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Despite an ‘Incredible’ Snowpack, Drought Not Over in California

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson

California may celebrate having double the expected snowpack after a string of atmospheric river storms, but state water experts warn that more needs to come to offset years of record-breaking drought.

At the season’s second monthly snowpack survey conducted Wednesday at Phillips Station — at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road — the California Department of Water Resources measured current snow depths and water content.

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January Was San Diego’s Wettest Month Since Feb. 2005: NWS

/in , , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Karla Rendon-Alvarez

If you thought San Diego County was off to a particularly wet start to the new year, you’re absolutely right. The National Weather Service said with January, the region experienced its wettest month since February 2005.

Winter storms brought measurable rain to the county last month, bringing a rain total of 5.14 inches, according to the agency. The average January rainfall in San Diego is 1.98 inches, to give you a better idea of how wet conditions have been.

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California Has Huge Snowpack, but Dry Trend Raises Worries

/in , , /by /AP Newsby John Antczak

The mountain snowpack that supplies a significant amount of California’s water got an incredible boost from recent powerful storms and is outpacing the state’s wettest season on record, state water officials said Wednesday.

But its too soon to know if the winter will be a drought-buster, they said.

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California Water Agencies Submit Colorado River Modeling Framework to Bureau of Reclamation

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

California water agencies that rely on the Colorado River today proposed a modeling framework for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to evaluate as it considers actions to help stabilize reservoir elevations and protect critical infrastructure to ensure the Colorado River system can continue to support 40 million people, nearly 6 million acres of agriculture, and Tribes across seven states and portions of Mexico.

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Imperial Irrigation District Responds to Six-State Consensus on Colorado River

/in , , /by /Imperial Valley Press by Marcie Landeros

Responding to an Associated Press (AP) article titled “California lone holdout in consensus for Colorado River cuts,” Imperial Irrigation District Division 2 Director and Chairman of the Colorado River Board of Directors J.B. Hamby said the six-state consensus is inconsistent with the “Law of the River.”

The AP article appeared in the Tuesday, January 31 edition of the Imperial Valley Press, where the article accused California of not joining a plan created by the other six Colorado Basin States to see more than 2-million-acre feet of water cut from most the lower basin.

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California Fires Back at Other Western States With Its Own Colorado River Plan

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Dueling plans for how to save the fast-drying Colorado River have been submitted by California and six other states to federal authorities, who have made clear they may impose draconian cuts if consensus is not reached regionally on deep reductions. That agreement could be hard to come by.

California swung hard at six other Western states late Tuesday, submitting its own proposal for more than 3 million acre feet in reductions — both from current and future agreements — if necessary from the river’s dwindling reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

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California Releases Its Own Plan for Colorado River Cuts

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne and Suman Naishadham

California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal.

In a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California described how states could conserve between 1 million and nearly 2 million acre feet of water through new cuts based on the elevation of Lake Mead, a key reservoir.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Hits Biggest Level in Nearly 30 Years

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply — is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Not since Toy Story packed movie theaters, Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Super Bowl win, and gasoline cost $1.28 a gallon has there been so much snow in California’s most famous mountain range at the end of January.

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How Do You Track an Atmospheric River? Climb Aboard This Highflying Reconnaissance Jet

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The interior of the plane looked like a cross between a private luxury jet and a space mission control room.

The Gulfstream IV cruised at 43,000 feet, high above a seemingly peaceful layer of thick clouds that stretched to the horizon.

Crew members in blue jumpsuits stared at computer screens that revealed their hidden target miles below: a powerful atmospheric river that was churning across the Pacific Ocean toward California, bearing torrential rains and fierce winds.

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States Miss Deadline to Address Colorado River Water Crisis, Pressure Builds on California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a Jan. 31 federal deadline for reaching a regionwide consensus on how to sharply reduce water use, raising the likelihood of more friction as the West grapples with how to take less supplies from the shrinking river.

In a bid to sway the process after contentious negotiations reached an impasse, six of the seven states gave the federal government a last-minute proposal outlining possible water cuts to help prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels, presenting a unified front while leaving out California, which uses the single largest share of the river.

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