Drought in California, September 1 to 30, 2016

Name: Drought in California, September 1 to 30, 2016
Start: 2016-09-01T00:00
End: 2016-09-30T23:59
Location: California

September 1 to 30, 2016 · NWS HNX · 11 events in 11 counties and zones

The California drought continues during the month of September, 2016. Both Fresno and Bakersfield received no precipitation during the month.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 11

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.

The California drought continues during the month of September, 2016. Both Fresno and Bakersfield received no precipitation during the month. No precipitation and near normal temperatures we received this month did allow for increased evaporation rates and soil moisture to decrease.

The U.S. Drought Monitor continued to report exceptional drought conditions across the entire Central California region. This extent of exceptional drought is extremely unusual for California. The general trend of below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures has continued this year.

There continues to be significant media coverage on the on-going drought conditions. These reports include discussion of significant re-allocation of water resources from the east to west side of the San Joaquin Valley, farmers forgoing planting of some crops, loss or reduction of ground water, wells drying up in several communities leaving them with no water, and an unprecedented increase in fire danger across the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains. Also, communities in Central California interior face state mandated reductions in municipal water use.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 4:29 PM PST, 7 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 4:29 PM PST, 7 hours 31 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA
529 PM PDT WED AUG 31 2016

.SYNOPSIS...
Dry weather and a slight cool down over the central California
interior for the next several days.

&&

.DISCUSSION...Updated air quality section...
&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...Issued at 1:17 PM PDT...

DISCUSSION...
Other than a few clouds over the Sierra Nevada due to the fetch of
mid/upper-level moisture from this morning, skies remain clear
across the region. Temperatures have trended down a little as the
mid/upper-level trough of low pressure moves inland into
California. The marine layer along the coast has also deepened
once again, so some marine air is expected to filter through the
passes along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley at times and
allow for some reinforced cooling in the San Joaquin Valley. In
other locales, the trough will provide some synoptic cooling,
although expect breezy conditions at times, including during the
afternoon and evening periods through Sunday. Locally gusty winds
are possible each day in the mountain and desert areas, especially
in Kern County, with a more noticeable uptick by Friday and into
Labor Day weekend. However, wind gusts will likely remain below
advisory criteria, except for a few locales near the passes and
canyons.

Model consistency provides good confidence in the continued
development of the mid/upper level trough along the west coast
through the end of the week. Expect temperatures to continue to
run near to slightly below average for the next couple of days in
a southwest to west flow on the front side of this developing
trough. As the deepening trough moves inland by Friday, we will
see a fairly decent cooling trend, with temperatures dropping to
around 4-8 degrees below average during the Labor Day weekend.

After the holiday period, models begin to diverge a bit in the
details but generally weaken and lift out the trough through the
middle of next week. This will bring an upward trend in
temperatures, with more noticeable warming by Tuesday and next
Wednesday, but without a significant building ridge of high
pressure, highs are expected to only return to around average or
slightly above.

A dry weather pattern will continue, and precipitation is not
expected throughout the period, as there is no associated moisture
accompanying the passing troughs/impulses.

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR conditions will prevail over the central CA interior during the
next 24 hours.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
On Thursday September 1 2016... Unhealthy for sensitive groups in
Sequoia National Park and Forest.
Further information is available at Valleyair.org

&&

.CERTAINTY...

The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is high.
The level of certainty for days 3 through 7 is medium.

Certainty levels include low...medium...and high. Please visit
www.weather.gov/hnx/certainty.php for additional information
an/or to provide feedback.

&&

.HNX Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NONE.
&&

avn/fw...BSO
prev discussion...BSO
synopsis...WP

weather.gov/hanford