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Atmospheric rivers are California’s drought-busters. As we saw in the recent series of storms between January 7 and 10, a single wet weekend can dramatically reverse the state’s water accounts. The state still hasn’t completely pulled out of the drought. But just a few days after those storms, the California Department of Water Resources increased its water delivery forecast for 2017 from 45 percent to 60 percent for water agencies that rely on the State Water Project.

“Full moon, clear sky, no wind, and snow on the mountains,” Chris MacArthur, Riverside councilman explained was a terrifying sight for California citrus growers in a phone interview. The threat of frost is with growers every winter. But this winter has seen many wet nights turning MacArthur groves in the Green Zone into a “muddy mess.”

The Bay Area is about to turn the page on the wettest January in 20 years, which begs the question: How much rain will February bring? The answer won’t come for another four weeks, but the Bay Area is expected to begin February with another storm system which could drop as much as 3 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Rain is expected to move into the region late Wednesday, with the heaviest downpours expected Thursday, according to Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the weather service.

 

Think of the snow that falls each winter in the Sierra Nevada as something like a paycheck for California’s water supply. The mountain snow melts and flows into downstream reservoirs, helping pay the “bills” for the state’s agricultural, urban and environmental water supply needs through the hot, dry summer and fall. A drought, then, like the historic one that has gripped California for five-plus years and provided little mountain snowfall, is a lot like getting laid off.