A Winter and Spring Rain Summary in the Mid Klamath
I keep a rain gauge at home, it is the simple variety. It looks like a little glass beaker tube with gradations.
Somehow it has become a ritual to record the weather. I share observations with my family, friends, community and colleagues. It can be particularly useful with respect to fire weather and “burn” windows, but the weather also often just seems like a good thing to talk about.
Well this year started off wonderfully. Heavy rain on September 18 put down the McCash fire which had been burning most of the summer, and had just jumped nearby containment lines the previous day... The McCash fire was really threatening our home up Elk Creek as well as that of our neighbors. This first rain of the year was a 0.85” downpour in the morning and another 0.25” in the evening, the most important 1.1” of rain I may ever get in my life, we really needed it and got it. Good start.
Elk Creek and fire. Photo by Michael Max Hentz.
I have some minor weather notes which I make such as: Dec. 12, “Start Hydro Power” - we rely on an ‘ephemeral’ creek for our hydro-power and this is an important date to record. I also noted that all of our local small mountain “side creeks” were flowing, the ground was saturated and this was good to record. The winter continued and we had a set of major storms around Christmas and the New Year. Snowpack depth records were set in the Sierra Nevada. A real winter again, needed and appreciated.
Then around January 7 the weather went away. I mean it, the weather just went away. Every day seemed to be clear, no wind, no clouds, cold at night, warming in the short days, blue sky sunlight. Over and over again, day after day, no meaningful weather. This continued until Mid-March at which point I was becoming worried, everything had dried out, springs and creeks, fine fuels and large fuels. Crunchy. You could not even burn a pile safely without it getting away into adjacent dry fuels. It felt distressing.
From January 7 which was the end of the winter “rain” to March 12 - the start of minor storms, we had accumulated 0.4” of rain. Less than 1/2” of rain up Elk Creek in the heart of the Klamath winter.
The Klamath National Forest conducts winter snowpack surveys each year at the same suite of locations and has been doing so for decades. This data helps determine the water budget for California, informs many management decisions relating to water resources and also the expected fire season. As of April 1 2022, our average snowpack measured around 16% or less than 1/8th of average (there are tables of both snow depth and moisture equivalent measurements at each site, but this is the basic average). Desperation sets in. Flows for rivers, streams and fish; fuel moisture content and drought for wildfire, heck even civilization itself needs lots of water and 16% snowpack after two years of previous drought is not good.
April 3 came and the mountains and skies learned how to rain again. Now, not to say that we have been saved but maybe we have at least been resuscitated a bit… Between April 3 and the writing of this draft on May 10 we have received 10.2” of the most wonderful spring rains (and even some May snow showers). We have crossed the 40” marker for the “rain year”, though not enough, at least we crossed it.
The Spring rain brought green again to the land, water saturated our soils and flowed in our waterways, snow was on the peaks, wildflowers and flowering trees blossomed, grasses exploded out of the ground and the chorus of migratory songbirds filled the air. Perhaps this is a little overly romantic but almost expresses how happy I have been to see the rains return to wet the Earth.
Now back to reality, let’s pray for continued rain and cool temperatures, a forgiving fire season, sustained cool water to raise our juvenile fish, and water for the farms and folks who live in the cities. This is our third year of below average precipitation and snow pack, so we let us all be considerate of how we live within a changing and dynamic climate system. Now go out there and enjoy the spring, enjoy the water, for water is the very foundation of life.
Weather observations.
“Water is the driving force of all nature.” — Leonardo da Vinci
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.” — Jacques Yves Cousteau
“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” – Benjamin Franklin