Table of Contents
What years was California in a drought?
California is no stranger to drought; it is a recurring feature of our climate. We recently experienced the 5-year event of 2012-2016, and other notable historical droughts included 2007-09, 1987-92, 1976-77, and off-and-on dry conditions spanning more than a decade in the 1920s and 1930s.
How many droughts has California had since 2000?
Over the past 20 years, California has had three stretches of short-term drought: 2000-2003, 2007-2009 and 2012 to 2016.
What’s the longest drought in California history?
1986–1992. California endured one of its longest droughts ever, observed from late 1986 through late 1992. Drought worsened in 1988 as much of the United States also suffered from severe drought.
What is the history of drought in California?
This drought occurred during the infamous Dust Bowl period that ripped across the plains of the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The Central Valley Project was started in the 1930s in response to drought. The 1950s drought contributed to the creation of the State Water Project. 1977 had been the driest year in state history to date.
What was the Federation Drought in Australia?
In Australia, the Federation Drought is the name given to a prolonged period of drought that occurred around the time of Federation in 1901. Though often thought of as a long drought, until the record dry year of 1902 the period was actually one of a number of very dry spells interspersed with wetter weather.
How bad were the droughts of the past?
The decades between the two medieval megadroughts, for example, delivered years of above-normal rainfall — the kind that would cause devastating floods today. The longest droughts of the 20th century, what Californians think of as severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and from 1928 to 1934.
How did farmers irrigate California in the 1920s?
By the early 1920s, those California farmers who did irrigate relied mostly on groundwater and flowing river sources, along with some smaller reservoirs, which sustained them just enough through the dry years.