A shortage on the Colorado River has put tremendous pressure on the water supply that serves more than 40-million people in the Western United States.
But a punishing drought and the over allocation of the river have also created an urgent problem for California’s Salton Sea.
A series of winter storms will work together to usher in some of the coldest and windiest conditions of the season across California. These winds will be accompanied by waves of atmospheric moisture that will crash into Northern California from Wednesday to Friday morning.
Widespread rain showers will impact most of the Bay Area on Wednesday through Friday, while periods of snow showers will be possible farther inland — including the Sierra Nevada and some foothills near the coast. These winter storms will also hoist thunderstorms onto the coastline, raising the chances for small hail and ice pellets in areas along Highways 101 and 1.
When Bay Area residents wake up later this week and get a look outside, they might wonder if they’ve been transported many degrees north, with snow from an unusually cold and windy winter storm possibly carpeting the region’s major peaks and even reaching hills as low as 1,000 feet.
Their timing wasn’t great.
After moving to Sonoma County from Santa Monica in 2020, Kim and David Lockhart purchased River’s Edge Kayak & Canoe in Healdsburg. Heavy rains across the region the year before had caused widespread flooding, especially along the lower Russian River.
Winter storms have filled California’s reservoirs and built up a colossal Sierra snowpack that’s nearly twice its normal size for this time of year. But years of dry conditions have created problems far beneath the Earth’s surface that aren’t as easily addressed.
Groundwater — found in underground layers containing sand, soil and rock — is crucial for drinking water and sustaining farms.
There’s one word for what six of the seven southwestern states that draw water from the Colorado River are trying to do to California: bullying.
The good news for Californians is that Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t standing for it.
Weeks after powerful storms dumped 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow on California, state officials and environmental groups in the drought-ravaged state are grappling with what to do with all of that water.
State rules say when it rains and snows a lot in California, much of that water must stay in the rivers to act as a conveyer belt to carry tens of thousands of endangered baby salmon into the Pacific Ocean.
Ever since the late December and January deluge, California has been pretty dry.
Since the beginning of February, Sacramento Executive Airport has recorded 0.56″ of rain. The relatively dry weather since mid-January allowed the state to dry out and lowered flood risk, but another storm cycle heading into the dry season would be incredibly beneficial in terms of breaking out of drought.
California authorities face renewed pressure to preserve the valuable salty waters of the Mono Lake — as despite recent rainfall, a historic drought and demands from the Los Angeles area have depleted it.
In a workshop Wednesday, the state Water Resources Control Board discussed Mono Lake’s current conditions amid the impacts of severe drought and ongoing diversions.
Water levels in Lake Powell dropped to a new record low on Tuesday. The nation’s second-largest reservoir is under pressure from climate change and steady demand, and is now the lowest it’s been since it was first filled in the 1960s.
Water levels fell to 3,522.16 feet above sea level, just below the previous record set in April 2022. The reservoir is currently about 22% full, and is expected to keep declining until around May, when mountain snowmelt will rush into the streams that flow downstream to Powell.
