I took this picture of Lassen Peak on January 8th, 2013.
In California we’re in another severe drought. I took these two pictures of Lassen Peak in January, one this year and the other last year. You can see the stark difference. Lassen Peak is the southerly most of the major cascade volcanoes and is 10,463 feet (3,189 M) tall. Last year we had over 20 inches of rain at this time, and this year we have less than 4 inches. The snow pack is almost nonexistent. Cattle ranchers are having a hard time. There’s no new grass and the foothills are as brown as July. The price of hay is going to go through the roof forcing many of the ranchers to sell off their cattle. Our ski resorts are having a terrible winter due to the lack of snow. It’ll be a tough year for these folks and the long term forecast is grim. Expect the California water war to once again rear it’s ugly head.
Lassen Peak taken on January 22nd, 2014.
This summer we are expecting our share of challenges in the woods. Drought stress will cause tree die off. This will create prime conditions for bark beetle infestation as the trees become more and more stressed. Worst of all will be the fire danger. I think red flag fire warnings will be the theme of the this summer.
Blitz rolls in the snow while she still can.
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Water is the most precious substance in our planet, this thought comes to my mind when I try to wash my plastic litter to seggregate it 😉 Good luck with the snow !
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It is indeed the most precious thing and we will be in short supply this summer. I hope the snow comes soon!
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One just doesn’t expect Mountains which are normally snow covered to be like this Tim , worrying indeed .
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Highly unusual indeed. We are use to drought here in California, but this one will be exceptional.
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We’re having strange weather all over the world. I think the UK may have received your share of snowfall as rain…they’ve had twice as much rain in January as normal since records began a century ago, the southern lowlands have been under floodwater for over a month with more rain forecast this weekend. I sincerely hope things don not turn out as bad for you as your are anticipating.
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How do we get your rain clouds from over there to over here?
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I’ll perform a rain dance for you lol!!! Really, I’d love for you to have them, we see too much of them over here!
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A rain dance…I love it! Will there be video? 😉
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There will be no incriminating evidence of such shenanigans, I’m afraid!!! I think it worked, though…we have beautiful (and all too rare sunshine and blue sky today! Hope its pouring down where you are hehe!
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As a matter of fact, it is raining right now!
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Yaaay! If you need any more sending over, just let me know…
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Will do! You are good!!!!
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Blissful rolling about by Blitz. Nevertheless, it’s a worrying state of affairs and governments all over need to start doing a great deal more if we are to avoid the inevitable.
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Our drought are very cyclical. We know they will come and go. Unfortunately,the State of California never prepares for these times. They only react after it is here.
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A thoughtful post, Tim. We’ve been reading about your drought here in the East. Thank you for posting so that we all can remember how precious is the resource of water.
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Drought in the West and freezing and snow in the East. Let swap our weather for a while! 😉
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Now that wouldn’t be a bad idea!
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Tim,.
Sorry to hear of the drought. Your photos confirm it! Nature under stress!
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Yes indeed Linda. It will be a long summer.
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It’s flooding in Europe (very few snow), the weather becomes more and more extreme.
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I hope it settles down soon, or in our case, gets real wet.
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It’s too bad we can’t ship some snow to you from Canada. We have way too much! Good photos!
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Oh, how I wish you could. Our weather distribution seems to be a bit out of balance. 😦
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Hope there’d be rain soon.
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Me too, it was cloudy yesterday, but no rain.
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I wish I could send you some of our rainfall – we’ve had the wettest January since records began…
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That seems to be the story. Everyone else has wet weather except us. High pressure ridge parked on California and won’t move.
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Thanks for posting this. I think it’s important for people here in California to know that the drought is real, and that we all need to be conserving water now.
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It will be real to everyone in a few months. I think conserving water has already started in some areas. It is unfortunate that the State hasn’t prepared for this with more water storage opportunities. We know these droughts come along periodically, but we’re never properly prepared.
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Oh my that’s not good at all – the pictures really show what’s to come.
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I thinks so too. It is profoundly dry this year.
