why is California always in a drought crisis, but landlocked states in the Midwest are not?
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A lot of good info elsewhere in the thread, but one very simple answer is the mighty Mississippi River. Some people take for granted we have a river basin area that, outside of the Amazon and not by a lot, is the greatest river basin area in the entire world. It is insane how much fertile land we have in America thanks to this one river network.
California is now “always” in a drought crisis, it just has been for the last decade or two. Most of California is actually not in a particularly bad drought right now after the rains they’ve gotten.
Although, far too many humans live in California, particularly southern California, and there simply isn’t enough water for everyone to drink, shower, water their lawn, grow crops, etc.
A lot of good info elsewhere in the thread, but one very simple answer is the mighty Mississippi River. Some people take for granted we have a river basin area that, outside of the Amazon and not by a lot, is the greatest river basin area in the entire world. It is insane how much fertile land we have in America thanks to this one river network.
California is now “always” in a drought crisis, it just has been for the last decade or two. Most of California is actually not in a particularly bad drought right now after the rains they’ve gotten.
Although, far too many humans live in California, particularly southern California, and there simply isn’t enough water for everyone to drink, shower, water their lawn, grow crops, etc.
Mismanaged water infrastructure. The purpose of water reservoirs is to buffer the annual fluctuation of rainfall, but for it to work reservoir capacity has to be proportional to the population size. California’s water reservoirs haven’t been updated since the 1970s and the population has more than doubled since then. The result is that California has no buffer for fluctuation in rainfall, so a year that is below average immediately becomes a drought crisis.
California is now “always” in a drought crisis, it just has been for the last decade or two. Most of California is actually not in a particularly bad drought right now after the rains they’ve gotten.
Although, far too many humans live in California, particularly southern California, and there simply isn’t enough water for everyone to drink, shower, water their lawn, grow crops, etc.
Mismanaged water infrastructure. The purpose of water reservoirs is to buffer the annual fluctuation of rainfall, but for it to work reservoir capacity has to be proportional to the population size. California’s water reservoirs haven’t been updated since the 1970s and the population has more than doubled since then. The result is that California has no buffer for fluctuation in rainfall, so a year that is below average immediately becomes a drought crisis.
Broadly speaking, the atmosphere moves west-to-east.
The mid-west US and east coast benefit from all of the evaporation west of them that eventually maximizes the amount of water that air holds. Then a low-pressure front (lower pressure means air can’t hold as much water) passes through and squeezes the air like a sponge.
California is a sponge anti-squeezer. It is hot sun-baked land that heats up the air and allows the air to absorb more water.
There’s much more going on like the effects of mountains causing a shadow effect in the western US which is why Kansas is still sort of dry. But this is ELI5.
Broadly speaking, the atmosphere moves west-to-east.
The mid-west US and east coast benefit from all of the evaporation west of them that eventually maximizes the amount of water that air holds. Then a low-pressure front (lower pressure means air can’t hold as much water) passes through and squeezes the air like a sponge.
California is a sponge anti-squeezer. It is hot sun-baked land that heats up the air and allows the air to absorb more water.
There’s much more going on like the effects of mountains causing a shadow effect in the western US which is why Kansas is still sort of dry. But this is ELI5.
Broadly speaking, the atmosphere moves west-to-east.
The mid-west US and east coast benefit from all of the evaporation west of them that eventually maximizes the amount of water that air holds. Then a low-pressure front (lower pressure means air can’t hold as much water) passes through and squeezes the air like a sponge.
California is a sponge anti-squeezer. It is hot sun-baked land that heats up the air and allows the air to absorb more water.
There’s much more going on like the effects of mountains causing a shadow effect in the western US which is why Kansas is still sort of dry. But this is ELI5.
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