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String of Brutal Atmospheric Rivers Imperils a California Already Weakened by Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

A successive series of powerful atmospheric river storms poses a growing threat to California as the ground becomes more saturated, river levels rise and heavy winds threaten the power infrastructure. This week’s storms are expected to dump intense levels of rain in a fairly short period of time. The greatest potential for disaster is in Northern California, which has already been battered by several destructive storms — including one this weekend that caused a deadly levee breach.

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Snowpack at 142% After Week of Storms in Upper Colorado River Basin

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

Snowpack levels crucial to water supplies in the Colorado River basin have been rising over the past week as storms hit the Rocky Mountains. Dec. 27 measurements of 102% snowpack in the region — just above normal — had risen to 142% as of today in the Upper Colorado River Basin. That week-to-week change is good news but demonstrates the volatility of snowpack levels.

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California’s Snow Pack at Decade-High for New Year After Massive Storms

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

After three years of drought, California is beginning 2023 with more snow on the ground than at any start to a year in a decade. State water officials trekked into the Sierra Nevada to conduct the first snow survey of the winter season on Tuesday, reporting 174% of average statewide snowpack for the date.

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How Climate Change Is Shaping California’s Winter Storms

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Raymond Zhong

Drenching rains forecast to pummel California on Wednesday and again over the weekend are poised to be the third and fourth major storms to march through in less than two weeks, raising the prospect of more misery in a season that has already brought flooding, debris flows and power outages to parts of the state. Over the weekend, rescuers scoured rural areas of Sacramento County looking for people trapped in homes or cars.

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Opinion: In Praise of the Monthly Water Bill

/in , /by /The Hillby Kathryn Sorensen, Bidtah Becker and Manny Teodoro

The cost of delivering safe, clean tap water to every household and business in a community is massive. In fact, it may be among the most expensive of all human undertakings. That is why only the wealthiest countries have achieved it at high rates and why 2 billion people on our planet still lack it.

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San Francisco, Los Angeles to Receive More Heavy Rain

/in , , /by /AccuWeatherby Alex Sosnowski

More moisture-packed storms are expected to pay a visit to California during the first week of 2023 following an atmospheric river that dropped a historic amount of rain on the San Francisco Bay area as well as heavy snow in higher elevations on New Year’s Eve. Because of the saturated state of the ground, another atmospheric river during the middle and latter part of the week will lead to more flooding and mudslides in the Golden State, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

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Conservationists Fight to End Los Angeles Water Imports From Eastern Sierra’s Mono Lake

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagún

As California enters what is expected to be a fourth year of drought, the State Water Resources Control Board is reviewing a request from environmentalists to suspend Los Angeles Department of Water and Power diversions from Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. In its request, the nonprofit Mono Lake Committee argues that the combination of drought and diversions from streams that feed the lake are exposing the lake bottom near islands that host one of the world’s largest nesting gull populations.

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California’s Snowpack Near Decade High. What’s It Mean for the Drought?

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Scooty Nickerson

As the new year begins, California’s Sierra is closing in on the second-largest snowpack we’ve seen at this time of year in the last two decades, with more snow expected to pummel the mountain range in the coming days. But here’s why it’s far too soon to declare an end to the drought: Last year, we started 2022 with a similar bounty — and then ended the snow season way, way, way below normal.

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La Niña Expected to Serve Up a Hat Trick

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Jonathan Thompson

She’s baaaack! For the past two years, La Niña, the cooling of ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, has wreaked havoc on weather around the globe. Now the World Meteorological Organization expects the phenomenon to return for a third consecutive year, a rare occurrence that forecasters predict could bring wackier-than-usual winter weather to the West, once again. 

 

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Opinion: What California Can Learn From Wave of Storms

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

California, particularly Northern California, was walloped by a major winter rain and snow storm last week and meteorologists expect that high levels of precipitation will continue for at least another week. Despite some damage and at least one death from local flooding and tree-toppling high winds, the storm and the predictions of more to come are welcome relief from what had appeared to be a prolonged drought.

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