The remnants of two tropical systems — one from the Gulf of Mexico, the other just west of Baja California — are expected to serve as wells of moisture fueling rains this weekend over portions of the country’s two main drought hotspots, namely parts of the Southern Plains and Southern California. But while those rains could make dents in the Plains drought, they are likely to make little difference in California, local weather experts said.
The progression of the drought in California through the spring and summer of 2014, as the two highest categories, extreme and exceptional drought, grew.
Both the Southern Plains and California have been locked in drought for several years. While cool, wet summer weather has gradually eased the drought in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, California’s drought has only metastasized after a winter rainy season that saw little rain and a hot, dry summer. The entire Golden State is in some form of drought, affecting more than 37 million people. More than 80 percent of the state is in the worst categories of drought recognized by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The weather situation in play this weekend mirrors that dichotomy: While the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly are expected to fuel rains that will help chip away at the drought in the Southern Plains, the potential impact of Norbert, currently a hurricane, may simply be localized flash flooding that does nothing to fill Southern California’s reservoirs.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/drought-divide-tropical-rains-to-help-plains-but-not-socal-17988
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