Wild Weather, the Wobble Effect

[Sevan Makaracı]

 

Weather: Weather Wobble Jet Stream tornados Siberian Freeze Weather Wobble Wild weather , [2] Wobble Clouds Hurricane development Violent Push Weather & ocean currents Europe Weather

Tides and Whirlpools: Storm Clash whirlpools Lurch of earth Tides , [2] Whirlpools Wobble Sloshing

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"We warned at the start of ZetaTalk, in 1995, that unpredictable weather extremes, switching about from drought to deluge, would occur and increase on a lineal basis up until the pole shift. Where this occurred steadily, it has only recently become undeniable. ZetaTalk, and only ZetaTalk, warned of these weather changes, at that early date. Our early warnings spoke to the issue of global heating from the core outward, hardly Global Warming, a surface or atmospheric issue, but caused by consternation in the core. Affected by the approach of Planet X, which was by then starting to zoom rapidly toward the inner solar system for its periodic passage, the core was churning, melting the permafrost and glaciers and riling up volcanoes. When the passage did not occur as expected in 2003 because Planet X had stalled in the inner solar system, we explained the increasing weather irregularities in the context of the global wobble that had ensued - weather wobbles where the Earth is suddenly forced under air masses, churning them. This evolved by 2005 into a looping jet stream, loops breaking away and turning like a tornado to affect the air masses underneath. Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, droughts had become more intractable and deluges positively frightening, temperature swings bringing snow in summer in the tropics and searing heat in Artic regions, with the violence of storms increasing in number and ferocity."

ZETATALK

 

From the ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for February 4, 2012:

 

The wobble seems to have changed, as the temperature in Europe suddenly plunged after being like an early Spring, Alaska has its coldest temps ever while the US and much of Canada is having an extremely mild winter. India went from fatal cold spell to balmy again. Has the Earth changed position vs a vs Planet X to cause this? [and from another] Bitter cold records broken in Alaska - all time coldest record nearly broken, but Murphy's Law intervenes [Jan 30] http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/30/bitter-cold-records-broken-in-alaska Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment. While the continental USA has a mild winter and has set a number of high temperature records in the last week and pundits ponder whether they will be blaming the dreaded "global warming" for those temperatures, Alaska and Canada have been suffering through some of the coldest temperatures on record during the last week.

There has been no change in the wobble pattern, the wobble has merely become more severe. Nancy noted a Figure 8 format when the Earth wobble first became noticeable, in early 2005, after Planet X moved into the inner solar system at the end of 2003. The Figure 8 shifted along to the east a bit on the globe between 2005 and 2009, (the last time Nancy took its measure) as Planet X came closer to the Earth, encountering the magnetic N Pole with a violent push earlier in the day. But the pattern of the Figure 8 remained essentially the same. So what changed recently that the weather patterns became noticeably different in late January, 2012?

The N Pole is pushed away when it comes over the horizon, when the noon Sun is centered over the Pacific. This regularly puts Alaska under colder air, with less sunlight, and thus the historically low temps there this January, 2012 as the wobble has gotten stronger. But by the time the Sun is positioned over India, the N Pole has swung during the Figure 8 so the globe tilts, and this tilt is visible in the weather maps from Asia. The tilt has forced the globe under the hot air closer to the Equator, warming the land along a discernable tilt demarcation line.

The next loop of the Figure 8 swings the globe so that the N Pole moves in the other direction, putting the globe again at a tilt but this time in the other direction. This tilt is discernable in weather maps of Europe, again along a diagonal line. Depending upon air pressure and temperature differences, the weather on either side of this diagonal line may be suddenly warm or suddenly cold. The tilt and diagonal line lingers to affect much of the US and Canada, but the Figure 8 changes at this point to be an up and down motion, pulling the geographic N Pole south so the US is experiencing a warmer than expected winter under a stronger Sun. Then the cycle repeats, with the magnetic N Pole of Earth pushed violently away again as the Sun is positioned over the Pacific.

