You are now in San Diego County category.

California’s vital Sierra Nevada snowpack measured 197 percent of average on Tuesday in the aftermath of three weeks of storms — the highest level in more than a decade. Automated measuring stations showed 161 percent in the northern section, 195 percent in the central area and 240 percent in the south. Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources, said it’s too early to call the California drought over, but said the recent storms will do “quite a bit toward alleviating the drought impacts” in the hardest hit parts of the state

 

Researchers predict that global warming generally will make summers hotter and winters milder from Southern California to the northeastern United States to parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The impact will vary depending on different regions of the planet, according to a report published Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. While the U.S., Canada and northern Europe are expected to see modest increases in mild to hot days, people living in the tropics should brace for significantly more heat, said authors of the study, which appears in the journal Climatic Change.

 

All these large storms moving quickly through California have brought enough rainwater that a noticeable change has come to many regions in the state: the Sierra snowpack is full of snow, reservoirs are mostly refilled, cities are experiencing record rainfall, and people are surfing on flooded streets. Yep, here’s some video of that.All kidding aside, the storm has revived the questions about California’s five-year drought and whether the rain has provided enough relief to help the state recover.

The San Diego County Water Authority and other water managers across California are calling for regulators to end emergency drought rules. “It’s clear here in San Diego County that we are not in a drought emergency. We have adequate supplies to meet demand this year and actually for the next three years if it’s dry,” said Dana Friehauf, the water authority’s water resources manager. Friehauf added that despite this, water users in the county still need to use water wisely, but we need to move to more long-term changes, such as upgrading to a low-water garden.

The third in a series of powerful winter storms unleashed a deluge in Southern California on Sunday, flooding numerous roads and freeways, setting new rainfall records and stranding some in dangerously rising waters. Forecasters had predicted this storm would be the strongest and several years, and it didn’t disappoint. While earlier storms produced periods of heavy showers, this one delivered several hours of sustained pounding rain, with damaging results.