Hold On There Drought! – Please Don’t Pick on the Pool Builder
In October we thought we were headed to a long spell of no water. We have now have had some really good rain and there is now snowpack in the mountains. California is doing a whole lot better with water. As a pool builder we always focus on water and making sure we have enough. But hey, don’t pick on the pool builder, remember, green lawns use 2x the water than loss due to evaporation from pool.
Please Don’t Pick on the Pool Builder
JAN11 – California is now out of the worst drought category; here’s where conditions stand
For the first time in more than a year, all of California is out of the worst drought category as the state’s overall outlook shows major improvement since the start of the water year.
As of Tuesday, when the U.S. Drought Monitor released its latest map, 0% of the Golden State was experiencing “exceptional” drought — something that hasn’t happened since Dec. 8, 2020.
Additionally, only approximately 1.4% is in the second-worst “extreme” drought category, data from the the federal monitor shows.
JAN4 – Here’s how much California’s drought has improved recently | KTLA
Back at the beginning of October, when California’s current water year started, the state was deep in drought following one of its driest years on record.
Nearly half of California was experiencing “exceptional” drought — the most severe category, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which keeps track of such figures. More than 87% of the state faced at least “extreme” drought.
Flash forward three months later, and a precipitation-filled October and December helped ameliorate the state’s water problem, at least to some degree.
“The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows quite a bit of improvement over the last few week thanks to the above normal precip in Dec.,” the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office tweeted Thursday. “Short term drought has improved but long term impacts remain.”
It truly is a nice thought that we are 
2018 Forecast
What do you think will happen? Let us know your prediction in the comments.
El Niño was a bust. The rare weather pattern was supposed to bring us more rain and possibly lift the pressure off this drought, but that failed to happen. El Niño did help Northern California rebuilding the snowpack, but California only received about 60% of its average rainfall last year. In fact, about 21% of California was categorized as in exception drought at the beginning of this year’s water year at the end of September. However, one benefit of this low rainfall is the result it has had on this year’s weather. The small El Niño has led to a larger La Niña this fall, which is basically El Niño’s opposite.
The awesome thing about Southern California is that even when it rains it is not necessarily cold. Oftentimes it can be warm enough to wear a short sleeve t-shirt outside, yet it will be raining – we find these types of days to be the best days for outdoor patio covers. With a patio cover you can sit outside and listen to the peaceful sound of the rain while remaining completely dry. You can even install a TV or BBQ outside and not worry about water damage or constantly putting on a cover if you have a patio cover.