{"id":439528,"date":"2026-04-14T10:56:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=439528"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:10:19","slug":"when-a-drought-not-a-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=439528","title":{"rendered":"When a “Drought” NOT a Drought?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“There was little evidence of drought over our region based on impacts, and such impacts are required to call a situation a drought.”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Cliff Mass Weather Blog<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By CliffMass<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Washington State Department of Ecology and others (e.g., the Seattle Times) are claiming we are in a drought emergency.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In several of my recent blogs, I explained why I think they are wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precipitation has been above normal, reservoirs are full, substantial snowpack is in place (about 50% of normal), soils are moist, current forecasts are for substantial spring precipitation, and there is little evidence of any impacts of the low snowpack on water supplies or agriculture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, a key aspect of a drought is that it has to have substantial IMPACTS.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To quote the drought.gov website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall or, generally, a severe deficiency of moisture, resulting in water shortages for people, agriculture, and ecosystems<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Droughts need to have impacts, and the negative impacts of the high precipitation\/low snowpack situation this year will be minimal\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be interesting to evaluate the track record of drought advocates in government, the media, and climate advocacy groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let’s do it!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider last year (2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Ecology put out a drought EMERGENCY declaration in early April and expanded it greatly on June 5, 2025:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Seattle Times and other media outlets had several drought stories, becoming increasingly ominous over time, about the serious drought threat (see sample below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my blog last year, I argued against the extreme drought mania, providing the actual water supply numbers, which suggest little or no impact.\u00a0 \u00a0But the dire warnings continued and amplified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, we know the truth:\u00a0 there was no problem with water supply for the population, and Washington Agriculture flourished.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dire warnings were totally wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seattle’s water supply?\u00a0 Never got close to low-reservoir conditions in 2025 (dashed lines below).\u00a0 Other major water supply reservoirs (e.g., Tacoma, Everett, etc) were similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How about the 2025 crops?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apples?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0There was a RECORD-EQUALING harvest of excellent quality (color and size).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherries?\u00a0<\/strong>A strong, bumper crop with some of the best quality in years, with a long season.\u00a0 Excellent quality and big fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potatoes?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0The 2025 crop was characterized by high quality and excellent growing conditions, with a similar yield to 2024.\u00a0 \u00a0Chris Voigt, Executive Director at the Washington Potato Commission, noted that 2025 lacked extended periods of heat and overall had ideal weather conditions for potatoes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheat?\u00a0<\/strong>USDA\u2019s Small Grains Summary, Washington, noted that the state produced 141.5 million bushels of wheat in 2025, which is down 1.5% from 2024, but still 12% above the five-year average.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raspberries?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Last\u00a0year\u2019s\u00a0total production exceeded 60 million pounds, which will be the highest harvest since 2018.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I could discuss more crops, but you get the message.\u00a0\u00a02025 was an excellent year for Washington State agriculture, with little evidence of drought impacts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did drought greatly reduce Northwest hydropower output (see U.S. government analysis below)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Nope.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Federal data, NW hydropower was close to the long-term average, with a nice recovery from 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line in all this is that there was little evidence of drought over our region based on impacts, and such impacts are required to call a situation a drought.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some locations are fortunate to receive more precipitation than is required, and we are lucky to be in such a place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, a more interesting question is why Washington State officials don’t understand this basic fact?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And why are Seattle Times reporters not completing the simple research that indicates that last year’s drought warnings were without any basis in terms of impacts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bet you guess why such deceptive, scary language is being used by those responsible for informing us.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whatever the motive, it is very harmful, resulting in unnecessary worry and leading to bad decisions (like the wasteful, corrupting Washington State CCA, which preferentially hurts low-income people while enriching special interest groups).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“There was little evidence of drought over our region based on impacts, and such impacts are required to call a situation a drought.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":439530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819348,691834538,691820077,691842263,691824347],"class_list":["post-439528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-drought","tag-drought-emergency","tag-seattle","tag-washington-state-department-of-ecology","tag-water-supply","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-Drought-1.