An ‘abnormal,’ monsoon-like weather pattern hits Southern California, creating a drought by the time we return from the beach
The drought has been going on almost a year now. Not only was it unusual for the area, it was unusual for Southern California to experience such a long spell of drought. The state had already been in the news for a couple of years for its heavy rains in the past few years, creating flooding along river systems and even sending a freak flood through the area. However, this year brought an even more unusual pattern.
On the one hand, the Pacific Ocean was expected to bring a nice, monsoon-like rainfall to Southern California for the first time in years, bringing relief to the area and a chance for some sunshine. On the other hand, the strong, wet pattern would lead to the heaviest rains to hit during the entire summer, sending a massive tide of water and the potential for mudslides. As you can see in the photo above, almost the entire landscape of Southern California is covered with water. However, this year’s monsoon pattern brought a lot more than just rain. With the monsoon expected to last until September, this would bring the biggest tides of 2011 to Southern California.
Even though the rain fell and the high tides were high, they were not as high as they were expected, leaving many beachgoers worried about the massive storm surge and flooding that would come. Fortunately, the monsoon-like rainfall was short lived, and the rains began to come again in the following weeks. However, it did bring a huge amount of rain that lasted until late October, making the area even more of a potential disaster zone.
The drought has been going on almost a year now, when most experts had predicted that it would end sooner. In fact, this year’s drought began in February after it was predicted that the rainy pattern would not last until June, and that it would end in July. After another round of predictions proved incorrect, the drought officially started in February.
The drought brought with it a number of other problems. The region is already dry, and with the monsoon on an almost daily basis, the area is likely to become
