Kit Stolz has a great look at drought in Southern California, with a particularly nice bit of business from Bill Patzert, the region’s most quotable climatologist:

Patzert had a more personal reason to doubt the forecast. In his backyard he has an old oak tree, and for years he has noticed that the tree seemed to drop far more acorns before wet years than dry years. This past fall his tree produced virtually no acorns.
Could an oak tree foresee a weather pattern that scientists couldn’t?

update: oops, forgot link