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Yet More Rain Expected to Hit California in March. But Warmer Storms Could Cause Problems

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

Soggy, snow-capped California faces the likelihood of yet another month of wet weather, but what remains uncertain is whether this late winter precipitation will augment weeks of record-setting snowpack, or cause it to vanish should warmer rains arrive.

Last week, a frigid storm transformed portions of the state into a white landscape while toppling trees, prompting power outages, spurring water rescues and leaving some residents trapped by heavy snow.

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Opinion: Holding Firm on Colorado River Water is Right Move

/in , , /by /Ag Alertby Craig William Morgan

There is an old saying in the water world that it is better to be upstream with a shovel than downstream with a law book, which is the position California finds itself in as it stands apart from its neighbors on the Colorado River in negotiations over the use of the river’s water.

On Jan. 31, representatives for the six other basin states submitted a proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, describing the measures by which the supply deficit on the Colorado River should be closed in the near term.

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Heavy Rainfall Quenches California but Won’t Replenish Water Supplies

/in , , /by /Spectrum News 1by William D'Urso

Recent rains have distinguished this winter as one of the wettest to hit California in years. But experts say it won’t erase the damage of the many years of drought the state has suffered.

Rains in the state have caused floods, forced road closures and initiated evacuation warnings. And the state has reached about 95% of its average water storage for February compared to the 70% range for the same month in each of the past two years.

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Current Rainy Season Could Be a Drought Buster, Forecaster Says

/in , , /by /KPBSby Thomas Fudge

This weekend brought San Diego county one of the season’s biggest winter storms.

A cold storm from the north on Thursday brought low temperatures and snow levels down to 2,000 feet of elevation. Then conditions warmed as an atmospheric river brought tropical moisture to the region.

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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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California Approaching a Record Snow Year as Yet Another Storm Hits

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Grace Toohey and Nathan Solis

California was hit Monday with yet another winter storm, adding to what has become an unusually cold and wet season that some experts say has the chance to become one of the snowiest on record if conditions continue.

The new winter storm is forecast to bring more rain and snow across the state through Wednesday, though forecasters say it isn’t expected to be as exceptional as the previous system, which brought snowfall to unusually low elevations almost statewide.

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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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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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