>Lake Oroville

Lake Oroville, CA; 3 years ago, 3 months ago, and last week

https://old.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/ossz1l/lake_oroville_ca_3_years_ago_3_months_ago_and/

Wow. That is extreme.

^{Or, any place where people routinely use oven mitts to handle their steering wheels....}

>Phoenix

It's just a dry heat

https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/p1qh0p/its_just_a_dry_heat/

Reminds me of a Rusty Dewees (aka "The Logger") line. In a skit where he's complaining about people who move to Phoenix from Vermont and then tell you (in an airy voice) that it's not bad because it's a dry heat. He says that's BS. "How do I know? Because when it's twenty below and humid, you ain't hot."

And yet, Phoenix is now the fifth-largest city in the United States, new US Census Bureau data shows.

>>fifth-largest

Discussed on the weekly Economist podcast about the US
https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2021/08/13/wildfires-soaring-temperatures-and-water-shortages-does-nature-have-the-upper-hand-in-the-american-west

Quote from: rcjordan on August 14, 2021, 12:15:38 AM
And yet, Phoenix is now the fifth-largest city in the United States, new US Census Bureau data shows.

Parts of the US are getting dangerously hot. Yet Americans are moving the wrong way

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/16/us-climate-change-americans-census-data?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1629109419

Typical.  hhh

QuoteThe Census Bureau's new map of the last decade's population trends shows big growth in the west and on the coasts – and declines in the inland east coast and Great Lakes region.

^{The Great Lakes region isn't sure it wants a bunch of Coasties and Texans moving here, buying up our rusty stuff.}

Today, U.S. officials are expected to declare the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cuts to some Arizona farmers next year amid a gripping drought.

>The Great Lakes region isn't sure it wants a bunch of Coasties and Texans moving here

Hhh, don't worry. Too damn cold! And too near Ohio.

I see more & more "don't move here" comments in the NC /r, though it is not really affecting my area. We lost 93 in my county since the last census ...a little bittersweet, but it'll help keep the area LCOL.

"Tier 1 shortage among river water users, with Arizona farmers taking the biggest hit." ^{Biggest hit, so far.meme}

Feds confirm Colorado River shortage, water allocation cuts coming in 2022
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-confirm-colorado-river-shortage-water-allocation-cuts-coming-in-2022/

Climate Change In California Is Threatening The World's Top Almond Producer

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028452988/climate-change-california-drought-heat-almond-production

>almonds

California Has More Than One Almond Problem
https://www.newser.com/story/309946/almonds-are-a-thirsty-crop-thats-a-problem-in-california.html

During the last severe drought, many farmers switched to *more* water-intensive crops.

Why? If you are the guy with the well and can pump enough water, you can grow those crops when others can't, so they're worth more. So hedge funds put millions into very deep wells so farmers could switch to crops that drank more water and made more money.

>wells

"As drought worsens, there are few, if any, protections in place for California's depleted groundwater. The new law gave local agencies at least 26 years — until 2040 — to stop the impacts of over-pumping."

California enacted a groundwater law 7 years ago. But wells are still drying up — and the threat is spreading

https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/

>>wells

I think I recounted that this is what was keeping me up. In 2020, I was telling everyone that I would be so relieved when Nov 5 was passed. They kept saying, "You mean November 3?" meaning election day. I said, "No, November 5, when our utility district makes the final decision on adding new customers to the water system."

In coastal CA and to some extent the Owens Valley, earthquakes are a significant threat. But for most of CA there are only two threats that matter: fire and water, and the both tend to be bad at the same time.

Why Some Californians are Buying Machines That Make Water Out of Air
https://gvwire.com/2021/10/06/why-some-californians-are-buying-machines-that-make-water-out-of-air/

Spoiler alert: no, this isn't magic... it's just condenser tech and therefore won't work in AZ or most of CA.