 

From the ZetaTalk Chat Q&A for April 6, 2013:

 

Would the Zetas be able to let us know what is causing the early break-up of the Arctic Ice, the ice seems to have taken on a swirling pattern at the same time, would this be wobble related? [and from another] http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/Canada+Arctic+cracks+spec... The ice in Canada’s western Arctic ripped open in a massive “fracturing event” this spring that spread like a wave across 1,000 kilometres of the Beaufort Sea. Huge leads of water – some more than 500 kilometres long and as much as 70 kilometres across – opened up from Alaska to Canada’s Arctic islands as the massive ice sheet cracked as it was pushed around by strong winds and currents. It took just seven days for the fractures to progress across the entire area from west to east. [and from another] http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80752&src=iot... A high-pressure weather system was parked over the region, producing warmer temperatures and winds that flowed in a southwesterly direction. That fueled the Beaufort Gyre, a wind-driven ocean current that flows clockwise. The gyre was the key force pulling pieces of ice west past Point Barrow, the northern nub of Alaska that protrudes into the Beaufort Sea.

The Figure 8 formed by the N Pole during the daily Earth wobble has shifted somewhat to the East, due to Planet X positioned more to the right of the Earth during its approach. This was anticipated, and well described in ZetaTalk, the Earth crowding to the left in the cup to escape the approach of Planet X, so the angle between these two planets would change slightly. This shift of the Figure 8 to the East is due to the push against the Earth’s magnetic N Pole occurring sooner each day than prior. Thus instead of occurring when the Sun is high over the Pacific, over New Zealand, it is now occurring when the Sun is high over Alaska. All the wobble points have shifted eastward accordingly.

This has brought a lingering Winter to the western US, and a changed sloshing pattern to the Arctic waters. Instead of Pacific waters being pushed through the Bering Straits into the Arctic when the polar push occurs, the wobble is swinging the Arctic to the right, and then later to the left, creating a circular motion in the waters trapped in the Arctic. Since the Earth rotates counterclockwise, the motion also takes this path. This is yet another piece of evidence that the establishment is hard pressed to explain. They are attempting to ascribe this to high pressure and wind, all of which are not new to the Arctic, but this circular early breakup of ice in the Arctic is new.

[Howard]

Bizarre Cloud Engulfs Spanish Coastline (Apr 9)

A mysterious dense cloud has appeared over the entire coastline of Alicante in Spain.

The Hotel Castilla Alicante confirmed that locals have no idea what has caused the cloud saying, "dense cloud took over the entire coastline of the city of Alicante, causing some confusion among residents and tourists".

Source

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/alicante-apocalyptic-cloud-...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2600562/Video-showing-hug...

[Yvonne Lawson]

April snow in Moscow: weather continues to surprise

Photo: RIA Novosti

The weather does not cease to surprise: the European part of Russia is still taking actions to recover from the consequences of an unprecedented April snowfall; the Far East began fighting against forest fires; and Siberia is preparing for the opening of its great rivers. What weather surprises are in store for us this spring? Meteorologists told the Voice of Russia about anomalies and forecasts.

An abnormally warm February and March in the European part of Russia was replaced by April snowstorms. The heaviest snowfall in the past 130 years, which occurred in Moscow on the first day of April, turned the already spring town into a Blizzard Kingdom in just a few hours. Internet users immediately called this unusual phenomenon the main April Fool’s joke.

The unusually warm weather has set in Siberia. The air warmed up to +22 degrees. The abnormal April temperature has already caused forest fires. Dozens of hectares of taiga forest in the South of Siberia and the Far East are already enveloped in fire, chief of the Roshydromet Situation Centre, Yuri Varakin told the Voice of Russia.

"As for forest fires, the season has already started almost a month earlier, if compared to the last year and the year before last. This especially concerns the Far East and Primorsky Krai. And an immediate forecast for April says that we have increased fire hazard in the Trans-Baikal and Baikal regions, because the abnormally warm weather has set there now, and the snow melts quickly."

The early spring has also caused early floating of ice on Russian rivers. According to meteorologists, the situation is quite favourable: the winter was dry, and floods should not be expected. The majority of rivers in the European territory of Russia are at the floodplain level. All indicators suggest that there is no threat of flooding of settlements, leading specialist of the Phobos weather center, Elena Volosyuk says.

