Image: ChatGPT.

Call us alarmist, but we looked outside today and said to ourselves: Something is not right. Why is the sky that color? Why can I see distant objects clearly? Did I fall asleep and wake up in the middle of June?

It has been a sunny winter, overall, and dry. After three bonanza years of rainfall, Humboldt County currently stands at an inch below the mean precipitation year. Over at his Weather West blog, we see, climate scientist Daniel Swain is talking about “record low” snowpack across much of the West. Are these the beginning days of another California drought?

Now, you will say: Calm down! It’s scheduled to rain this weekend! There are so many more months of winter left! There’s no reason to panic!

But be honest with yourself: You will keep saying that until the moment comes when saying it would make look ridiculous. Then you will pretend you never said it at all, but rather foresaw Humboldt’s catastrophic desertification earlier than anyone else.

So. Is it time to start worrying about drought yet?