You are now in California and the U.S. category.

It looks like November will be about an inch short of normal rainfall in Sacramento as the region dries out for the remainder of the month. Scattered showers on Monday are expected to clear away as a fast-moving system exits to the southeast. A high pressure system is expected to build along the west coast, leading to an absence of rain in Northern California through Sunday. If the rainfall stays away through the end of the month, Sacramento will end up with about 1.4 inches of rain, which is about an inch short of the 2.43 the city normally gets in November.

 

Since 2000, California has suffered some of its worst droughts since state climate record keeping began in the late 1800s. The 2001-2002 rainy season in Southern California was the driest on record. The drought of 2011-2014 was the worst in state history. As of May 2015, the drought has worsened and continued. Current Water Conservation Efforts Are Not Sufficient California implemented numerous water conservation efforts to counteract the lack of fresh water. Eventually, those efforts will not be enough if the drought continues. So what is Plan B in case of emergencies?

Arizona farmers, cities and tribes continue to work on a deal to avert major cutbacks in water deliveries from Lake Mead in the coming years.

State water managers are quietly making their pitch to those stakeholders who rely on the Colorado River to voluntarily give up some water now to avoid potentially losing even more later.

There’s about a 50 percent chance Southwest states will face a shortage declaration in 2018. The proposed “drought contingency plan” would result in almost 200,000 acre feet being left in Mead when the water level is between 1090 feet and 1075 feet.

Dozens of water agencies in drought-weary California may only receive 20 percent of their requested deliveries in 2017, state officials said Monday. But the Department of Water Resources initial allocation forecast is twice more than that announced a year ago. Officials said winter storms in coming months may boost the first 2017 allocation, but point out California’s deep drought lingers. Initial allocations almost always change. The 10 percent allocation ultimately gave way to a 60 percent allocation for 2016. The rainy season has had a strong start with snow in the Sierra Nevada and rain in parched Southern California.

An impressive storm system drenched much of the Central San Joaquin Valley with rain over the weekend and dropped much-needed snow in the Sierra. Snow levels fell to around 3,500 feet in the foothills. “It was our first, real significant winter system,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Barlow said. An overall .77 inches of rain was recorded at the Fresno Air Terminal by Sunday. In Madera County, half an inch of rain was recorded at the Madera Airport by Sunday.