El Niño has been little more than a cruel joke in Southern California this winter. The torrential rains haven’t materialized. Groundwater aquifers have been pumped to near-historic lows. A sizable reservoir two hours east of Los Angeles, built for $2 billion as drought insurance, is two-thirds empty, its boat launch closed.

Folsom Lake is 10 feet higher Sunday as compared to a month ago. “I have seen it go from Desert Folsom to Lake Folsom,” said Stacey Nieporte, who was visiting the lake Sunday from El Dorado Hills.

Folsom Lake now stands at 439 feet deep — that’s 110 percent of the historical average for this date, according to the California Data Exchange Center at the Department of Water Resources. There is now much more water to enjoy for enthusiasts like Mark Wilson, who just bought a jet ski two weeks ago to take advantage of the rising lake levels.

Atmospheric scientists have found that California’s highest temperatures are almost always associated with blocking ridges, regions of high atmospheric pressure than can disrupt wind patterns – including one known as the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge. The Triple R, as it’s called, is also linked with California’s drought.

In new research published online this week in the journal Science Advances, a team of researchers led by Stanford University scientist Noah Diffenbaugh analyzed the occurrence of large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns that occurred during California’s historical precipitation and temperature extremes.

Some federal water contractors in California were outraged on April 1 when the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) drew a hard line at the Delta, giving those north of it a full allotment of irrigation water and those south of it little to none.

This year’s “miracle March” will give all northern California water users 100 percent of their requested Central Valley Project (CVP) allocations while limiting south-of-the-Delta users to 5 percent.