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California’s rainy season wasn’t supposed to play out like this.
With one of the strongest El Niño events ever observed peaking in the tropical Pacific Ocean, this was supposed to be an unusually stormy — possibly even destructive — winter, with a parade of storms rolling into central and southern California, one after the other.

At least this is the picture conjured up by many media outlets, and the expectation of people who experienced flooding and mudslides during last powerhouse El Niño event in 1997-98.

California’s soggy start to winter had many predicting the end of the state’s record drought.
Myths and overstatements popped up like weeds after winter rain.

Some said El Niño’s powerful storms could wash away the drought by spring. Others said the state couldn’t officially declare an end to the drought until reservoirs filled up. And then there were questions about whether an official drought-ending declaration could only come from California Gov. Jerry Brown.

California’s prolonged drought has visible consequences such as depleted reservoirs and mandatory water conservation rules. But one of the more expensive effects could be buried deep in your electric bill.

The Pacific Institute updated its study on the hidden costs of drought and estimated that Californians have paid an additional $2 billion dollars in electrical bills over the last four years.

Wild weather swings across the globe are caused, in part, by the phenomenon known as El Niño. That’s the warming of the Pacific Ocean that leads to drought in much of Africa, and soaking rain and floods on America’s West Coast.

But in Southern California, it appears that El Niño is temporarily on hold.

As a wet and windy storm blows in off the Pacific, a new San Jose-based radar system is watching it with the greatest precision ever, estimating rainfall in individual communities rather than providing a more general Bay Area forecast.

Discrete patches of incoming moisture are detected by a humming “X-band” radar unit on the rooftop of a treatment plant owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, predicting precipitation and flood risk with much greater accuracy than current technology. Four more units will be phased in over the next five years for the Peninsula, East Bay and North Bay.