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Is California’s Drought Finally Over? Here’s the Impact of the Latest Storms

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

If there’s concern about California’s wet winter turning dry, consider it shushed.

The heaps of snow over the past week on top of the parade of deluges in early January have been extraordinary and left much of the state with well-above-average precipitation for the season. The winter storms, which account for the bulk of the state’s rain and snow, are forecast to continue into next month, virtually ensuring a good water year for California.

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‘A Nice Sign’: Big Rockies Snowpack May Boost Lake Mead

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Colton Lochhead

It’s not even March yet, but the mountains that feed the Colorado River already have seen more snow this winter than they normally would through an entire snow season.

And with some snow in the forecast, there’s still more time for that snowpack to grow.

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Will Colorado River Return to Health This Year? Snowpack Remains a Third Above Normal

/in , , /by /8 News Nowby Greg Haas

February snowfall might have fallen behind January’s brisk pace, but the Upper Colorado River Basin will go into March still well above average snowpack levels.

With all the headlines about snow in California and Utah, the area that matters most to the Las Vegas valley and Lake Mead is the region around the Colorado River’s headwaters — where the river is born among the peaks in and around Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Calif. Reservoir Levels Show Signs of Improvement After Recent Winter Storms

/in , , /by /ABC 7 by Zach Fuentes

All of this rain in California has had positive impacts on some of the state’s main reservoirs. Though officials say reservoir levels have seen major improvements, we’re not out of the drought yet.

“California, statewide is at 131% of average precipitation,” said Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for the California Department of Water Resources, “What that means is that a lot of our reservoirs have had the opportunity to improve significantly, compared to last year or the year before. Most of our reservoirs are fairly close to full.”

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Colorado Conflicted About Cutting Its Water Use

/in , /by /Lake Powell Chronicleby Dave Marston

Not everyone is a fan, including Andy Mueller, director of the Colorado River District. He doesn’t like programs that pay farmers to stop farming. Mueller also didn’t ask for the Inflation Reduction Act’s $125 million to pay the farmers he represents. Mueller’s organization exists to keep Western Colorado’s rural water away from growing cities across the Rockies.

State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, who chairs the Committee for Agriculture and Natural Resources, has a more nuanced view.

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Opinion: Solving the Worsening Drought in the Western States Will Require All of Us Working Together

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein

For Californians, drought has been a constant and inescapable fact of life for decades. Worsening drought in the Western United States is just one of the many life-threatening impacts of the climate crisis. And as drying conditions bring water reservoirs along the Colorado River to dangerously low levels, the impact of extended drought conditions is now threatening 40 million Americans’ access to water — unless we can come up with a plan to protect it.

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This Reservoir on the Sacramento River Has Been Planned for Decades. What’s Taking So Long?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alastair Bland

Last century, California built dozens of large dams, creating the elaborate reservoir system that supplies the bulk of the state’s drinking and irrigation water. Now state officials and supporters are ready to build the next one.

The Sites Reservoir — planned in a remote corner of the western Sacramento Valley for at least 40 years — has been gaining steam and support since 2014, when voters approved Prop. 1, a water bond that authorized $2.7 billion for new storage projects.

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How the Winter Storm Could Impact California Reservoirs

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Pandora Dewan

Southern California is bracing for a cold winter storm this weekend that is expected to bring up to 5 feet of snow accumulation in certain areas.

While this forecast might curtail your outdoor weekend plans, it is excellent news for the state’s recovering water reservoirs.

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How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by James Dinneen

Between Christmas and January this year, a parade of nine atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor flowing east from the tropical Pacific — pummeled California. The trillions of gallons of rain poured on the state caused widespread flooding. While the rain topped up some drought-depleted reservoirs and aquifers and filled out snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, much of the water quickly ran off into the sea, flowing off asphalt and farms or released from reservoirs to prevent further flooding.

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Cold Storm Brings Rain, Blizzard Warnings to California

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Robert Jablon

California and other parts of the West faced heavy snow and rain Friday from the latest winter storm to pound the U.S., while thousands of people in Michigan shivered through extended power outages wrought by one of the worst ice storms in decades.

The National Weather Service warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” that would last through Saturday in California.

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