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Marty Ralph loves Swedish pancakes. His dad made him scrumptious ones when he was a kid. He’s been ordering them when he’s out for breakfast ever since.

It’s a passion that led to an aha moment for the veteran UC San Diego meteorologist — and helped him find a way to explain to people whether the mysterious atmospheric rivers that fuel winter storms are likely to prove a blessing or a nightmare.

The cost of water in San Diego will continue to skyrocket but we don’t have a good idea where or whether it will stop.

The city of San Diego recently revealed its own water rates will rise a whopping 61 percent through 2029, adding about $57 per month to the average water bill. Part of the reason is the San Diego County Water Authority, which sells water to the region’s 22 water districts, is paying off debt and deals it took on many years ago to claim more Colorado River water and tap into ocean water for drinking. Another reason is cities like San Diego are building their own expensive wastewater recycling systems.

For the second year in a row, the San Diego County Water Authority and its partners have struck a deal to conserve water in Lake Mead, support the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River and save local ratepayers money. 

The agreements between the Water Authority, the Imperial Irrigation District, and the Metropolitan Water District, with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, are designed to promote voluntary water conservation. The 2024 agreement was announced during a meeting of the Colorado River Board of California at this year’s Colorado River Water Users Association’s conference in Las Vegas.

San Diego appears headed for the third driest start to the rainy season in at least 152 years, a streak that would further elevate the risk of wildfires in an already parched county, the National Weather Service says.

The city has recorded only 0.13 inches of precipitation since the season began on Oct. 1. If things remain unchanged through Dec. 31, the three-month period will officially be off to an unusually dry start.