"In general, heavy rains are not expected this spring. It is obvious that in the European part of the country, floodings will be lower than in previous years, and than last year, when snowfalls were observed until the end of April and a number of regions of the European part of Russia led the pack in terms of snow storage. This year, the situation is quite different. But in Siberia, floodings, I think, will be at the level typical for this region. Opening of rivers has already begun. Ice blasting aimed at improving the ice cover situation is in progress on some rivers. So, in terms of flood, there should be no incidents."

Experts are closely monitoring the flood situation in the Far East, which suffered from the worst flood in the last 100 years last summer. Opening of ice on the Amur has already started, and it is almost a week ahead of schedule. The water level is expected to be up to the normal level. However, experts encourage local authorities to be ready for any developments of emergency situations, because the weather has repeatedly proven its unpredictability.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_04_05/April-snow-in-Moscow-weather-co...

[lonne rey]

Coldest December-March Period in Chicago History

THE IMPRESSIVE COLD THIS PAST WINTER CONTINUED DURING
MARCH...WITH A MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF ONLY 31.7 DEGREES
FOR THE MONTH. THIS RANKS AS THE 19TH COLDEST MARCH ON RECORD IN
CHICAGO. HOWEVER...OF EVEN MORE INTEREST IS THE FACT THAT WITH THE
ABNORMALLY COLD MARCH ACROSS THE AREA...THIS MADE THE AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE FOR THE DECEMBER THROUGH MARCH PERIOD IN CHICAGO 22.0
DEGREES...WHICH IS THE COLDEST SUCH PERIOD ON RECORD FOR CHICAGO
DATING BACK TO 1872!

ROCKFORD:

THE DECEMBER THROUGH MARCH AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE FOR ROCKFORD WAS 18.4 DEGREES. THIS RANKS AS THE 2ND
COLDEST SUCH PERIOD ON RECORD IN ROCKFORD DATING BACK TO 1906!

source

[Andrey Eroshin]

14.03.14. Freak of nature: Hail storm dumps 3ft of ice on East African nation of Eritrea
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/464881/Freak-of-nature-Hail-sto...

[Howard]

Massive Sand Storms Barrel Across Southwest U.S. (Mar 11)

Sandstorm over Amarillo, Texas on March 11.

NASA’s Terra satellite spied these streams of dust blowing south across Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico on March 11, 2014. The dust is streaming south out of Colorado and Kansas into Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. (Look for the streamers of pale, sand-colored stuff south of the big cloud bank.)

As a cold front blew across parts of the High Plains on Tuesday, winds kicked up a huge and intense dust storm.

With winds gusting to nearly 60 miles per hour, visibility in southwestern Kansas was reduced to zero, according to the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. CIMSS also describes a pilot report of severe turbulence at 45,000 feet in the region, possibly the result of the passing cold front.

On the ground, a towering wall of dust known as a haboob rushed across a vast swath of the High Plains, enveloping towns and cities in a brown pall.

Source

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2014/03/13/high-plains-hab...

[K Tonkin]

Lake Michigan Ice Cover Reaches Record Coverage!

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=mkx&story...

This last stretch of cold weather during late February into the first week of March caused ice concentration on Lake Michigan to rapidly increase. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor Michigan measures the ice concentration on the Great Lakes daily.  On March 8th, the ice concentration on Lake Michigan was measured at 93.29%.  This sets a new record ice cover on Lake Michigan.  The previous record was 93.1% set in 1977.   The period of record dates back to 1973.

The below graph shows the rapid increase in ice concentration since late February.

The below graphic prepared by GLERL estimates the ice thickness in centimeters on Lake Michigan.  Most of the ice to the east of southeast Wisconsin ranged from 18 to 36 cm thick or about 7 to 14 inches.

The total ice cover on the Great Lakes from March 8th was estimated to be over 90% as depicted by the below graphic from GLERL.  The record ice cover for the Great Lakes is 94.7% set in 1979.  The lowest on record is 9.5% in 2002.

[K Tonkin]

What a difference one week makes (seasons are blending!):

All temps are in degrees Fahrenheit - be sure to note the last column in the table below

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=unr&story...

