As the calendar prepares to turn into 2022, Northern California is getting covered with snow, and rainfall in Butte County is leading to more water in Lake Oroville.
As of midnight Tuesday, Lake Oroville had 1,323,897 acre-feet of water in it. While that number is 37% of the lake’s capacity, it also reflects 72% of its average storage his time of year.
The deluge of snow in recent days along the Sierra Nevada mountain range has been a record-breaker. And that’s not only good news for ski resorts but it may lead to a healthy boost in hydroelectricity production in California this coming summer, which would help the state’s often-strained electric grid.
Another winter blast is headed to San Diego County with significant rain and snow anticipated starting Wednesday morning.
A winter weather advisory has been issued for the mountain areas until 4 p.m. Wednesday and according to San Diego’s National Weather Service the expected snow will be heavy and wet. Travel in those areas is likely to be difficult to impossible. Drivers were advised to use extra caution.
For the fifth time in less than a week, significant rain will fall across San Diego County Wednesday through Friday, drenching a region where precipitation is running twice its December average.
As a rainy December comes to close, nearly all Northern California reservoirs were still drier than historic averages for this time of year, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources.
But the precipitation still gave several reservoirs a boost from the beginning of the month.
After months of extreme drought that triggered water shortages and stoked wildfires, heavy snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada — enough to break decades-old records.
The Mount Rose ski area, at 8,900 feet in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe, had 116 inches of snow Tuesday, with almost 3 feet freshly fallen since the day before Christmas.
The UC Berkeley Central California Snow Lab at Donner Summit on Tuesday morning reported more than 8 inches of snow in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total for December to 202 inches, the third snowiest month on record since 1970.
A portfolio of 44 battery storage systems across San Diego County aimed at adding more emissions-free energy to California’s electric grid is about to roll out, with one location in Chula Vista and another in El Cajon poised to break ground within the next month.
Industries are advised to brace for more federal moves next year to reduce and control “forever chemicals,” including plans by the EPA to propose water and waste regulations for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Water made California.
The statement is often made about what is arguably the largest and most complex water transfer systems ever created by mankind — the California State Water Project — and its kissing cousin the federal Central Valley Project.
