DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA 1238 PM PDT FRI OCT 17 2008 ...DRY CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA... SYNOPSIS... ON JUNE 4TH...CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER PROCLAIMED A STATEWIDE DROUGHT. THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR IS INDICATING A SEVERE DROUGHT...CLASSIFICATION D2...IN THE DESERT PORTIONS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY...INCLUDING THE ANTELOPE VALLEY. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... AT THIS TIME...18 AGENCIES THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA HAVE INSTITUTED WATER CONSERVATION MEASURES. THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT ANNOUNCED A WATER SUPPLY ALERT AND IS URGING ITS CUSTOMERS TO STRIVE TO CONSERVE WATER AND CUT UNNECESSARY WATER USE. THE CITIES OF GROVER BEACH AND PASADENA AND THE LAS VIRGENES MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT HAVE IMPLEMENTED MANDATORY WATER RESTRICTIONS. THE CITY OF CHINO HILLS HAS IMPLEMENTED STAGE 2 WATER RESTRICTIONS. THE GOVERNOR HAS ALSO OFFICIALLY ASKED THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION TO PROVIDE WATER FOR STATE AREAS THAT ARE SUFFERING FROM DROUGHT. THE DRY LATE WINTER AND SPRING CONDITIONS HAVE ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO INCREASED FIRE DANGER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA HAS IMPLEMENTED A DROUGHT WATER BANK PROGRAM TO BUY WATER FROM WILLING SELLERS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TO TRANSPORT TO THOSE IN NEED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. THIS PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO PREPARE FOR ANOTHER DRY YEAR IN 2009. FROM THE WEEKLY WEATHER AND CROP BULLETIN FOR SEPT 30...PASTURE AND RANGE CONDITIONS BY PERCENT FOR CALIFORNIA: 80% VERY POOR 15% POOR 5% FAIR 0% GOOD 0% EXCELLENT. CLIMATE SUMMARY... THE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED DRY YEARS FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...WITH THE 2006-2007 SEASON BEING A DRY YEAR AND THE 2007-2008 SEASON BEING CONSIDERED ABNORMALLY DRY. THESE TWO DRY YEARS ARE COMPARABLE TO THE START OF DROUGHT OF THE LATE 1980S. THE WINTER SEASON STARTED OUT WITH CONDITIONS APPROACHING NORMAL THROUGH THE END OF FEBRUARY...BUT SINCE THIS TIME RAINFALL HAS BEEN BELOW NORMAL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER OUTLOOK FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS IS INDICATING EQUAL CHANCES FOR BELOW NORMAL...NORMAL...AND ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION. THE TEMPERATURES OUTLOOK FOR THE REGION IS SIMILAR...INDICATING NO DEVIATIONS FROM NORMAL. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... DRY CONDITIONS ARE INDICATED OVER THE NEXT 10 DAYS THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST AREA. IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THIS IS THE DRY SEASON...SO NO SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL IS CONSIDERED NORMAL. MOST LOCAL RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE AT LOW FLOW AND CARRY LITTLE IF ANY WATER...WHICH AGAIN IS CONSIDERED NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT SCHEDULED PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED BY NOVEMBER 15TH OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. RELATED WEBSITES...
CALIFORNIA DATA EXCHANGE CENTER:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/
CALIFORNIA NEVADA RIVER FORECAST CENTER:
http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/
DROUGHT MONITOR:
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
CALIFORNIA DROUGHT PAGE:
http://watersupplyconditions.water.ca.gov/
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER:
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/index.php
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER DROUGHT MONITOR CALIFORNIA NEVADA RIVER FORECAST CENTER CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES CALIFORNIA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS SOUTHERN DISTRICT QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS...PLEASE REFER ALL QUESTIONS TO W-LOX.webmaster@noaa.gov LABER WEATHER.GOV/LOSANGELES