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Atmospheric River Possible Next Week For California, Raising Flood Concerns

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

Computer models are showing a growing likelihood of an atmospheric river storm hitting California late next week, raising concerns that if a warm “Pineapple Express” barrels in with enough force, it could melt parts of the state’s big Sierra Nevada snow pack and increase flood risk. Atmospheric scientists and meteorologists say more will be known in a few days. The storm could still fizzle the way hurricanes that develop far out in the Atlantic Ocean sometimes fail to materialize or make landfall.

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Salton Sea: Fish And The Birds That Fed On Them Wiped Out This Winter

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

Tim Bradley crunched across a broad beach made of dead barnacles and fish bones. He bent down and stirred green slime, tinged with brown foam at the western edge of the vast lake unfurled before him. It was a sign for the longtime biologist that the much-maligned Salton Sea is alive. “It’s just algae and bacteria and scum and so forth, but it’s an incredible thing, because this could be a very productive site,” he said. “The water is so full of nutrients. See those bubbles there? The only question is, what’s going to take advantage of that?”

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Wet Winter Greatly Reduces Drought Conditions In California

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby As published by The Associated Press

A very wet winter has greatly reduced drought conditions in California, but Ventura County isn’t out of the woods yet. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that more than 34 percent of the state including the Sierra Nevada, much of the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area is free of any significant dryness. Ventura County is in a portion of the state rated as “abnormally dry” after rain eased the “moderate drought” rating for an area that stretched from the Central Coast down through the southern tier of the state.

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‘Critical Shutdown’ Stops River Water From Reaching Lake Casitas

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Cheri Carlson

Runoff from the Ventura River gave Lake Casitas some much-needed relief over the past several weeks until about five feet of muck got in the way. With no imported water, the lake depends on local rainfall and river runoff, including through a diversion canal above the lake. In recent years, however, diverting water happened a lot less as a years-long drought dragged on. Rainstorms got fewer and much further between. Lake levels dropped and the local water supply shrank.

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VOSD Podcast: Going Deep On Pure Water

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Adriana Heldiz

For more than a decade, San Diego has been talking about recycling water. Wastewater would be filtered to drinking water standards and eventually provide the city about a third of its water needs. In November, the City Council approved the first, $1.4 billion phase of the project, but the city can’t and won’t say how much that will affect customer’s bills. Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard joins the pod this week to talk about why the city is saying “there is no simple calculation” it could perform to see how much ratepayer’s will have to foot the bill. That discussion starts at minute 29.

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The California Department of Water Resources conducted the second snow survey of the 2019 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The survey site is approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento in El Dorado County. Photo: Florence Low / California Department of Water Resources.

Mid-Winter Storms Drench California, Boost Sierra Snowpack

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A remarkable series of winter storms in January and early February has doubled the Sierra Nevada snowpack and recharged reservoirs across the state of California. With more rain and snow in the forecast, California’s water supply picture is far better than it was a year ago, when San Diego received the second-lowest amount of rainfall on record since 1850.

In San Diego County, Lindbergh Field has recorded more than nine inches of rain since October 1, which is nearly the average annual rainfall of 10.33 inches, according to the National Weather Service. More storms are on the way: NWS has forecast more showers in the next few weeks.

Some of the wettest local spots include Mt. Woodson, which received 4.34 inches of rain in the past five days, Lower Oat Flats with 4.08 inches, Rainbow Camp with 3.6 inches, and Fallbrook and Bonsall each with 3.41 inches.

Local rainfall is important, because it allows residents and farmers to reduce or eliminate irrigation for weeks or months at time while Mother Nature does the work. In addition, local surface water meets about 10 percent of San Diego’s annual water needs. From a supply perspective, it is much more important snowpacks continue to grow in the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.

Water conditions far better than 2018

Surveyors with the California Department of Water Resources recorded 50 inches of snow and a “snow water equivalent” of 18 inches on January 31 at Phillips Station, where DWR has conducted manual snow surveys for decades.

This was the second of five snow surveys planned for this winter. More than 50 agencies at the local, state and federal levels collaborate on the Cooperative Snow Surveys Program to collect snow data from more than 300 locations statewide each year. Results from these surveys are crucial to water management in California.

The most recent survey at Phillips Station showed the snowpack as 98 percent of average to date – just shy of the statewide average. By comparison, on February 1, 2018, measurements at Phillips Station showed a snow water equivalent of 2.6 inches – just 14 percent of the early-February average. Snow water equivalent is a standard metric of how much water is held in snow.

In the Upper Colorado River Basin, conditions are slightly better than they are in California – a good sign for a region that has suffered nearly two decades of drought. Precipitation and snow water equivalent were both at 105 percent of average at the end of January.

No shortages are expected on the Colorado River system in 2019, though long-term drought conditions continue to be a concern across the Southwest.

San Diego well-positioned to meet regional water demands

The National Weather Service reports that between Oct. 1, 2018, and Feb. 6, 2019, San Diego County received more than nine inches of rain at Lindbergh Field, which was 165 percent of normal, and more than 11 inches of rain at Ramona Airport, which was 142 percent of normal.

“This winter is shaping up nicely,” said Jeff Stephenson, a principal water resources specialist at the San Diego County Water Authority. “A well-timed string of storms and cooler temperatures is allowing us to leave water in storage for use during the dry summer months – and it’s important that everyone continue to leave off their irrigation systems while there’s plenty of water in the soil.”

No matter how the winter plays out, the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies have enough water to meet regional water demands for the foreseeable future. This is made possible by a combination of investments in drought-resilient resources, including the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, conserved agricultural water transfers and continued water-use efficiency measures.

Californians With Bad Water Ask For Help While Opposition Mounts To Newsom’s Proposed Tax

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Maddy Ashmun

Californians with unhealthy drinking water pleaded for help from lawmakers this week but opposition quickly developed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to pay for system improvements with a new fee. “We just upped our water rates, and to turn around and give them a tax on their meter is just not feasible,” said Maxine Israel, director at the Cabazon Water District, which serves about 2,500 customers near Palm Springs.

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2018 Was The U.S.’s Third-Wettest Year On Record—Here’s Why

/in , , /by /National Geographicby Alejandra Borunda

On Wednesday, NASA and NOAA announced that 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record. But the impacts of a warming planet extend beyond just warming air; the feverish state of the planet is also changing when, where, and how intensely rain and snow fall. And 2018, the reports say, was the third-wettest year since 1895, when steady record-keeping began. Overall, the U.S. got 4.68 inches more precipitation in 2018 than the 20th-century average, but that rain and snow was not anywhere close to evenly distributed across the country. In the eastern half, several states, like North Carolina and Virginia, blew past their previous precipitation records, while most of the western U.S. remained mired in drought.

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Two Year Anniversary Of Oroville Spillway Crisis: Emergency Spillway Nears Completion

/in , /by /KRCR News Channel (Redding, Calif.)by Kelli Saam

Thursday marks two years since the first hole opened up in the Oroville Dam Spillway, triggering an emergency that forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people. The crisis started on February 7, 2017. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) had been releasing 60,000 cubic feet of water per second, when they noticed the concrete on the spillway began to disintegrate. That first day, the hole was 30 feet deep by 180 feet wide.

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More Frosty Weather On The Way For California, And The Snow Might Stick Awhile

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar

From the Bay Area to Los Angeles, it was a day to gaze upon snow-capped peaks, acknowledge that yes, California does have a winter, and share a photo or two on social media. And don’t expect the alpine glory — caused by a series of cold storms that dropped snow levels dramatically — to disappear soon. Wet weather will kick back up again Friday for large swaths of the state, which could bring hazardous conditions for drivers.

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