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Qla","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":442503,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=442503","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":0},"title":"There Is No Drought Emergency in Washington State","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"There is an official statewide drought emergency declaration in Washington State, issued on April 8, 2026, by the Department of Ecology.","rel":"","context":"In \"drought\"","block_context":{"text":"drought","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=drought"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-There-Is-No-Drought-Emergency-in-Washington-State.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-There-Is-No-Drought-Emergency-in-Washington-State.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-There-Is-No-Drought-Emergency-in-Washington-State.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-There-Is-No-Drought-Emergency-in-Washington-State.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":281925,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=281925","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":1},"title":"Is Much of Washington State Experiencing Severe and Extreme Drought?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"From The Cliff Mass Weather Blog Cliff Mass It is very unfortunate when government entities provide information that is incorrect and exaggerated. Misinformation made worse by the willing repetition by click-hungry media. There are few better examples of the dissemination of exaggerated and inaccurate information than the drought claims of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Extreme Drought\"","block_context":{"text":"Extreme Drought","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=extreme-drought"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wp2288270.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wp2288270.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wp2288270.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wp2288270.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0wp2288270.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":419082,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419082","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":2},"title":"Drought Deception","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/29\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Northwest drought is being exaggerated by a group including publicly funded agencies, the media, local government, and climate activists. At its essence, it is ideological, anti-science, political, and self-serving.","rel":"","context":"In \"Drought Exaggeration Industry\"","block_context":{"text":"Drought Exaggeration Industry","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=drought-exaggeration-industry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOMpJqSxUCPgj4jKa5I2oY7RSFL5zDBYwtAHd7M-Er4OjtaQVfqp4DVlImKEm7Ukn67A0p9TAnUsoOry3IeNZL_arSu5Kv9E1kvxluyCLrQUzzJOG83PJQNvFgl7Ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C737&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOMpJqSxUCPgj4jKa5I2oY7RSFL5zDBYwtAHd7M-Er4OjtaQVfqp4DVlImKEm7Ukn67A0p9TAnUsoOry3IeNZL_arSu5Kv9E1kvxluyCLrQUzzJOG83PJQNvFgl7Ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C737&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOMpJqSxUCPgj4jKa5I2oY7RSFL5zDBYwtAHd7M-Er4OjtaQVfqp4DVlImKEm7Ukn67A0p9TAnUsoOry3IeNZL_arSu5Kv9E1kvxluyCLrQUzzJOG83PJQNvFgl7Ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C737&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOMpJqSxUCPgj4jKa5I2oY7RSFL5zDBYwtAHd7M-Er4OjtaQVfqp4DVlImKEm7Ukn67A0p9TAnUsoOry3IeNZL_arSu5Kv9E1kvxluyCLrQUzzJOG83PJQNvFgl7Ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C737&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0AQOMpJqSxUCPgj4jKa5I2oY7RSFL5zDBYwtAHd7M-Er4OjtaQVfqp4DVlImKEm7Ukn67A0p9TAnUsoOry3IeNZL_arSu5Kv9E1kvxluyCLrQUzzJOG83PJQNvFgl7Ig-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C737&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":274488,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=274488","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":3},"title":"Doubts About Droughts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/19\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s talk about droughts.\u00a0 Unfortunately, to do that, we\u2019d have to understand what droughts are.\u00a0 And that understanding doesn\u2019t come easy.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-792.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-792.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-792.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-792.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-792.png?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":241759,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=241759","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":4},"title":"California Still in Drought?\u00a0 Yes, No and Maybe \u2014 Part 1","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/27\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"There are claims that despite being flooded, washed away, landslided and buried in snow California is really still in drought.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1160.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1160.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1160.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1160.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1160.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":279003,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=279003","url_meta":{"origin":439528,"position":5},"title":"Claim: Climate Change is Causing Floods and \u201cFlash Droughts\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/16\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If the scientists are right, and \u201cflash droughts\u201d become a problem, I would suggest better water infrastructure is a higher priority than green energy fantasies. But I\u2019m not losing any sleep over their prediction, given the complete lack of evidence that adverse growing conditions are impacting yields in the agriculture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0crop-yields-1024x723-2.webp?fit=1024%2C723&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0crop-yields-1024x723-2.webp?fit=1024%2C723&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0crop-yields-1024x723-2.webp?fit=1024%2C723&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0crop-yields-1024x723-2.webp?fit=1024%2C723&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=439528"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439558,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439528\/revisions\/439558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/439530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=439528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=439528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=439528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}