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Why Tracking California’s Snowpack is Important

/in /by /The San Luis Obispo Tribuneby By John Lindsey

Most of the rain that reaches the ground along the Central Coast actually begins as snow high in the atmosphere where temperatures are less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the freezing point of water. As the snow falls, it usually encounters warmer air and melts, changing to rain. If the temperature remains below or near freezing, snow will hit the ground.

Much of California’s precious precipitation falls as snow over the Sierra Nevada. This snowpack acts as a reservoir.

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Timely Snowstorms Help Avert Another Disastrous Year for California Ski Industry

/in /by /The Los Angeles Times by By Hugo Martin

Peter Smith is dreaming of a white Independence Day. The longtime ski junkie from Claremont knows that the El Niño weather pattern has yet to put a significant dent in the state’s drought, but a series of storms over the last few months has him fantasizing about a monster ski season that can stretch deep into summer.

If big snow dumps continue through spring, Smith said, his ski club could schedule an extra trip to Mammoth Mountain for the Fourth of July weekend.

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El Niño’s Not Dead Yet: Rain Headed to L.A. This Weekend, Snow to the Sierra Nevada

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby By Matt Stevens

A massive storm system plowing through California this weekend is expected to dump several inches of rain on Southern California and add sheets of snow to the Sierra Nevada, where the drought-stricken state needs it most.

Forecasters say the cold front will arrive in two waves: one Saturday night and into Sunday morning and another Sunday night, continuing into Monday. In Los Angeles, the storms could bring as much as 2 inches of rain to downtown and as much as 3 inches in the foothills and mountains.

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Orange County Faces More Competition for Drought-Strangled Colorado River

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby By Aaron Orlowski

For the past five years, as drought sucked dry California’s water sources and depleted its reservoirs, Southern California water managers have turned increasingly to the region’s large out-of-state water source: the Colorado River.

Now, Orange County, which draws up to half its annual supply from the river that snakes from the Rocky Mountains to Mexico, and other thirsty coastal communities are facing increased competition for reduced flows from the drought-strangled Colorado.

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Getting Ready as Back to Back Storms Hit

/in /by /CBS 8 (San Diego)

Waves of rain fell on California late Friday in a prelude to a powerful storm system expected to have heavy effects on much of the country in the week to come.

Heavy rainfall, mountain snow and strong winds will slam western states this weekend and early next week, the National Weather Service said. Heavy rainfall and severe weather will be possible in the central and southern U.S. starting on Monday and continue through the rest of the week. Residual river flooding is also possible.

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Experts Share the Good, the Bad and the Hopeful at Panel Hosted by ASU’s Decision Center for a Desert City

/in /by /ASU Now (Arizona State University)by By Scott Seckel

The Colorado River provides water for nearly 40 million people in seven western states, irrigating millions of acres of farmland, and generating thousands of megawatts of electricity. And though an official declaration of water shortage on the Colorado River has never been declared, and that careful planning has ensured Arizona and Colorado are well-supplied with water, residents need to know it’s a precious resource.

That was the message Thursday as the water chieftains of Arizona and Colorado spoke before a crowd of about 100 at the Water/Climate Briefing Annual Keynote Event held by Arizona State University’s Decision Center for a Desert City.

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Storms Bring Rain and Snow to California

/in /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by By Ed Joyce

The National Weather Service says the California dry spell will end with a series of storms. And, rain runoff into the Folsom Reservoir could mean releases from the Nimbus Dam, downstream into the American River.

A wind advisory starts at noon Saturday in northern California, for a storm forecast to bring heavy rain to the coast and valleys, and snow in the mountains. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are possible. In Sacramento, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is preparing to manage rain runoff into Folsom Reservoir.

 

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OPINION: Billions of Gallons Needlessly Flushed Out to Sea

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby By Mike Wade

Consumers and farmers are being unjustifiably denied what should be fairly normal water supplies this year while bureaucrats continue to waste water on a failed experimental effort to help fish. Unfortunately, the fish aren’t recovering, and the bureaucrats are just making a bad situation worse for all Californians.

People who receive water from the state and federal water systems are seeing this year’s supply once again flushed to the ocean – water that 3 million acres of farmland and 25 million consumers depend on.

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El Nino Leaves Much of Drought-Stricken California in Dust

/in /by /Associated Press (As published by ABC News)by By John Antczak

Ed Heinlein surveys the steep mountainside that has repeatedly unleashed tons of mud into the backyard of his Southern California home since a 2014 wildfire and still hopes the drought-stricken state gets more rain.

“We have to have the rain,” said Heinlein, whose home east of Los Angeles has become a poster child for the region’s cycle of fire and flood. “It’s bad for us but it’s desperate for the state.” Heinlein’s wish for rain may get answered this weekend, when forecasts call for a strong storm to bring rain and snow throughout California.

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Snowfall Could be Measured in Feet Across Sierra During ‘Miracle March’ Storms

/in /by /The Washington Postby By Angela Fritz

A series of Pacific storms are lined up in the forecast for California over the next week with the potential to dump a truckload of snow on the Sierra mountains. Over the next two weeks, forecast models are suggesting the potential for more than five feet of snow across the Sierra crest — much-needed precipitation at the end of a winter that has not lived up to El Niño hype.

The weather pattern has shifted significantly since February, when record high temperatures were set across Southern California and rainfall totals were well below average.

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