Silhouette
Gold Member
- Jul 15, 2013
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Below are my pet theories. I've included diagrams to help illustrate them. Note the area of highest drought hovers around exactly the area of suspect in the first diagram at "Region Affected" in the whitish overlay on red..the LA Aquaduct in that diagram is roughly located where the black line is indicating the area.
A solution would be to have the City of Los Angeles begin aggressive desalination using solar thermal means of heating/evaporating/distilling.
The draining of the natural water tables has had an effect on the microclimate of the High Sierra, a place where CA relies most heavily for its Central Valley irrigation during the long hot Summers there. Without that water, California is hosed, pardon the pun. The shrinking/disappearing highcountry glaciers that were lasting all through Summer slowly melting is the big problem. So it is a vicious cycle. LA's urban/residential use (not even for agriculture!) is sucking the more and more arid region East of the Sierras drier and drier via the Aquaduct. That area in turn is sucking more and more (or refusing to evaporate more and more water) from/to High Sierra's microclimate weather system & snowpack.
My theory is that the lack of evaporation and Summer storms from the old Owens Lake region is causing Pacific air flow and weather to more rapidly "skip" over the Sierra range, carrying a heavier payload to the Midwest while starving California's agriculture regions of rain and high snowmelt it used to get. No blockade of upward evaporation effect and the air rushes right on past to the East.
It's important to understand that this isn't just some temporary glitch in our nation's biggest money maker. This is a downward spiral. This glacial shrinking has been virtually uninterrupted since the 1950s...just about the time the LA Aquaduct's thirsty straw pushed that microclimate over a tipping point. "Save Mono Lake"... Everyone who has been to California has at one time or another seen that bumper sticker. Owen's Lake is long gone now. It's just an immense dry valley now where much water once stood. Vital water to snowpack 9-14,000 feet above.
It isn't an exaggeration to say that this issue affects the US's only hold left on world power: Food. A tremendous amount of our nation's food to trade is produced in California. Food for oil, food for favors, food for ...etc. etc. So this isn't just a California emergency and downward spiral. It's a national emergency and downward spiral.
**Please don't talk about how illegal aliens are causing the drought. They may be exacerbating it, but they are not causing it by themselves...ridiculous..!
A solution would be to have the City of Los Angeles begin aggressive desalination using solar thermal means of heating/evaporating/distilling.
The draining of the natural water tables has had an effect on the microclimate of the High Sierra, a place where CA relies most heavily for its Central Valley irrigation during the long hot Summers there. Without that water, California is hosed, pardon the pun. The shrinking/disappearing highcountry glaciers that were lasting all through Summer slowly melting is the big problem. So it is a vicious cycle. LA's urban/residential use (not even for agriculture!) is sucking the more and more arid region East of the Sierras drier and drier via the Aquaduct. That area in turn is sucking more and more (or refusing to evaporate more and more water) from/to High Sierra's microclimate weather system & snowpack.
My theory is that the lack of evaporation and Summer storms from the old Owens Lake region is causing Pacific air flow and weather to more rapidly "skip" over the Sierra range, carrying a heavier payload to the Midwest while starving California's agriculture regions of rain and high snowmelt it used to get. No blockade of upward evaporation effect and the air rushes right on past to the East.
It's important to understand that this isn't just some temporary glitch in our nation's biggest money maker. This is a downward spiral. This glacial shrinking has been virtually uninterrupted since the 1950s...just about the time the LA Aquaduct's thirsty straw pushed that microclimate over a tipping point. "Save Mono Lake"... Everyone who has been to California has at one time or another seen that bumper sticker. Owen's Lake is long gone now. It's just an immense dry valley now where much water once stood. Vital water to snowpack 9-14,000 feet above.
It isn't an exaggeration to say that this issue affects the US's only hold left on world power: Food. A tremendous amount of our nation's food to trade is produced in California. Food for oil, food for favors, food for ...etc. etc. So this isn't just a California emergency and downward spiral. It's a national emergency and downward spiral.
**Please don't talk about how illegal aliens are causing the drought. They may be exacerbating it, but they are not causing it by themselves...ridiculous..!
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