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Old January 9th 17, 01:22 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default 58% of California is in Heavy Drought.

On Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 3:59:35 PM UTC-6, wrote:
But the entire state is on a flood watch.



You seem to be confusing droughts and floods. Floods are immediate events. Droughts are long term. Floods happen for a day or two or so. Droughts happen for years or more. Its very easy to have a flood during a drought. Droughts dry the soil so much it is unable to absorb any surface water. So a light rain which occurs once a year can result in a flood. The surface water has no where to go except through people's houses and cities. Haven't you ever watched the TV shows which show rains in the desert. They happen once a year or so and dump a foot or so of water in a few hours. All the water runs off and floods everything. But its still a desert and in a drought. Its also very possible to get heavy rains during a drought. If it rains 4 inches in one day, this does not counteract the fact the entire state is 48 inches of rain below normal. Still a drought. The 4 inches would cause a flash flood just for fun. There is also the very important consideration of frequency of waterfall. Plants and everything else need small amounts of water delivered frequently. Crops and everything else cannot grow if they receive one foot of rain in 24 hours and then nothing for the rest of the growing cycle. Even if 12 inches of rain is the correct annual waterfall, it has to be spaced out during the year for everything to do well. Rain is not like money. You can receive $1 million once a year or $2,739..73 per day all year. Doesn't really make any difference.
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