California’s Central Coast is an expensive place to grow food. The Pajaro Valley, which stretches for 10 miles along the coast of Monterey Bay, charges farmers for irrigation water from wells, a system that’s far different from elsewhere in the nation, where growers typically water their crops by freely pumping groundwater.
Brown leaves, dried branches and barely any avocados are what’s left on Stewart’s Avocado Farms in Fallbrook. It’s a different scene from what was there last year. Stewart’s 2023 crop that’ll be harvested in 2024 is almost non-existent due to the colder weather throughout San Diego County. It’s a big change from what he’s been used to.
With precipitation and snowpack falling behind normal levels for this time of year, the 40 million people served by the Colorado River have last year’s wet winter to thank for the Basin’s relative stability. Right now, the entire American West is struggling with snow drought. Snowpack for the Upper Colorado River Basin — which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — stands at a dismal 57.7% of average as of Jan. 3.
There’s been a pipeline floating on top of the Miramar Reservoir in San Diego. It is one end of an 8-mile conduit that will connect the reservoir to the city’s wastewater recycling plant, now under construction. Later this week, this part of the pipeline will be under 100 feet of water.
It’s always nice to get a thank-you or two from those you work alongside like Recycled Water Supervisor Mike Piper. He recently was handed a card and box of chocolates as a sincere gesture from a young utility worker he had mentored. The worker expressed gratitude for Piper’s guidance and dedication, noting that Piper went above and beyond, even on days off, to help him meet professional standards.
California’s statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack—the source of nearly one-third of the state’s water supply—is at its lowest level in a decade, a major turnaround from last year when huge storms ended a three-year drought and buried ski resorts in massive amounts of snow.
What will California’s water picture look like in the next 12 months? The predictions are literally all over the map. After a measurement of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday, Jan. 2 found only 7.5 inches of snow — 30 percent of the average depth — the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) put out a statement saying residents should prepare for “flood or dry conditions in the months ahead.”
The California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) issued its first snowpack report of 2024. It isn’t great. The snow in the Sierra Nevada is roughly 25% of the state’s average for this time of year.
California is beginning 2024 with a below-normal mountain snowpack a year after it had one of its best starts in decades, and officials said Tuesday that the weather whiplash has made the outcome of this winter uncertain. The water content of the statewide snowpack was 25% of the average to date, said Sean de Guzman, a water supply forecasting official with the California Department of Water Resources.
The weather in the new year will kick off on an active note as a series of storms will travel from coast to coast, bringing heavy rain, snow and thunderstorms over the 10 days. The West will bear the brunt of each storm first, beginning with one arriving early this week, warn AccuWeather meteorologists.
