131–140 of 280 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can grow almonds elsewhere, they are not needed for daily life
CA, apparently, grows almonds for the entire United States, and 80% of the world's almonds, too.
Is it economically important? For sure.
Is it critical for living? No.
As John Steinback said in East of Eden : “I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. The water came in a thirty-year cycle. There would be five or six wet and wonderful years when there might be nineteen to twenty-five inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of twelve to…
https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-23-311-advancing-precip...
Example of a recent $2.5M grant.
This information is often buried in budgets under applied research grants. I suspect they obscure this information because it could create liabilities, for example, if gov funded rain seeding creates flooding and human death are they partially responsible for this?
Previous CA resident anecdata, I remember droughts being a normal part of life in central CA 1990-early 2000s. Don't run sprinklers during certain hours, odd/even watering, "the water bill" exclaimations, etc. Like another commentor mentioned I don't anticipate this will last, but it's nice to see the "official" state change even if for a bit.
I recall rather absurd demands such as telling restaurants not to offer water (as if a glass of water makes any difference) and telling residents to skip showers.
Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...
Colorado is having a record low snow season. It's been tough for skiing.
*not literally. But still, crazy amount of snow this year so far
It’s important to note that rainfall in CA is not 100% natural. The state actively funds cloud seeding. https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-23-311-advancing-precip... Example of a recent $2.5M grant. This information is often buried in budgets under applied research grants. I suspect they obscure this information because it could create liabilities, for example, if gov funded rain seeding creates flooding and human…
It’s important to note that rainfall in CA is not 100% natural. The state actively funds cloud seeding. https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/gfo-23-311-advancing-precip... Example of a recent $2.5M grant. This information is often buried in budgets under applied research grants. I suspect they obscure this information because it could create liabilities, for example, if gov funded rain seeding creates flooding and human…
Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...
Unironically, wet / dry cycles isn't good news for California either. Research published in the aftermath of the fire examines how this extremely wet to extremely dry weather sequence is especially dangerous for wildfires in Southern California because heavy rainfall leads to high growth of grass and brush, which then becomes abundant fuel during periods of extreme dryness.
As John Steinback said in East of Eden : “I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. The water came in a thirty-year cycle. There would be five or six wet and wonderful years when there might be nineteen to twenty-five inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of twelve to…
how to be a novelist: use 10^n words when 10^(n-1) will do.
There's more to good prose than just conveying the bare nutrients, y'know?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sites Reservoir isn't going to do a damned thing for municipal water systems in most of the state. You have to remember that there is not such a thing as a statewide municipal water policy. Every city or region has its own thing going on. The Sites capacity is dedicated to its investors, so depending on where you live it could be a helpful resource, or it could be irrelevant.
Investors? It's publicly funded.