The Rising Tide

…The Colorado mountains are poised to unleash more runoff than they have in 11 years. Streams in Washington and Oregon are forecast to carry up to 50 percent more water than usual. Lake Powell, stretching more than 100 miles across Utah and Arizona, is expected to rise 50 feet from its current depleted state.
“Overall, the entire West looks pretty good, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest in particular,” said Tom Perkins, a senior hydrologist with the National Water and Climate Center in Portland, Ore.

“There’s no part of the West that’s really what you’d call hurting.”

…The reason was an unusually strong jet stream — it was “on steroids,” LeComte likes to say — that pushed this past winter’s storms across more of the West than expected. Cold weather helped by allowing the snow to build up instead of melting away rapidly, Perkins said.

…lifts all before it.

…They are reluctant to say whether the deep snow signals the end of the drought or is just another interruption.
“It so much depends on your definition of drought,” said LeComte, the NOAA drought specialist.
“I’m afraid variability is kind of normal in the West,” he said with a chuckle.

That’s usually true of weather in general, n’est pas?

7 Responses to “The Rising Tide”

1. WunderKraut says:

   April 23, 2008 at 4:25 pm

   Now THS…you are risking a fatwa from the Global Warming police…
   don’t ya know that variability in weather patterns PROOVES Global Warming? Just like steady temp. increases or decreases. It ALL proves Global Warming.
   Just thought I’d warn ya.

2. tree hugging sister says:

   April 23, 2008 at 5:37 pm

   Oh, so the Chain Saw Lobbyist makes an appearance, huh? Don’t try to trick me with your convoluted logic, you tool user of the trade!!!!!! I am WISE to your ways and my wings are like a shield of steel, BWAHAHAhahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

3. Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life says:

   April 23, 2008 at 6:40 pm

   That’s usually true of weather in general, n’est pas?
   Well, ouiiii…

4. The_Real_JeffS says:

   April 23, 2008 at 7:37 pm

   “I’m afraid variability is kind of normal in the West”
   No s**t, Sherlock! Too bad the envirotards don’t accept that message.

5. WunderKraut says:

   April 23, 2008 at 7:39 pm

   I no longer cut down trees. Now I work with floodplains. I’ve been reformed.
   Besides, I was just a bureaucratic tool being used by politicians.

6. The_Real_JeffS says:

   April 23, 2008 at 11:19 pm

   Ah, floodplains! All that untapped tax revenue, just aching to be developed.

7. WordGirl says:

   April 24, 2008 at 12:16 pm

   variability in weather patterns PROOVES Global Warming? Just like steady temp. increases or decreases. It ALL proves Global Warming.
   [yih] Or as my husband likes to say, “It’s the sun, stupid.”