Spectacular Warmth - Some Records Broken

Spectacular warmth was felt across northeast Wyoming and western South Dakota today (March 9, 2014). Records were set in Rapid City, Fort Meade, and near Interior.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 73 DEGREES WAS SET AT RAPID CITY AIRPORT SD TODAY. THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 73 SET IN 2012.
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 72 DEGREES WAS SET AT EAST RAPID CITY SD TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 71 SET IN 2012.
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 71 DEGREES WAS SET AT FORT MEADE SD TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 70 SET IN 2012.
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 73 DEGREES WAS SET AT INTERIOR 3 NE SD TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 71 SET IN 2012.

Temperatures today were stunningly warmer than temperatures one week ago. Thermometers read 67 to 97 degrees warmer than lows March 2, 2014!

[Howard]

Bizarre "River of Sky" Clouds Over Atlanta (Feb 25)

Highly unusual clouds appeared over Atlanta skies this morning.

Meteorologist Chesley McNeil said the clouds are very rare in the southeast, but more common in the midwest.

He also says there's debate over what causes the phenomenon.

Scientists agree it's a meeting of two fronts, but are split on whether it's caused by a cold/warm front or a dry/moist front. 

The Royal Meteorological Society is documenting their appearance to see if they deserve a separate cloud classification.

If that happens, it would be the first new cloud classification since 1951.

Sources

http://www.13wmaz.com/story/weather/2014/02/25/rare-river-of-the-sk...

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-bizarre-beautiful...

[jorge namour]

In Rome, far away from the center ever so hot in 1782: here are the official data of the Collegio Romano

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

In 232 years, that 'since in 1782 the Meteorological Observatory of the Collegio Romano, the more' old city ', the temperatures are recorded in the capital, he had never encountered such a hot in the second week of February in Rome. "It 'record today in Rome where they were recorded 20.6 ° C, the temperature more' hot 232 years in the second week of February. - Says the president of the Association Bernacca and for years head of the Observatory Franca Mangianti -. The previous record was in 1892 when in Rome were recorded 19.9 degrees. " Even the minimum temperatures are above the average of 5/6 degrees. High rate of moisture 'in Rome this morning at 7 am was 88% at 10 and 75%.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=n&...

http://www.meteoweb.eu/2014/02/a-roma-centro-mai-cosi-caldo-dal-lon...

[sourabh kale]

The bears in russia  and california know something is wrong! When will the people of the world ?

Warm winter keeps Russian bears from sleeping

January 15, 2014

European Russia’s bears and hedgehogs have struggled to go into hibernation in the warm weather. Other wildlife is also behaving as if it’s still fall.

Two months of warm European winter in Russia keep bears awake. Source: Dmitry Tretyakov / RIA Novosti

For almost two months now, Russia has been experiencing unseasonably warm weather. This quirk of nature has come as an unpleasant surprise to animals living in the wild: bears and hedgehogs have not been hibernating.

Rabbits turned white back in the autumn, meaning that for almost two months, they have been easy targets for hunters and predators. Honeysuckle is flowering for the third time this year.

Meanwhile, Russian biologists have been trying to make sense of this freak of nature.

“For hunters it’s tough at the moment, but for wild animals life is good,” said Yevgeniy Yeskov, a professor at the Russian State Agrarian University. “Until now, people carrying weapons would lie in wait as their prey looked for food, but now there’s no need for animals to go anywhere near humans, because there’s plenty of food in the forest.”

This winter hedgehogs have not been hibernating. Source: Alamy / Legion Media

The ungulates have currently got the best deal in the forest – they’re still nibbling on green grass. But rabbits have turned white and are now easy prey.

“Until the first snows arrived, hares were easy prey for hunters, but we don’t have any data confirming that lots of them have died,” Yeskov said. “Animals are, after all, like humans: the less energy they have to expend to keep themselves warm, the bolder and cheerier they are.”

Russian bears searching remote villages for food

Birds are also affected. “It’s not just the ducks that live in towns, but also the ones that live in the wild, that have chosen not to take flight. After all, for wildfowl, the signal for them to head for warmer climes is when rivers and lakes freeze over. But if there’s no ice, there’s no reason to fly away,” Yeskov said.

Bears will hibernate as soon as there’s snowfall. Hibernation is their number two priority, while food is number one. If there’s plenty of food, there’s no reason for bears to sleep.

