California water year, page-3

With attention focused on the frosty weather in California over the past week, it would be easy to overlook some other weather related news that could be of significance for the almond growers of that state.

Last Thursday, the US Drought Monitor released a report, which found that now over 90% of California is under some level of drought. Some of the areas that fall into the 'severe drought' (orange) category include the almond producing counties of Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern.

Fresno in central California got its first drop of rain for the month on the same day, and it was literally a drop, as less than 1mm fell on that day. This follows on from three months of well below average precipitation in that location, and so it is not too hard to see why the Drought Monitor came to the conclusion they did.