There is good news and bad news about the big warm-water “Blob” that has wreaked havoc on the North Pacific for the past three years, an expert told fellow scientists at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage. The good news: The unusual warm conditions that have persisted in the waters off Alaska and the West Coast now appear to be diminishing, said the climatologist who named the water mass the “Blob.”
California’s historic drought may be winding down. But water officials across the Golden State are increasingly exploring a hidden but promising way to add to the state’s water supply: removing salt from the billions of gallons of brackish — or distastefully salty — water that lies deep below the Earth’s surface. A new report by the Pacific Institute that explores the cost of potential water sources in California is spurring hopes that the desalination of brackish water could quickly become a vital tap in the state.
The National Weather Service predicts three storms are coming to the Sacramento region this week, potentially adding at least 2 1/2 inches of rain to an already saturated season. The first storm will start Sunday night into Monday, bringing gusts of winds between 30 and 50 mph in the valley, said NWS meteorologist Jason Clapp. Stronger winds are expected in the mountains. Snow levels will be between 5,500 and 6,000 feet for the first storm, he said, and some parts of the Sierra could see up to two feet pile up.
On the heels of a storm-tossed January, another atmospheric river is taking aim at Northern California, but there’s a chance it might miss the Bay Area, according to the National Weather Service.The steady flow of moisture from the Pacific is expected to set up Tuesday morning above the North Bay and Northern Sierra Nevada; however, there’s a possibility it could shift south to the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the weather service. Forecasters will have a better idea of its path in the coming days.
Amid heavy winter rains, recovering reservoirs and improving groundwater, the San Jose Water Company — which provides drinking water to 1 million people in San Jose and neighboring communities — has dropped its drought surcharges. The private company announced the change Wednesday, making it the last large water provider in the Bay Area to suspend fines and penalties for excessive water use.
Two years ago, as the Sierra snowpack would normally be peaking, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on a barren mountain slope near Lake Tahoe and announced statewide emergency drought measures. Standing in the same spot today, he’d be buried under more than seven feet of snow. “It’s a transformed landscape,” observed Tom Painter, a snow hydrologist and principal investigator at the NASA Airborne Snow Observatory.
Titled “Raindance,” this drone-shot video provides images that begin at Lake Clementine Dam on the Middle Fork American River in the foothills east of the Sacramento Valley and brings viewers down to the confluence with the heavy-flowing Sacramento River at the capital’s flooded Discovery Park to Tower Bridge and beyond.
The State Water Resources Control Board staff is formally proposing that the state’s emergency conservation regulation be extended another 270 days! A draft resolution to amend and readopt the emergency regulation will be taken up after 1 p.m. on February 8, 2017 at the State Board meeting in Sacramento. Comments on the proposed resolution will only be accepted through noon Monday, February 6, 2017!
A state Initiative would establish in the California Constitution that the highest priorities of beneficial water use are: first, domestic use, and second, irrigation use. The California State Water Resources Control Board is now the greatest threat facing water users in the state, a threat that can best be overcome by returning power to the People of California. The Board claims that double the current environmental flows from the San Joaquin River and tributaries must be taken for fish. The Board, with complete indifference, calls the resultant community and economic devastation an “unavoidable impact.”
California is the snowiest place on earth right now. This is after it experienced record snowfalls since November. Prior to this, it had statewide drought problems for years.In the California resort of Mammoth, which is near Yosemite National Park, the record on snowfall has been broken. More powder fell in January compared to any month in its history. Last January 25, more than 6 meters of snow fell, breaking the record by 1 meter, according to Telegraph Co UK. What’s more, it was expected that more snow would fall during the succeeding days.
