Federal climatologists today declared an end to Orange County’s long and damaging drought, reclassifying the region as abnormally dry, the lowest level of concern in a comparatively dry year.
Orange County thus becomes the last area of coastal Southern California to be removed from any of the drought categories that climatologists list on the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is updated weekly.
“Over the last 180 days or so, Orange County hasn’t done quite as well as other coastal areas when it came to rain, which is why it took longer for it to be listed as abnormally dry” said Brad Rippey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is part of the U.S. Drought Monitor team.
The situation was eased, in part, by three modest, back-to-back storms last week.
The reclassification simply means that there are few lingering signs of drought, such as wildlands covered by dry grass. The county is now mostly green, and wildflowers are popping up everywhere, including the areas scarred by October’s huge wildfires. (Read wildflower story.)
Orange County hasn’t been in the “normal” category since late November 2006. The region was classified abnormally dry on Dec. 5, 2006, then moved into the moderate drought category on Jan. 2, 2007. By mid-March 2007, the county was listed as in a severe drought as the area was emerging from one of the driest winters in a half century.
The county remained abnormally dry through the fall, drying out wildland areas and setting up October’s wind-whipped firestorms in Silverado, Santiago and Modjeska canyons.
Rippey says “there’s still a chance” that Orange County could slip back into a moderate drought if it doesn’t get rain in March. But it would be more common for the abnormally dry classification to last at least until fall.
Since the rainy season began July 1, John Wayne Airport has received 8.17 inches or rain, which is about one inch below normal for this time of year.
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Coming Saturday on ‘Dude: An assortment of reader mail on this week’s posts, including heat and light on “evolution” and UCI’s nuclear reactor
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