HNX 20210319 <![CDATA[ National Weather Service Hanford CA 1000 PM PST Sat Jan 23 2021 ...EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS FOR THE FOOTHILLS AND HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA IN FRESNO COUNTY AND TULARE COUNTY... SYNOPSIS... The California Drought Monitor, released on January 14, 2021 showed an extreme drought classification of D3 in the Sierra foothills and higher elevations of Fresno County and Tulare County. This is a region that experienced a precipitation deficit of 12 to 20 inches during the past twelve months, which, as of this writing is a paltry 19 to 25 percent of normal. Additionally, snowfall was well below normal in the southern Sierra and the snowpack averaged only 30 percent of normal. From a historical climatological perspective, the 5 and 6 station index of accumulated precipitation for the 2020-21 season in the San Joaquin and Tulare Lake basin respectively is the driest yet in nearly a century of record keeping. CLIMATE SUMMARY... As of January 20th, the Southern Sierra 5-station precipitation index for the season which began July 1st, 2020, had a total of only 5.01 inches...]]> <![CDATA[READ MORE ABOUT THIS NWS DROUGHT STATEMENT AT: https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=HUN&issuedby=HNX&product=DGT]]>