DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 530 AM PDT THU SEP 4 2008 ...DRY WEATHER TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR... SYNOPSIS...ON JUNE 4TH...CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER PROCLAIMED A STATEWIDE DROUGHT. ON JUNE 12TH...A STATE OF EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION DUE TO DROUGHT WAS MADE FOR MERCED...MADERA...KINGS... FRESNO...TULARE AND KERN COUNTIES. THE U.S DROUGHT MONITOR IS INDICATING A SEVERE DROUGHT /CLASSIFICATION D2/ FOR KERN...KINGS... MERCED AND TULARE COUNTIES...AND THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND SIERRA FOOTHILL PORTIONS OF FRESNO...MADERA AND MARIPOSA COUNTIES. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...AGENCIES ARE BEGINNING TO FEEL SOME IMPACTS. KERN COUNTY IS UNDER A WATER EMERGENCY. FRESNO AND KINGS COUNTIES ARE UNDER LOCAL DECLARATIONS OF DROUGHT. DRY TIMBER AND BRUSH HAVE INCREASED THE FIRE DANGER IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. CLIMATE SUMMARY...RAINFALL IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR WAS SPARSE TO NON-EXISTENT DURING AUGUST. NO RAIN FELL IN THE CENTRAL OR SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY OR THE SIERRA FOOTHILLS DURING THE MONTH. IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...LODGEPOLE HAD A TOTAL OF 0.01 INCH OF RAIN FOR AUGUST...AND IN THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS...TEHACHAPI AND INYOKERN REPORTED ONLY TRACE AMOUNTS OF RAIN. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE COMING WEEK WITH TEMPERATURES REMAINING ABOVE NORMAL. THE CLIMATE PREDICTION OUTLOOK FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS IS INDICATING A CHANCE OF ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. A CHANCE OF BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION IS INDICATED FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR NORTH OF KERN COUNTY...WITH EQUAL CHANCES OF BELOW...NEAR AND ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR KERN COUNTY. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...FOLLOWING A VERY DRY 2006-2007 SEASON...THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RUNOFF VOLUME WAS RANKED AS CRITICALLY DRY. THE 2007-2008 FORECAST RUNOFF VOLUMES ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN CRITICALLY DRY. SNOWMELT RUNOFF ALONG THE RIVERS ABOVE THE MAJOR DAMS PEAKED DURING THE THIRD WEEK OF MAY AND WILL NOT BE SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH TO BRING SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN WATER LEVELS ON RIVERS BELOW THE RESERVOIRS THROUGH THE END OF SEPTEMBER. RESERVOIR STORAGE AS OF SEPTEMBER 2ND RESERVOIR STORAGE PERCENT NAME ACRE-FEET CAPACITY EASTMAN LAKE 11293 8 HENSLEY LAKE 5237 6 HUNTINGTON LAKE 87339 98 LAKE ISABELLA 142235 25 LAKE KAWEAH 13417 7 LAKE SUCCESS 5303 7 MAMMOTH POOL RESERVOIR 17648 14 MC CLURE 318012 31 MILLERTON LAKE 227723 44 PINE FLAT RESERVOIR 126523 13 SAN LUIS RESERVOIR 269655 13 SHAVER LAKE 84450 62 WISHON RESERVOIR 50178 39 NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...THE NEXT SCHEDULED PRODUCT WILL BE ISSUED BY OCTOBER 4TH...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 HANFORD:
http://www.weather.gov/hanford/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER DROUGHT MONITOR CALIFORNIA NEVADA RIVER FORECAST CENTER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES CALIFORNIA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION CAL FIRE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS...PLEASE REFER ALL QUESTIONS TO W-HNX.webmaster@noaa.gov SANGER WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD