November was the hottest, driest ever in the Coachella Valley

This November was the warmest on record for Palm Springs and broad swaths of the desert and Inland Empire. That's the word from the National Weather Service, which on Wednesday also said average temperature records were set in Anza Borrego State Park, Riverside, Elsinore and San Jacinto.

The average temperature in Palm Springs for the month was 72.7 degrees. The previous warmest November on record, averaging 70.9 degrees, was in 2017.

The record heat comes atop bone-dry conditions last month that show no sign of changing this winter. Continued drought across California forced top officials to announce Wednesday that no water other than what is critical to health and safety will be available from Sierra snowpack and other diminished State Water Project supplies next year. State regulators also announced they might impose watering restrictions in early 2022.

"We need to prepare now for a dry winter and severe drought conditions to continue through 2022,” said Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth. “If conditions continue to be this dry, we will see mandatory cutbacks.”

Casey Oswant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego, which tracks Southern California precipitation via automatic monitors in key locations, said dry La Niña conditions are projected to continue over the next three months.

Palm Springs, Victorville, Big Bear Lake and Riverside all tied previous records for the driest month ever in November.

The double whammy is dangerous for everyone from joggers to firefighters, said Oswalt.

"We always are big proponents of staying hydrated, especially out in desert when it is quite warm, and then because it has been so dry, it does increase the risk of fire, because the vegetation is drier."

Most of the Coachella Valley depends on State Water Project imports handled by the Metropolitan Water District to augment supplies from the Colorado River, which is also facing record lows in its reservoirs. A federal emergency was declared on the river system in August, and cutbacks have begun in Arizona.

Unless there is major rainfall or snowfall, the only California water project supply will be for domestic use and for emergency purposes like firefighting. The State Water Project is a complex system of reservoirs, canals and dams that supplies water to 29 large water providers. Each has a maximum amount they can request each year and the state decides how much to allocate based on supplies.

Allocations are updated monthly as precipitation amounts are tallied, with a final allocation typically determined in May or June. The lowest initial allocations in the past were 5% in 2010 and 2014. Last year, the first state allocation was 10%, but due to prolonged drought, the final allocation was lowered to 5%.

Possible mandatory restrictions on watering lawns and plants and other measures were also announced by California's Water Resources Control Board late Tuesday, though they stopped short of calling for an outright ban. But if the proposed emergency regulation is approved early next year, water districts could be required to issue fines if customers water within 48 hours of a rainstorm or use drinking water to clean streets.

Homeowners associations could also could banned from restricting drought-tolerant landscaping or other conservation measures.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s October drought proclamation directed the water board to adopt prohibitions if necessary. He also urged Californians to voluntarily slash water use by 15%, but those levels have not been met in many locations.

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The record heat continues a steady upward trend of higher temperatures over the past 30 years, Oswalt said, though she said climate scientists would have to comment on whether it is linked to global climate change.

"From time to time it happens that we tend to get a new record broken," she said. "We did just get new climate normals (data) and those have shown that overall things have gotten warmer in the past 30 years."

As for the lack of rain, she said current dry weather is due to La Niña conditions, which occur when sea surface temperatures at the equator are cooler than normal.

"Basically what generally happens during a La Niña is a ridge of high pressure settles over the U.S. West Coast, and essentially what it does is any rain we could've gotten from weather systems is instead up in the Pacific Northwest."

Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun. She co-authors USA Today Climate Point, a free weekly newsletter. She can be reached at janet.wilson@desertsun.com or on Twitter @janetwilson66

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: November was hottest ever in the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs area