We all rejoiced with the fall rains that perked up our plants and trees that were starving for water in last year’s drought. We had more rain so far this year than either of the last two years rain seasons and it helped restore flows to our river and creeks.
However, rains abruptly ended in early January and it’s been bone dry since. Although the concentrated rainfall of October through December increased our lake storage, our lakes are just a bit above last year’s high point. This means unless we get a lot of rain that produces runoff, we’re right back in critically dry conditions and drought this summer.
While the rest of February looks very dry, we still hope for March rains and have even odds right now of normal rainfall. Normal March rain is roughly 6 inches and we’ll need that all to fall in a short period of time to increase lake storage. The odds of that occurring are sadly below 20%.
This means we should prepare for another critically dry year in case those rains do not materialize.
As we think about our yards and gardens in the recent warm weather it’s best to plan for another spartan year of watering. It’s best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
We are very much in the new normal of a rapidly warming planet and should not expect any return to the past when droughts were rare. We need to think more like Arizona and Australia and have far more drought tolerant landscaping. We can start this year and be more prepared for future droughts.
Succulents are beautiful low-water plants with a second benefit of being less fire prone. Our local Master gardeners program have lists of very aesthetically pleasing and drought tolerant plants that can handle the new normal. Better to be prepared than continually replace dead plants or increase climate warming emissions from hauling water around to help thirsty plants survive.