Editorial: L.A. may not get another wet winter for a while. We should prepare for drier times
It’s the second straight year of above-average rain and snow in California, amid the state’s driest period in 1,200 years. The respite from drought is certainly welcome, despite flooding, mudslides and associated miseries. Now meteorologists and oceanographers are watching possible La Niña conditions develop in the Pacific, perhaps signaling a return to drier times. It’s an appropriate time to take stock — of how we weathered the last two winters, what we’ve learned and what’s ahead. … It’s also important to note that California got a scary dose of climate change reality early in the winter when all that precipitation failed to turn into Sierra snowpack. It does us little good to get lots of rain or even snow if the weather is too warm to permit snow accumulation on the slopes. The annual snowpack‘s slow spring-and-summer melt has historically been the primary source of water for California cities and farm fields.
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