Starting off the new year it appears that the winter of 2023 will be marked by wetter and warmer conditions for Europe, US, and New Zealand, who have been experiencing some unprecedented and unexpected weather patterns for January.
In the US, California has been hit by six different rainstorms in the past 17 days, dumping as much as 30 inches (76 cm) of rain in some areas. As a result, damaging floods, wind, and mudslides have wreaked havoc on the aging power grid cutting off electricity to 180,000 homes and buisness as of 10 January 2023. Near the coast, the California Highway Patrol has closed portions of the U.S. 101, the main highway connecting northern and southern California, with no estimated time of reopening.
Despite the deluge, the rains are renewing optimism amongst farmers who have suffered under intense drought conditions the past four years. HighGround’s own, Curtis Bosma, a resident of California informs us that irrigation districts in the South Valley began sending water down through canals allowing farmers to pull water into their sinking basins. Farmers who sink water receive credits which they can use to pump additional groundwater in drier years. The California Department of Water Resources also reports that the Central and Southern Sierra regions are now more than 200% above normal snowpack for this time of year and over 100% above the April 1 average, which is usually peak. Plentiful snowpack will help to replenish reservoirs in advance of the drier summer and fall months. However, while the rain and snowpack may provide some relief for producers in 2023, reservoir levels across the state remain below historic averages for this time of year. Drought and water-related issues will likely continue to plague the state in the long term as its rising population outpaces the replenishment of its water basins.
New Zealand is also seeing its fair share of rain. La Niña continued during December resulting in plentiful rainfall across the North Island while the South Island remains drier to the time being. NIWA‘s seasonal climate outlook for January – March 2023 is calling for above-average rainfall in the western part of the North Island with normal to below-average rainfall across the South Island. An expected reduction in northwesterly winds will likely bring fewer hot days for the eastern areas while sub-tropical air is anticipated to keep overnight temperatures and humidity elevated across much of the country for most of the summer season.
In Europe, a winter heatwave throughout the New Year holiday weekend toppled national records in eight countries across the continent and regional ones in France, Germany, and Ukraine. Polish capital, Warsaw, recorded temperatures of 18.9 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) on 1 January 2023, more than five degrees Celcius above the previous record set 30 years ago. For the rest of January and February 2023, the E.U.’s Copernicus weather model forecasts temperatures ranging between one and four degree Celsius (33-40 degrees Fahrenheit) with little to no rainfall expected across the bloc.
While many in Europe enjoy the ideal weather conditions, the higher temperatures are reducing winter snowpack levels which have the potential to create additional challenges in the summer months. After intense drought and heat throughout the summer of 2022, river water levels fell to historic lows, decimating crops and inhibiting the transport of grains and fuel via crucial waterways. Without adequate snowpack accumulation during the winter months in 2023 there could be less water replenishing rivers and reservoirs in the spring and summer possibly resulting in drought and crop damage at the height of the growing season throughout the continent.
