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

The Bay Area will see a brief reprieve from rain most of Friday after a weak system moved out of the region, but unsettled weather is set to return soon with a series of storms lined up across the Pacific and blowing toward Northern California that could bring as much as 10 inches of rain to the wettest spots over the next seven days.

 

Rainfall totals from Thursday’s overnight storm were relatively scant with San Francisco and Oakland picking up just under a quarter of an inch,

California Governor Jerry Brown warned on Thursday of near-apocalyptic water shortages if his $15 billion plan to divert water from a Northern California River for use elsewhere gets bogged down in political and environmental disputes.

 

The plan to remove water north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the fragile source of much of the state’s drinking water, is opposed by many environmentalists, but Brown insisted it was crucial in shoring up water supplies in the drought-plagued state.

Gov. Jerry Brown released an update to his plan Thursday for how to manage California’s water. The update includes pushing ahead with more dams, reservoirs and a pair of tunnels underneath the Delta.

 

The San Joaquin Valley floor has been sinking for decades. So much water has been pumped out of wells in this arid agricultural zone that the land’s surface has caved downward almost 30 feet in places. As groundwater pumping continues amid the ongoing drought, it’s still sinking as rapidly as two inches per month. On the surface, the subsidence is causing roads and canals to crack as the earth collapses. Below the surface, much of the aquifer space is being lost and can never be recovered.