Here’s how much rain fell across San Diego County during the five day period ending at 1 a.m on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Although the number wasn’t huge for San Diego, the city has now received 9.57 inches of rain since the rainy season began on October 1. That’s only 0.20 inches below what the city averages from October 1 to September 30.
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, Feb. 27.I’m Ryan Fonseca, back from vacation.
For many Californians, a day in the snow means a hours-long trek up to the mountains. But this weekend, the winter staple made house calls in neighborhoods that haven’t seen snow in decades.
The immediate question before the seven states that use rapidly vanishing Colorado River water is not how to renegotiate the century-old agreement and accompanying laws that divvy up the supply.
California and other states will have to grapple with that problem soon enough, and it won’t be easy.
The Undersecretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Robert Bonnie, privately met with the Imperial Irrigation District. The meeting started at 4:00pm Sunday and took place in El Centro.
During the meeting, Bonnie and the IID discussed the Western Water Policy and irrigation assistance to southeastern California farmers and ranchers.
Last century, California built dozens of large dams, creating the elaborate reservoir system that supplies the bulk of the state’s drinking and irrigation water. Now state officials and supporters are ready to build the next one.
The Sites Reservoir — planned in a remote corner of the western Sacramento Valley for at least 40 years — has been gaining steam and support since 2014, when voters approved Prop. 1, a water bond that authorized $2.7 billion for new storage projects.
Southern California is bracing for a cold winter storm this weekend that is expected to bring up to 5 feet of snow accumulation in certain areas.
While this forecast might curtail your outdoor weekend plans, it is excellent news for the state’s recovering water reservoirs.
Between Christmas and January this year, a parade of nine atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor flowing east from the tropical Pacific — pummeled California. The trillions of gallons of rain poured on the state caused widespread flooding. While the rain topped up some drought-depleted reservoirs and aquifers and filled out snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, much of the water quickly ran off into the sea, flowing off asphalt and farms or released from reservoirs to prevent further flooding.
California and other parts of the West faced heavy snow and rain Friday from the latest winter storm to pound the U.S., while thousands of people in Michigan shivered through extended power outages wrought by one of the worst ice storms in decades.
The National Weather Service warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” that would last through Saturday in California.
California’s water authorities will spend $15 million in three crucial water management zones within the drought-ravaged southern Central Valley.
The hub of agricultural production in the Golden State, the Central Valley has also faced the most dire impacts from another historic drought, as thousands of wells went dry last year and many communities faced a total lack of safe drinking water.
The Orange County Water District said it’s grateful for all the rain this year.
Adam Hutchinson, recharge planning manager for OCWD said in the past, there’s been years when they’ve had almost no storm water to collect.
He said it is crucial to retain as much of it as possible when we have it.
