After another week of severe winter weather, levels in California’s recovering water reservoirs have continued to rise, signaling good news for the state’s summer water supplies.
This follows weeks of considerable rain and snowfall in California since the start of 2023.
The three states that comprise the Colorado River’s Lower Basin – Arizona, California and Nevada – are weighing in on a proposal to pause some water releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in an effort to prop up Lake Powell.
Those states essentially agreed with the idea of suspending water releases, but said water managers should wait a few months to see the full effects of spring runoff, and leave the door open for additional releases if warranted. They also stressed the need for input from all of the states which use water from the Colorado River.
The recent storms that walloped the Sierra have significantly moved the needle on the state’s stubborn drought: A large swathe of California, including part of the Sierra foothills, the Central Valley and the south-central coast, is no longer classified as being in drought, according to a map released Thursday by the federal government in partnership with a university group.
Almost 12 feet of snow has piled up at Donner Pass in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in the past seven days. (Feb 23 – March 1) And more snow is expected this weekend.
Five months into this water year, counted Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, more than 44 feet has fallen there at the Central Snow Laboratory, a University of California, Berkeley field research station. That’s more than double the median of 21.7 feet by this time of year.
Crews with the El Dorado Irrigation District are working to clear snow and debris from the flumes and canals that deliver water to its customers throughout the latest round of winter weather.
Matt Heape, a hydro operations and maintenance supervisor for the district, said the focus Tuesday was taking care of a 22-mile canal system.
About 250 Fallbrook fourth graders put their creative caps on for the Fallbrook Public Utility District’s annual water conservation poster contest. But only 14 made it into the final product: the 2023 “Be Water Smart” calendar.
Twelve of those winning images appear inside the calendar – one for each of the 12 months of the year; another image is printed on the cover, and another is for January 2024.
The cold, windy Pacific storm that drenched much of San Diego County late Tuesday night and Wednesday pushed seasonal rainfall at San Diego International Airport above average for the first time in three years, according to the National Weather Service.
Through 4 p.m. Wednesday, the airport has recorded 9.86 inches of precipitation since the rainy season began on Oct. 1. The airport averages 9.79 inches between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30.
Another barrage of rare storms has pummeled Southern California with rain, snow, and hail in the recent weeks, the National Weather Service said it isn’t likely California’s drought will be over soon.
The USDA projects U.S. agricultural exports will decline by $2.5 billion from last fiscal year’s $196 billion. At the same time, agricultural imports are projected to expand by $5 billion from $192 billion in FY 2022.
The latest in a lengthy spate of blustery storms making for a wet and icy winter in the San Diego area brought more widespread precipitation and stiff winds to the region Wednesday, but Thursday will be sunny and warmer after a cold morning.
By late Wednesday morning, the unsettled atmospheric system out of the northwest, which moved over the county early in the workweek, had delivered more than three inches of rain in some areas, scattered hail and upward of 10 more inches of snow in the mountains, the National Weather Service reported.
