Drought And Fire Are The Normal Climate Of California

“Scientists who study the West’s long-term climate patterns say that California has had multiple droughts of 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years — and two severe “megadroughts” of 180 years and 240 years.”

Graphic: California’s droughts in the past 1,200 years – The Mercury News

The New York Times used to know this.

History Of Ancient Fires

Studying fire marks in giant sequoias, Thomas W. Swetnam and co-workers have discovered that major conflagrations sweeping across many mountain ranges in California and the Southwest were a long a common feature, occurring at least twice a decade and apparently linked to oceanic currents much farther south

In Unexpected Places, Clues to Ancient and Future Climate; Warming? Tree Rings Say Not Yet – The New York Times

Severe Ancient Droughts: A Warning to California – The New York Times

Ancient Trees Reflect Century-Long Droughts : Environment: Analysis of stumps’ rings shows that dry spells can last far longer than the state has estimated, expert says. – latimes

But as technology improved, the New York Times got stupider. They announced the California permanent drought in 2016, right before California’s wettest year on record.