The National Weather Service conducted the most incredible word gymnastics Wednesday after being bombarded with questions about California’s drought status.
The ongoing drought conditions in California are a popular talking point for those who don’t fully comprehend the nature of our climate. Back in 1976, scientists blamed the lack of state water reserves on “global cooling,” which led to almost 40 years of panic and fear from citizens (despite California being where most of our food is grown, which can’t be done without plentiful water).
The “unending” statewide drought was said to have concluded in 2017, but clearly the public didn’t want to listen to this news at the time.
Drought improvement questions are coming up with the repeated #castorms and #atmosphericriver, bottomline is snowpack in Sierra Nevada is 2x average and higher than anytime in history (1982-83) and a location such as Mammoth has more snow (310 winter) than the prior 3 seasons pic.twitter.com/Vnx7GbLeEO
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) January 10, 2023
“Drought improvement questions are coming up with the repeated [storms] and [atmospheric rivers],” NWS wrote in a Twitter update, referring to the three weeks of back-to-back extreme weather events that have led to the death of at least 14 people across California.
“Bottomline is snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is 2x average and higher than anytime in history (1982-83) and a location such as Mammoth has more snow (310 winter) than the prior 3 seasons,” NWS concluded its tweet.
Is it just me, or do you also read this tweet in your head like, “Duh bro, of course the drought is over. Look at all this precipitation, idiots.” It must be so exhausting for the NWS and other meteorological agencies to constantly deal with the politicization of weather.
The tweet reminded me of the firm but polite shutdown the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration acting director gave CNN anchor Don Lemon when he tried to blame Hurricane Ian on climate change. Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency chair had to dismiss comments from Vice President Kamala Harris that assistance in the wake of the massive storm would be “based on equity.” (RELATED: Death Valley National Park Experiences Rare, Massive Flooding)
Surely all that the NWS and NOAA want to do is help people prepare for extreme weather events? They’re scientists who depend on federal funding to do that, so of course they have to do word gymnastics to ensure they keep everyone happy while not lying or becoming part of the climate change manipulation narrative. Good for them.