“Some people I know say they’ve seen bears walking through the forest in December and in January. But as soon as the first real snow arrives, they’ll definitely settle down. It’s the same for hedgehogs. How long they hibernate depends on how much food they’ve had. If a hedgehog hasn’t had enough to eat and wakes up early, it will definitely freeze. This year, there are certainly no fears of that happening in European Russia,” Yeskov said.

As for the botanists, they’re not observing anything preternatural. They believe this is not the first time there have been such warm winters. On the other hand, it’s interesting for specialists like them, accustomed to all sorts of surprises, to see plants flowering for the third time in the space of a year.

“This year honeysuckle has flowered three times,” said Andrey Tsitsilin, who runs the botanical garden at VILAR, the All-Russian Medicinal and Scented Plants Research Institute.

Read more about animals 

“Mixed yellow-white flowers look rather elegant against a backdrop of fresh snow. Honeysuckle blossomed first in May, as usual, then it flowered for a second time in late October, and now it’s showing off its delights for the third time. That’s never happened before.”

Apparently, honeysuckle does not freeze and die if the frost comes while it’s blossoming.

“It might be that its berries will be smaller than usual. But overall, a lot will depend on the cold weather, which we’re expecting to arrive after 19 January. If the temperature plummets to minus 20 or 30, there might not be any fruit. We’re seeing lilacs with swollen buds, but they might also disappear. It’s a good thing that we’re not seeing this with stone fruits, such as cherries and plums. They’re very sensitive to cold weather,” Tsitsilin said.

First published in Russian in Moskovskiy Komsomolets.

http://rbth.ru/society/2014/01/15/warm_winter_keeps_russian_bears_f...

 

Weirdly warm, dry winters spur black bears to halt hibernating, start eating

By Carma Hassan and Greg Botelho, CNN

January 23, 2014

(CNN) -- They barely slept.

That's the case for an unusual number of black bears in western Nevada, where an abnormally warm and dry winter has spurred them to halt their hibernation and head out for food.

"They may be sleeping under a deck or under a house in a crawlspace, and they will emerge when it is a garbage day and raid some garbage cans and then go back to a sleep for a while," explains Chris Healy, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Mother Nature can take credit for these bears' abbreviated slumber. Whereas parts of the Midwest and Northeast are now buried in snow and shivering in cold, that's not the case in many communities around Lake Tahoe and elsewhere.

The National Weather Service's forecast for Incline Village, Nevada, for instance, calls for high temperatures heading to or well past 50 degrees for the next week at least, with nary of snow flurry in sight.

What's with this weather? Hot is cold and cold is hot

It's not just Nevada: Nearby Northern California is also seeing an abnormal number of black bears, with CNN affiliate KXTV showing images taken from Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe's Heavenly Ski Resort.

Healy said "a disastrous winter" -- adding "we need the snow" -- and relatively mild temperatures have thrown off some black bears that live in more settled areas, where they can readily access human garbage.

"We documented this and, in the past 15 years, it occurs sporadically," the spokesman said. "A lot of it is dictated by the weather conditions."

Even in a typical winter, black bears don't hibernate completely as some might think, usually taking a few weeks for their metabolism and body temperature to wind down. They will occasionally wake up, roam a bit, but won't eat, drink, urinate or defecate, according to SierraWild.gov, a cooperative website of the federal U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management that covers the Sierra Nevada mountain range, including Lake Tahoe).

Bears in this range typically "den" between mid-December into March or the beginning of April, SierraWild.gov notes. This is less than the seven and a half months for some black bears that live in colder climes, but still well beyond what's being seen in parts of Nevada.

In the past, "lighter winters" have been correlated to "bigger bears that live among humans in Incline Village in the Lake Tahoe basin," notes Healy.

But it's not like every black bear is cutting short hibernation and heading out on the town.

Healy notes, "Bears in the backcountry -- truly wild bears -- don't partake in this."

"They eat nuts and berries and things that are not found in nature right now," he said, in contrast to the relatively ever-present trash rummaged through by other bears. "So they wouldn't wake up to eat, they wouldn't find anything."

It has also been "unusually warm" this winter in much of Alaska.

But state wildlife official Riley Woodford said that bears coming out of hibernation early hasn't been an issue there yet.

