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How Much Rain Has SoCal Received This Year? Here’s One Way to Keep Track

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by By Aaron Mendelson

Southern California got drenched Sunday, with some areas getting up to three inches of rain. It’s an El Niño year. So does that mean Southern California’s rainfall is ahead of normal this year?

Not yet.

As of Monday morning, the region has received 41.1 percent of a normal winter’s precipitation. That’s behind even the median, or typical year, which by February is at 56.3 percent.

 

And if you look at just recent years with strong El Niños, median precipitation is even further ahead by this point: 78.8 percent.

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Reservoirs Slowly Filling, Sierra Snowpack above Normal

/in /by /Capital Public Radioby By Ed Joyce

The second Sierra snowpack measurement of the winter is Tuesday. January has brought much needed snow, but February may start a bit more slowly.

 

It was the best month for snowpack in January since 2011.

 

And the statewide snowpack is above normal.

“We’ve not had a snowpack for the last four years, anything worth writing home about, so this is obviously very significant for this time of year,” says Meteorologist Michelle Mead, with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

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Obama Administration Aims To Reduce US Water Footprint

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by By Ian James

The Obama administration has begun an initiative aimed at making the United States more water-efficient, saying the country has the potential to reduce its total water use by a third.

Deputy Interior Secretary Mike Connor said some of the White House’s objectives include encouraging more recycling of wastewater and promoting investment in water treatment and desalination technologies.

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County Cleans Up After Damaging Storm

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Gary Robbins and Lyndsay Winkley

Workers across the county were hustling Monday to clear streets of the broken trees that were blown into traffic Sunday by a powerful wind and rain storm that also caused major power outages.

Winds gusted as high as 65 mph along the coast and hit with particular force in La Jolla, clogging parts of North Torrey Pines Road with the twisted remains of trees. Motorists also are being slowed in such communities as La Mesa, Oceanside and the Rancho Bernardo area.

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ENSO It’s Raining. The 2016 Drought So Far – February 1

/in /by /California WaterBlog

January 2016 has been much wetter than the previous Januaries during this drought. Precipitation is modestly above average, as is snowpack, and climatic conditions remain promising. The largest reservoirs are mostly fuller than a year ago, although not nearly to average conditions for this time of year. Groundwater is likely to be recharging, as it should this time of year in most places, but we still sit atop a large hole.

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Wettest January Since Drought Began

/in /by /The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)by By Martin Espinoza

The first month of 2016 was the wettest January in Sonoma County in six years and saw the most rainfall for the period since the start of the current drought, a hopeful sign as the North Coast and the rest of the state struggle to recover from four years of scarce precipitation.

The National Weather Service measured 10.01 inches of rain at its gauge at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa during the month of January. That’s more than the previous four January months combined, since the drought began in 2012.

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Record-Breaking Storm Rounds Out a Wet January

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby By Megan Ginise

The weekend storm brought plenty of rain and records to the central San Joaquin Valley and snow in the Sierra on Sunday, but it looks to be the last storm for a while.

Monday’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with daytime highs in the 50s, a forecast that is not expected to change much for most of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

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Winter Storm Brings Heavy Rain to Southern California

/in /by /Los Angeles Daily Newsby By Hans Laetz

More than 3.7 inches of rain fell on the mountains above Azusa, winds topped 70 miles per hour and the San Fernando Valley escaped the possibility of a”small, brief tornado” as a strong squall line of rain blew through today.

The line of strong storms, moving east, was in a line from Malibu to Burbank during the 1 p.m. hour, forecasters said. It moved east across L.A. County at about 50 miles per hour, with pockets of sun and rain alternating behind it.

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OPINION: El Niño Won’t Cure Our Water Woes

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby By Jeffrey Kightlinger

Just how far could a wet winter go toward replenishing Southern California’s water reserves? Some. Maybe even a lot. But by itself that will not be enough to ensure we have the water for years ahead and inevitable droughts. Capturing and delivering sufficient supplies in a typical year is what really determines the reliability of a water system. And for that, today’s system is not as effective as it needs to be.

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EPA, Carlsbad Team Up Against the Drought

/in /by /The Coast News Group (Encinitas)by By Steve Puterski

In yet another step to further protect against drought, the city of Carlsbad unveiled expansion efforts of its recycled water plant on Wednesday. Along with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld, Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall touted the $37 million project.

Blumenfeld also announced the EPA is distributing more than $182 million, including the Carlsbad project, throughout California to invest in statewide improvements for water infrastructure.

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