY...1.7 MILLION DOLLARS FRESNO COUNTY...680 THOUSAND DOLLARS. CLIMATE SUMMARY...DESPITE THUNDERSTORMS THAT BROUGHT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL TO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS AND THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS IN MID-JULY AND RESULTED IN EPISODES OF FLASH FLOODING IN THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS...RAINFALL IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY WAS SPARSE TO NON- EXISTENT. FRESNO HAD A TOTAL OF 0.01 INCH OF RAIN FOR JULY... MATCHING ITS NORMAL FOR THE MONTH. BAKERSFIELD HAD NO RAIN FOR JULY...BUT ITS NORMAL FOR THE MONTH ALSO IS 0 INCHES. A THUNDERSTORM ON JULY 20TH DROPPED 0.03 INCH OF RAIN ON VISALIA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS AND THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS THROUGH WEDNESDAY...CONTINUING OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA THURSDAY. OTHERWISE...DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE COMING WEEK. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH FRIDAY...THEN COOL TO NEAR NORMAL FOR NEXT WEEKEND. THE CLIMATE PREDICTION OUTLOOK FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS IS INDICATING EQUAL CHANCES OF BELOW NORMAL...NORMAL...AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...FOLLOWING A VERY DRY 2006-2007 SEASON...THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RUNOFF VOLUME WAS RANKED AS CRITICALLY DRY. THE 2007-2008 FORECAST RUNOFF VOLUMES ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN CRITICALLY DRY. SNOWMELT RUNOFF ALONG THE RIVERS ABOVE THE MAJOR DAMS PEAKED DURING THE THIRD WEEK OF MAY AND WILL NOT BE SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH TO BRING SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN WATER LEVELS ON RIVERS BELOW THE RESERVOIRS THROUGH THE END OF SEPTEMBER. RESERVOIR STORAGE AS OF AUGUST 3RD RESERVOIR STORAGE PERCENT NAME ACRE-FEET CAPACITY EASTMAN LAKE 15915 11 HENSLEY LAKE 9683 11 HUNTINGTON LAKE 87594 98 LAKE ISABELLA 196364 35 LAKE KAWEAH 32416 18 LAKE SUCCESS 6960 9 MAMMOTH POOL RESERVOIR 70893 58 MC CLURE 379621 37 MILLERTON LAKE 211554 41 PINE FLAT RESERVOIR 174963 18 SAN LUIS RESERVOIR 410102 20 SHAVER LAKE 101165 74 WISHON RESERVOIR 50178 39 NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...THE NEXT SCHEDULED PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED BY SEPTEMBER 4TH...OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. RELATED WEBSITES...
CALIFORNIA DATA EXCHANGE CENTER:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/
CALIFORNIA NEVADA RIVER FORECAST CENTER:
http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/
DROUGHT MONITOR:
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
CALIFORNIA DROUGHT PAGE:
http://watersupplyconditions.water.ca.gov/
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER:
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/index.php
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD:
http://www.weather.gov/hanford/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER DROUGHT MONITOR CALIFORNIA NEVADA RIVER FORECAST CENTER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES CALIFORNIA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION CAL FIRE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CALIFORNIA CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS...PLEASE REFER ALL QUESTIONS TO W-HNX.webmaster@noaa.gov SANGER WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD