Bear Valley Springs Forestry Conservation Corps

03/14/2018

Recent precipitation has begun to reduce enormous seasonal deficit, but still long way to go In my last post, I mentioned that upcoming storms would (finally!) start to chip away at the huge seasonal precipitation deficit that has accumulated this year throughout California--but that this sto

03/01/2018

Last day of February, and it's been a depressing month. Minimal precipitation, even the "storm" of yesterday didn't deliver much. Hope that the next front brings us more rain/snow in Kern. We're in severe drought conditions again- we NEED a miracle March!

Long absent, cold temperatures finally return to California The 2017-2018 "rainy season" has been a pretty unusual one over much of California. The season to date has been nearly the driest on record to date over much of Southern California, and conditions have also become increasingly d

02/18/2018

California's record drought is officially over. But trees are still dying across the state because they were so badly weakened by years without water.

02/16/2018

Sorry about the late notice, but I just found out about this. Apparently, pine seedlings will be given away today - at noon, in fifteen minutes- at the end of the cul de sac of Medicine Bow Court. I was messaged that the forester Jeff Gletne was offering these trees. I don't have any other details. I would pick up a few if I were there!

02/06/2018

Here's another excellent article. I've suspected for several years now that the disproportionate warming of the arctic and reduction of the arctic ice is one of the primary factors responsible for the northward shift atmospheric rivers that previously supplied California with water in the winter.

Drought conditions are back on the Central Coast as a high-pressure ridge parked over California steers away much-needed storms, meteorologist John Lindsey says.

02/06/2018

I know it's the middle of winter, but I never stopped watering my trees this year. I was out there last weekend watering my Jeffrey pines. Kern county is back in "moderate drought" conditions as of February 1 as per US Drought Monitor. The ridiculously resilient ridge is back this year with a
vengeance. Pray for a March miracle, because there isn't a whole lot of hope for significant rainfall in February.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA

Summer in January; Sierra Nevada snowpack nears record low Despite the calendar, it sure hasn't felt much like the middle of winter across California in recent days. While well above average temperatures and below average precipitation have been widespread throughout the state, recent war

01/01/2018

Happy New Year?

Bone dry in Southern California, and below average precip throughout CA It has been an extraordinarily dry autumn and early winter across Southern California. Northern California had been faring better in the precipitation department so far this season, with near-average autumn rains in most

12/20/2017

KNOW YOUR ENEMIES.

12/18/2017

Here's something I think we all knew already; we're going to have a very dry winter. These odds were calculated through then end of November. Considering it's December 18 and there's no significant precipitation forecast for the entire month of December, I'd say the odds of a normal water year in Southern California are now less than 10%.
http://cw3e.ucsd.edu/odds-of-reaching-100-water-year-precipitation-dec-update/

12/13/2017

Please be careful out there! I'm always amazed by how many cigarette butts I see on the side of the road when walking around the neighborhood in BVS. Here's a link to a site that outlines how things are going from bad to worse in the last decade in California- and the world for that matter. Check out the link to see how human activities are permanently changing the forests of California.

California Increased Wildfire Risk | ClimateSignals.org http://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/california-increased-wildfire-risk

12/07/2017

David Swain is the "go to guy" for questions/theories about the anomalous weather patterns that have been afflicting California for nearly the last decade. He coined the phrase "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" which is a phenomenon that brought us the drought, and it unfortunately looks like it's back. I personally believe that this phenomenon is linked to the high arctic temperatures and the diminishing arctic sea ice....but we'll have to wait for more data to corroborate my belief.

A timely example: Persistent Western ridge, Eastern trough next 2+ weeks In the coming days, a remarkably persistent weather pattern will begin to develop across North America and adjacent ocean regions. Characterized by strong high pressure near the West Coast and low pressure over the Easte

12/04/2017

Doesn't bode well for Southern California. Again. No significant rainfall in October, November, and December looks equally bad. High pressure is parked over the Western United States for weeks to come. No rain will get through. Check out this site and use the arrows at the top to scroll into the future. If this modelling is accurate, the first 3 weeks of December there will not be any rainfall in Southern California. This pattern looks a lot like 2013-2015.

500mb Height & MSLP