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Some scary pictures! We’re looking for rain as well. A very precious commodity.
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Yes, and getting more precious everyday.
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our strange planet looking outside the window here you just would not understand what is going on and it make you wonder… hope there is a change on the way…
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Strange indeed! Almost as if someone is manipulating the weather…hmmm it must be the government. No one else could screw it up this bad.
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Tim thank goodness we have the government to blame…. here it is normally my fault.. No worries I can handle it… OK it is the government fault!!! Sorry for late reply…
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We know it your fault, because we have all the 8×10 glossy photos that the NSA drone snapped while circling you studio!
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So you have access to some latest technology too.. and I thought you only deal with forestry equipment… I close the shutters…
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Close the shutters if you want. They have x-ray machines!
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damn.. you loggers!!! there is only one solution.. bad weather ha ha and we are experts here!
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Bad weather… you got us there. Everything grinds to a halt.
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grind to a halt.. I think it sound familiar here.. government again.. No execuses.. we need to learn quick how to deal with those changes. After all we manage to get to Mars.
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We wouldn’t want to screw up mars.
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No too far for us to reach. I wonder if they will purchase some of our water here… I saw people today in the supermarket buying bottle water.. and they were full?!
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But were they green?
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I was wearing my sun glasses.. good point I am checking the cctv pictures. Send me your xray technology..
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Sorry, it’s all on loan to the TSA.
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This is a great post. I think it helps for those of us who live in California to have a visual cue of just how dire this drought is. We passed Shasta on a recent trip and a large part of it is empty, other parts startling shallow.
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it is crazy for this time of year. There shouldn’t be one square inch of rock showing on Mt Shasta at this time.
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Reblogged this on The Backdoor Artist and commented:
This is why I was so thrilled for a bit of rain on Wednesday. Hoping for a lot more…
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Oh this is not good! We enjoyed visiting Lassen every year when we lived in California. Unbelievable.
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Climate change is upon us and those folks that deny the situation exists have their heads in the sand. Texas was in a severe drought for several years and then this past summer/fall we began getting relief in all parts of Texas, At least that is my understanding. In the East there is too much snow and then come spring there will be severe flooding. Scientists need to find a way of storing all the run off and then of transporting the water to places that are in a drought. It would not help the forests or range land but it would help the cities and those that irrigate the crops.
Love the pic of Blitz in the snow.
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I have to say that I know the climate changes, but I’m not convinced that we have much ability to affect it, inadvertantly or on purpose. Although, maybe I’m wrong and it is being affected That being said, the government must be behind it, because no else could make this big of mess of it. 😉
We have cyclical drought in California, but this one looks real bad. The State has had all kinds of plans to improve water storage, but instead of doing that we’re build a bullet train. Our priorities are messed upl
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It is a worry, isn’t it – here in Sydney we have had the driest January for many years, and the farmers out west are doing it tough. All the people on the land around the world need to be fully prepared for difficult times ahead. Do hope you suddenly get a few downpours!
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I hope we get some downpours too, Anna. Unfortunately, we have virtually no snowpack in the mountains either. I’ve heard how dry it’s been down your way. Has the fire situation settled down?
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Its rare in summer not to have fires somewhere in Australia, but I think the more serious ones are dealt with now. They will continue to get more serious, they are already starting much earlier, as climate change continues to worsen.
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I can relate. California is extremely fire prone in the summer.
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Very worrying being a woodsman and everything so dry Tim. I hope the weather breaks and you get a few days of rain.
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Worrying indeed. If we run out of water, I’m afraid we will need something stronger to drink! 😉
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Good heavens !! I hear it’s getting close to that !! I am hoping to visit California later on this year. Your reply is another reason to go. Cheers my friend 😀
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We look forward to having you come!
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Thanks Tim 😀
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I was just reading about the severe drought yesterday. I feel for the farmers and all the lost crops and everyone else affected by it.
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The Bureau of Reclamation is figuring out who get water and who doesn’t right now. I fear the farmers are going to get cut back badly.
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