A robust atmospheric river storm started to taper off Tuesday morning in the Bay Area after shuttering highways due to flooding and prompting evacuation warnings in areas left scarred by wildfires and susceptible to mudslides and debris flows.
In March of 2018, the California cities of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego sued the U.S. arm of the International Boundary and Water Commission over its failure to mitigate the flow of sewage-tainted water from the Tijuana River in Mexico. The lawsuit was in response to a February 2017 crisis, when more than 200 million gallons of sewage contaminated the California coast after a winter storm damaged sewer infrastructure in Mexico (“Two countries, one border and their shared pollution,” 12/06/18).
Environmental groups claim Utah and two other upper basin states — Colorado and New Mexico — are overusing their share of water from the Colorado River.
The Utah Rivers Council released a report Monday saying the Colorado River’s flows have dropped about 20% since 2000. The report outlines that the hydrology of the river hasn’t stopped the three states from pursuing large water projects.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography has updated its popular watershed precipitation forecasts as part of its interactive “Decision Support Tools” page. These forecasts focus on quantifying and illustrating the 10-day precipitation forecasts averaged for the 126 Hydrologic Unit Code 8 (HUC-8) watersheds in California from four numerical weather prediction models. These models include the deterministic and ensemble models of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System and the European Centre for Medium-Ranged Weather Forecasts model.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography has updated its watershed precipitation forecasts. (Graphic: Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes)
An ongoing species conservation habitat project at the Salton Sea’s southwestern shore is serving as a reminder that the sea’s restoration remains a key priority for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
So, too, is a tour that dozens of state, federal and local stakeholders took of the project site where the New River enters the Salton Sea several miles west of Westmorland on Friday, Dec. 10.
Among those present was California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who said the tour was an acknowledgement of the ambitious Salton Sea Management Program’s progress and the overall work that remains to be done.
Over the last 20 years, the water flow in the Colorado River has declined by roughly 20%. But some states in the river’s basin, including Utah, haven’t adjusted to the dwindling supply.
And if it doesn’t make adjustments, Mexico and other states in the Lower Colorado River Basin could demand the Beehive State scale back its water use.
A major winter storm hitting Northern California with rain and snow was expected to intensify Monday and bring travel headaches and the threat of localized flooding after an especially warm and dry fall in the U.S. West.
Light rain and snow that began falling on Sunday got heavier overnight. The multiday storm could dump more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow on the highest peaks in California and Nevada and drench other parts of the states as it pushes south and east before moving out midweek.
Dire warnings about communities and farms running dry next year. Headlines proclaiming a potentially dry La Niña winter. Reservoirs already so low they look like sets for post-apocalyptic movies. California seems poised for a continuation of its crippling drought next summer.
Climate-driven drought is making the once unthinkable foreseeable. Amid water shortages, your faucets could run dry, as has been a possibility in Marin County, California. Violate mandatory water restrictions and you might face steep fines or even a cutoff of service.
The winter storm that could dump several feet of snow in the Sierra and soak the Sacramento Valley with rain is listed as a “strong” category “AR 3” system by the scientists who study the powerful storms that supply California with most of its water. In 2019, the scientists who study the storms known as “atmospheric rivers” agreed to a ranking scale similar to the “Cat” system used to describe a hurricane.
