We woke up this morning to the rumbling of thunder and the sound of rain. Not measurable rain, but in this land of brown lawns, any rain is a big deal. Thunder is rumbling again now near 3pm and this time there was, and still is, real rain.
Earlier I sat outside eating breakfast, watching the scattered raindrops darken the driveway, the dry in seconds. Now they're sticking. And the warm humidity of this morning has given way to a comfortable coolth.
How serious is this drought? From the July 15 California weekly drought update:
As a result of continuing drought conditions, emergency legislation was enacted in March 2015 that appropriated over $1 billion of additional funds for drought-related projects and activities.
The Administration’s May Revision proposal includes an additional $2.2 billion for programs that protect and expand local water supplies, improve water conservation, and provide immediate relief to impacted communities.
But before our Alaska majority legislators sigh in relief that they don't have this expenditure, they should think about what they're going to need to spend in climate change mitigation - from village relocation due to shore erosion to massive infrastructure reconstruction due to melting permafrost, just to name a couple of the more obvious effects. This doesn't include the impact on fish and other species due to ocean acidification. Oh, did I forget fighting forest fires? The short term income we get from oil (well, now that the legislature has created massive tax credits, and the price of oil dropped, it isn't much) will be dwarfed by the costs of responding to the impacts of carbon caused climate change.
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