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Over the last few years, the state of California has suffered from a historic drought that has killed grass and plants and dried up many of our lakes and reservoirs. But there is some good news, with more heavy rain in the forecast; the drought emergency could soon be over. For the first time since 2011, the U.S. Drought Monitor has erased drought from all areas north of interstate 80 that means the drought is on its way out but we’re not in the clear just yet.

 

As the world gradually shifts its energy focus to renewable sources such as solar and wind, utilities are faced with a demand for secondary sources — those that are available when the sun isn’t shining or the wind doesn’t blow. One option is so-called “peaker plants,” traditional power plants fired by natural gas that operate only during periods of peak demand. Like other gas plants, efforts to install them have drawn heavy criticism from nearby residents and the environmentally minded in general.

Torrents of meltwater coursed down the granite crevices below the moonscape of the Desolation Wilderness. Just miles from its source in the High Sierra, the South Fork of the American River was already roaring down toward the oaken foothills, bursting over the spillways of dams that humans had erected to control it. As it moved, it gathered streams and rivulets — pink and brown and orange from the minerals they leached. The heavy rain turned dusty creek beds into full-fledged tributaries. Running through narrowing clefts they burst forth as from hydraulic jets.

With all the rain recently, San Diegans are wondering whether the severe drought in California is over and if they should continue to conserve. Another big question—will water bills decrease? San Diego County is primarily a water importer, so this year’s wet winter weather is helping our water supply. The snowpack from where the county gets its water from is 140 percent of the average amount, which will replenish the Colorado River Basin.

The state’s biggest reservoirs are swelling. The Sierra Nevada have seen as much snow, sleet, hail and rain as during the wettest years on record. Rainy Los Angeles feels more like London than Southern California. So is the great California drought finally calling it quits? Yes. Or at least maybe. If the storm systems keep coming, state and regional water managers say, 2017 could be the end of a dry spell that has, for more than five years, caused crops to wither, reservoirs to run dry and homeowners to rip out their lawns and plant cactus.