An analysis of blue oak tree rings in the state's Central Valley has led scientists to "astonishing" results.
Scientists have compared their measurements of tree-ring data to previous Sierra Nevada snowpack level recordings that have been recorded since the 1930's and found that oak trees' growth seem to accurately reflect the lowest snowpack seasons.
"We combined an extensive compilation of blue oak tree-ring series that reflects large-scale California winter precipitation anomalies with a California February-March temperature reconstruction in a reconstruction that explains 63 percent of the Sierra Nevada snow water equivalent variance over the instrumental period," the scientists wrote.
Paleoclimate records show 2015 Sierra Nevada snowpack is unprecedented: http://t.co/we1XK0PP1Z pic.twitter.com/9n9BIScMxxโ NOAA NCEI Climate (@NOAANCEIclimate) September 14, 2015
The answer lies in the rings of Blue oaks that show high winter rain levels with wide bands in the rings, while low levels result in narrow bands.
It became clear after analysis of the new core samples and those taken in previous years that 2015 had the lowest snowpack levels in 500 years.
"The results were astonishing," Valerie Trouet, an associate professor at the University of Arizona, a senior author for the study, told the Wall Street Journal. "We knew it was an all-time low over a historical period, but to see this as a low for the last 500 years, we didn't expect that. There's very little doubt about it."
The study was prompted by this April's measurements of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. State officials announced they had found "no snow whatsoever," for the first time in 75 years. The snow water equivalent (SWE) stayed "at only five percent of its historical average," the team of researchers said in a statement.
"In the Mediterranean climate of California, with 80 percent of precipitation occurring during winter months, Sierra Nevada snowpack plays a critical role in the state's water reservoir and provides 30 percent of its water supplies," the paper's introduction reads.
The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has hit a 500-year low. Here it is in 2010 and 2015 http://t.co/vwGIRLdjJO pic.twitter.com/5XgfFXzO0Vโ New Scientist (@newscientist) September 14, 2015
This year's low snowpack has also coincided with "record-high" January-March temperatures in California. This, scientists warned, can impact "human and natural systems," including urban and agricultural water supplies and increase risk of wildfires.
California has been cutting water use since April, when the governor Jerry Brown (d) issued the state's first mandatory water restrictions. Cities and towns were ordered to reduce water usage by 25 percent over nine months hoping to save approximately 1, 5 million acre-feet of water.
This fire season alone, typically from May to January, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire protections, California has seen about a 1,000 more wildfires compared to last year. The three huge fires currently raging in the northern part of the state have prompted evacuation of thousands of people with a state of emergency declared in the region on Sunday. So far, 400 homes have been destroyed, along with two apartment complexes and 10 businesses.
Director of the governor's Office of Emergency Services Mark Ghilarducci has said this summer's fires are the worst that he has seen in 30 years of emergency response work.
The latest study echoes another piece of research by two climate scientists from the University of Minnesota and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who came to the same conclusion in December 2014. Using the same methodology - analysis of blue oak tree rings - they, however, estimated that the California drought has been the worst in 1,200 years.
"The record drought in California looks to have no end in the near future and will have long lasting repercussions."
Looks like SOTT has bought into the Globalist/ Agenda 21 propagandists' agenda, hook, line, and sinker. This past summer, California received RECORD rainfall, so much so that it caused flooding in Southern California in July. Today, September 15, 2015, Southern California is AGAIN receiving record rainfall for a single day - 2 1/2 inches by 5 a.m., and it's still raining!!!! Snowpack is only one part of the water supply for California - and even according to this article, only supplies 30% of the water needed by the State. 70% comes from WET WATER - also known as RAIN. And we are, and have been receiving, quite a bit of that wet stuff over the past several months.
However, because it doesn't suit the Globalist/ Agenda 21 agenda to admit that THIS IS NOT A VERY SEVERE DROUGHT AT ALL, they now don't even talk about the rainfall levels - which may reach a record HIGH level by the end of this calendar year. Now, they only want to talk about the snowpack, which was quite small this year. But again, snowpack, even according to this article, usually only accounts for 30% of the water needed by California for the year.
The political agenda? To state the BIG LIE, over and over and over, that California is experiencing a record drought. Why? So that the Agenda 21/ Globalists can legislatively TAKE AWAY ALL CALIFORNIANS' WATER RIGHTS. Once they have the water rights, they will, of course, quietyly sell them to their Oligarch friends - who will then have a monopoly over all California water. CALIFORNIA IS PRIME REAL ESTATE, AND THE GLOBALISTS WANT IT FOR THEMSELVES. There has already been talk of "forcibly removing/ evacuating" many or most Californians due to the "severe drought" that is NOT SEVERE AT ALL. They have just stopped reporting, in the mainstream media news, about all the rain that California has been receiving over the past few months.
Also, the Globalists are getting scared - this winter is predicted, by almost all truthful weather forecasters, to be an EXTREMELY WET WINTER, due to a record El Nino in the Pacific Ocean. So they have to beat thier drums hard right now, and tell the big lie about the California drought, over and over - to try to get their legislation passed before California floods this winter from all the El Nino rain that is predicted - and thier BIG LIE goes down the toilet.
Is SOTT part of the Globalist propagand machine? Starting to look like it is, with the posting of story after story about the "California Record Drought," and thier comments that support that BIG LIE. Either that, or they are asleep at the wheel.
By the way, I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA, and I know what's going on here with the drought, both politically, and physically (I know how much rain has been falling on my head, and in California cities and towns. This article is a LIE.