2017 California/Southwest Weather Thread

[Dan the Weatherman]

Happy New Year everyone! Let's hope the New Year will bring us a positive change in the overall weather pattern so that we finally get beneficial rain and mountain snow statewide.

[Dan the Weatherman]

I truly am wondering if California is cursed but then I look at the positive departures in places like Alaska/ Arctic and soberly realize the extent of global warming. Looking back 4-5 years you see examples of extremely high temperatures occurring in winter/ spring: Jan 2014 average max: 76.3°, March 2015 aver max : 81.0, Feb 2016: 79.5°. Very warm and humid summers. And with the exception of last year's rain total, every year has experienced well below or barely normal rainfall since 2011. 

 

This winter's Baja ridge hasn't allowed any kind of moisture though some areas lucked out on monsoon showers [ie. Palm Springs] last summer. Pacific NW is relatively dry also but w/ at least intrusions of modified arctic air on occasion. I don't want extreme cold only because California agriculture is so important but it would be nice for some sub 40° minimums. Last minimums in the 30's were in Jan 2013 [3 nights in a row].

 

I have been saying this from time to time over on Weather West. That is, I am really beginning to believe that the industrialization of Asia, particularly China and India, during the last 20 years has led to insane amounts of emissions and pollution that is affecting the Arctic region, causing a lot of this recent warmth and ice melt. I know that there has been a slow warming trend in the past from emissions such as CO2 going back further, but it seems that the warming and melting has really accelerated starting in the late 1990's and especially the 2000's to the present. There has been a huge amount of manufacturing that has been outsourced from the United States and other Western countries since the 1990's and the timing of all this seems to correlate with the rapid warming. As a result of this manufacturing, there have been more coal plants built, and the amount of coal burning going on in Asia has skyrocketed in recent years, which is one of the main reasons the air quality has been so awful in the large metro areas of China and India.

 

The warming of the Arctic I feel has led to changes in our climate here in CA, and all this very warm and drier than normal weather in recent years I believe is a result of this in one way or another. This is all simply an opinion of mine, but the more I see things, the more compelling it is becoming to me.