41–50 of 280 posts
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Greenland has fairly strong aurora. Maybe Trump triggered the solar radiation storm to show Americans what Greenland has that they don't. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...
I had a joke that hit well: "California is in a drought? Who would have thought it doesn't rain in a desert."
I've lived in California my whole life (and the same town for most of that). This was the most rain I can remember in decades and the most "destruction" I've seen caused by it. Between the ground being saturated and wind before/after/during the storms there were plenty of downed trees. We were also down to running sprinklers once a week (lawns are silly), but have had them off entirely for a bit now.
The statewide rain totals for the 2025-2026 water year so far rank 6th out of the years of the 21st century, so aren't that remarkable in context. Do you live in a place that got slapped with a peculiarly high rainfall?
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.
We got so much, we got "Lake San Fernando Valley" as the Sepulveda Dam did the job it was put up to do all those years ago and flooded. People had to move so fast (behind the dam is the a large park and recreation area, no homes were directly impacted) they abandoned their cars, and, later, divers with scuba gear were being arrested for looting them.
I had a joke that hit well: "California is in a drought? Who would have thought it doesn't rain in a desert."
Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...
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This is really cool but please don't attribute this to the success or failure of any politician. Remind us who it is you think is doing this? No one in the HN comments as of this writing. And what is a politician going to do about weather? One doesn’t make drought go away with policy.
The dams in california were built years ago for a smaller population and since then they've only removed them. If we simply built like the people who first came to california did we would never have water shortages again. Any water shortage is a 1:1 failure of the state to do the clear and obvious task needed.
Water policy isn't as simple as you might think. Dams aren't a magical fix, they cause a lot of issues (like crashing the salmon populations, etc.). They're expensive to build and maintain, and the water you store in a big reservoir doesn't magically stay in place - you lose a lot to evaporation and you lose a lot that ends up going into the groundwater system. A much bigger part of the problem is western water law,…
In the era of Trump/Republicans, I don't expect native issues to matter at all. "Drill baby drill" and all that.
So, actually, it is pretty simple if you're willing to finish the settler colonialist project that is our country.
And is the only state with no drought right now. Although they way they figure it is a bit biased -- it's based on how much water there is compared to historical values, so it's easier to be "drought free" if you've been in a drought for a while.
Yeah hey but for real. The news is focused on California droughts all the time, but my part of flyover country is very, very dry. Like ponds that have never been empty are dry, sort of thing. It's getting bad. . . And we grow all your food. Between this and all the political nonsense that's happening right now, I feel like a passenger that's noticed the car is out of control while the driver is still opening his beer…