That's because the winter started off, around November, normally. Even though it's warmed up, the bears climbed up to 1,000 feet to den in snowy and icy spots that's cold enough to keep them in, he says.

Still, the state Department of Fish and Game admits that, hibernating or not, the weather has been weird. It's not even forecast to go below freezing -- even at night -- in Juneau for at least a week. And last week, it was even raining 3,000 feet above sea level in one ski resort around the Alaskan capital, Woodford recalls.

Historic California drought forces rancher to thin herd of horses

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/22/us/bears-stop-hibernating/

Sierra's bears wide-awake during warm winter

Sierra residents startled as animals forage for food

 January 20, 2014

 

A bear and a cub cross a road in Yosemite National Park in August, a sight being repeated during the warm winter. Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

The black bears of the high Sierra are normally curled up in caves in January, enjoying long winter naps.

But with winter conditions hardly wintry this year, some bears are finding little reason to hibernate and are instead traipsing around like it's the middle of August.

Mountain residents and visitors have been startled by unexpected encounters with the giants, and wildlife managers from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park are cautioning folks about bear activity. Increased interaction between man and beast can lead to problems.

This month, skiers at Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe were stopped in their tracks by a bear scampering across a ski slope, a scene that was caught on video and spread across the Internet. Fortunately, the bear scurried off without incident.

On the north side of the lake, a 260-pound male bear broke into several cars last month and at least one home. He was deemed a threat to public safety, prompting wildlife managers to put the animal down. An Incline Village woman was given Nevada's first written warning for feeding the bear, authorities said.

The effects of the mild winter go further than bears, biologists say. All kinds of critters act differently during drought times, particularly if the dry weather extends through spring and causes food and water shortages, which can push animals beyond their normal range in search of sustenance.

Continuing to forage

For now, though, it's the bears drawing attention.

"In this weather, you're going to see more of them," said Chris Healy with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. "They're totally content to hibernate, but if the food's available, they'll get up and eat."

Black bears are not what many biologists call "true" hibernators. Unlike other animals, such as marmots, chipmunks and ground squirrels - whose dwindling body temperature forces them to retreat into a warm winter sleep - the larger, well-insulated bears hunker down only when food is hard to come by, biologists say.

In the Sierra, that means bears generally slumber between December and March. But with little snow bogging them down this year, many are continuing to forage. And some are falling back on their bad summer habit of seeking out the easy pickings of human trash.

While a small percentage of bears in the Lake Tahoe area have switched permanently to hibernation-free winters and scavenge residential neighborhoods year-round, counts of scavenging bears rise during dry years, according to wildlife managers.

"If we got 5 or 6 feet of snow up at the lake like we're all praying for, we'd be ecstatic because the bears would stay hunkered down," Healy said, "plus we'd have water for next summer."

Farther south, officials at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks also report more bear activity. Yosemite officials say they're not noticing the volume of bears they see in the summer - when the animals famously pillage cars and campgrounds - but there have been sightings, which are relatively uncommon this time of year.

Food chain may be at risk

Wildlife managers, meanwhile, are enforcing regulations more typical of July and August: Don't feed the bears, don't leave food in your vehicle, and secure your trash. The harm in breaking the rules, they say, is that bears become accustomed to humans, which increases the chance of a perilous exchange between an animal and a person.

This winter ranks among California's driest, and the parched spell follows two low-precipitation winters. As of last week, snowpack in the Sierra measured just 17 percent of normal.

The mild conditions mean more bears are awake than usual, and wildlife managers worry the problem is just beginning. Should the dry weather continue, it could upset the Sierra food chain - for example, limiting the amount of berries or insects for bears to feed on - and force the hungry animals into town.

"A drought basically dries up the natural food availability and dries up the water sources, and you get them not only wandering farther, but often coming to urban areas to fulfill their daily needs," explained Jason Holley, wildlife biologist supervisor for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We've seen upticks in drought years. We could be looking at that in the spring."

The same can be said of other critters: deer, coyotes, bobcats.

"A drought will affect basically all wildlife," Holley said. "They'll either walk or fly far enough to find what they need."

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Sierra-s-bears-wide-awake-dur...