Gov. Gavin Newsom came close, but couldn’t quite bring himself to say it: The droughts are over.

It’s disappointing when a governor doesn’t acknowledge what ordinary citizens already know because they can see things for themselves.

Another drunk will emerge soon enough. It always does. That’s climate change in California or not.

But right now, the biggest threat this spring is flooding from rivers bursting their banks.

There’s just something about California governors and water officials that keeps them from admitting they went through a dry spell and a wet spell.

They are afraid of continuing to take long showers and flooding our lawns. Stop saving water and go back to wasting it. So they treat us like children and deny the obvious.

On Friday, Newsom and his water consultants stood on a Sacramento Valley farm flooded with storm runoff and pointed out that this has been one of California’s wettest winters on record. The Sierra snowpack is historically deep.

And were still in a drought?

Yes, Newsom claimed.

Are we out of the drought? Is the drunkard over? Newsom asked rhetorically in his opening ranch commentary, answering every present reporter question before it was asked.

It would be nice if a governor says the drought is over. But unfortunately, complication requires nuance.

He said we had just gone through the three driest years in recorded history, while admitting that the last three months were more like the Flood of 1862, when practically the entire Central Valley was a lake.

It is our duty to remain vigilant to enable rapid tracking of groundwater recharge projects, stormwater harvesting and recycling programs, Newsom continued.

Sure, but a California governor has tremendous powers. Why couldn’t he do all those things to speed recovery from the last drought while preparing for the next one without claiming that the drought will continue?

By the end of the event, Newsom seemed almost ready to utter the forbidden words. But he stopped abruptly. The governor concluded by asking the question again and answering it again:

Are we out of the drought?

Mostly but not quite.

Secretary Wade Crowfoot of the state’s Natural Resources Agency is a drought hardliner. He noted that two parts of California, the southeastern region that relies on water from the Colorado River and the Klamath Basin near Oregon, continue to experience acute water shortages.

No, he told reporters, we were not out of the drought.

If we declared the drought over and scrapped emergency supplies, Crowfoot said, we wouldn’t be able to provide quick and effective support where those conditions still exist.

Why? It should be possible for the state government to be honest about the so-called drought and still provide emergency relief to communities in need.

Play it fair with the audience.

When the government disagrees with the people and they know it, they become even more cynical and tune out officials who try to lead them. When it rains buckets and we have the thickest snow in decades, most people will not believe that there is still a drought.

No one understands a continued drought declaration after the 12th atmospheric river, the state says

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Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), a former Secretary of Natural Resources.

Anyone who thinks they’re stuck in a drought probably should

look up the word.

The Glossary of Meteorology defines drought as a period of abnormally dry weather that lasts long enough for the lack of water to cause severe hydrological imbalances in the affected area.

OK, we’ve had three years of abnormally dry weather that caused a serious hydrologic imbalance. We now have unusually wet weather.

But hydrological imbalances persist in some areas, especially in aquifers that have been irresponsibly depleted by farmers for decades. That does not mean that the drought will continue. It just means we have a water shortage underground, caused by drought and over-pumping and in some hard-hit small communities.

Were not in a drought. Were recovering from a.

Most of California’s surface is saturated.

At the end of last week, Los Angeles precipitation for the season was 194% of normal, nearly twice the average. San Diego was 149%, Bakersfield 161%, Fresno 183%, Sacramento 132%, San Francisco 153%, and Redding 120%.

But in a few places, precipitation for the season was below average: Palm Springs was at 84% of normal and

mountain mt

Shasta was only 21%.

However, snowpacks were epic: 228% of normal for the state. The runoff will fill spur reservoirs this spring.

Some of the excess water will be poured over fallow fields, allowing it to soak into the soil and replenish sinking aquifers.

To Newsom’s credit, he has tried to speed up the recharge by streamlining regulations, spending state money, and making it easier for water districts and growers to replenish underground reservoirs.

That’s what brought him to the Yolo County ranch to bring attention to the landowners’ charging project.

Newsom also rolled back some of the states’ toughest drought restrictions. And he announced that the State Water Project will significantly increase planned summer deliveries to farms and cities by more than double.

A governor couldn’t do that if we were still in a drought.