Originally Posted by
JerryFF
When you have lived in California as long as I have, or at least read the long term statistics, you realize than California's weather, especially rainfall amounts, are highly variable. Unlike many other places, where a simple bell-shaped curve results when you plot rainfall amounts per year, in California, the peak is much lower and the extremes are much higher. That is, the standard deviation in rainfall amounts is very high - there are many more dry years and many more very wet years than other places in the country.
The word a statistician would use is 'bimodal'. And it's a good way to think of it.
Originally Posted by
Need
I think they HAVE to put it all over the news because the farmers are the ones who suffered from the drought. To the average people, it doesn't really matter. Water will keep coming in. If it is get really serious, you may get a few days without water in a week, but nothing major. They will tell you not to wash your car on your driveway or not watering your lawn during the sunlight hours. But that's it.
Tell it to these people in Lake of the Woods, California.
This New York Times story tells of their drinking water being threatened; they could be completely dry within a few months. Sure, residents of large cities probably won't have to deal directly with this sort of thing, but I really do think that the effects of this drought are going to extend well beyond the farming community.
Let's hope that
JerryFF's El Nino continues to develop! ^