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.
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.
When we describe snow on San Diego County’s mountains, it’s typically with words like dusting and slushy. This time, we can safely use the word dumping.
Three to five feet of snow is possible on San Diego’s mountain tops by the time a winter storm combined with an atmospheric river is finished on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The most powerful storm in more than a decade will hit San Diego County late Friday and early Saturday with snow that could cause whiteout conditions in the mountains and shut down Interstate 8, rain that could cause widespread flooding and mudslides, and winds that could make kindling out of trees, the National Weather Service said.
The final shutdown for scheduled maintenance of the San Diego County Water Authority’s First Aqueduct is scheduled to begin February 27. The shutdown will run through March 8, allowing crews to reline portions of the historic aqueduct and perform regular maintenance work that ensures a safe and reliable water supply for the region. Portions of the First Aqueduct were shut down earlier this year for similar work, as part of a proactive approach to saving on future maintenance or replacement costs.
In Jeanne Reutlinger’s world, gardening is an act of collaboration with friends and neighbors — meaning you don’t need much of a budget at all to create a prize-winning front yard. In Reutlinger’s case, her garden is the 2022 WaterSmart Landscape Contest winner for the city of Escondido’s water district.
(Editor’s Note: Residents of San Diego County can schedule free WaterSmart Checkups to make their properties more water-efficient and are eligible for water-saving rebates: www.sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation/. Read more about Jeanne Reutlinger’s WaterSmart moves here: www.waternewsnetwork.com/escondido-landscape-makeover-winner-goes-from-weeds-to-wow/ The City of Escondido is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
The Sweetwater Reservoir now offers “Free Fishing Sundays” through the Sweetwater Authority’s Reservoir Recreation Program. Free access weekly on Sundays will continue through the end of 2023.
