San Diego is facing its driest start to the 24-25 water year with a more than three-inch rainfall deficit and there’s no relief in sight.
With only 0.14 inches of rain since Oct. 1, 2024 to date, this will be the driest start ever to San Diego’s water year which runs from the beginning of October through Sept. 30. Rainfall records date back to 1850.
Even in San Diego, it’s typical to get some rain in the winter. Except this year, the San Diego County Water Authority said it’s the third driest start to the rainy season in 150 years.
Hear from Water Authority Senior Water Resources Specialist Efren Lopez about where San Diego’s water supply stands during this very dry start to the 2025 Water Year.
Maybe we ought to change the name Valley Center to “Shut-off City!”
Besides one holiday shut-down greeting from SDG&E three weeks ago and another post-New Year kick in the teeth this week, add a 10-day water shutdown by the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) that began December 7—to be followed two months later by another shut-down.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning through Thursday for San Diego County’s mountains and valleys.
“Our brush is dry, the (humidity) is down, and now we have this wind event,” said Brent Pascua, a battalion chief with Cal Fire. “That’s a prime recipe for a large wildfire.”
San Diego Gas & Electric said early Wednesday that it is rapidly turning off power to many of its customers to help minimize the chances of sparking a wildfire as strong Santa Ana winds continue to lash San Diego County.
Winds gusted more than 40 mph at Camp Pendleton before dawn Wednesday and 80 mph at Palomar Mountain as the first of two large windstorms hit the region. The winds could intensify through mid-morning, according to the National Weather Service. The second wave will arrive late Thursday, and it’s possible a third wave will occur on Sunday.
San Diego County — in the midst of one of the driest periods on record — will be lashed by unusually cold and expansive Santa Ana winds early Wednesday that could spark wildfires, snap trees and knock out power, the National Weather Service said.
The enormous wind storm will shoot into Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties on Tuesday morning, then expand into San Diego County, which hasn’t had significant rain since last spring.
Amid an already dry winter season, the first Santa Ana wind event of 2025 is elevating fire danger this week and threatening power shut-offs for thousands of San Diego Gas & Electric customers.
The electricity utility warned nearly 65,000 customers their power may be cut off anytime from 4 p.m. Tuesday to 4 p.m. Friday amid strong winds and low humidity that create the perfect weather conditions for wildfires to spark and spread rapidly, according to the National Weather Service.
After a few wet winters, Southern California is officially back in drought conditions, with San Diego County among the regions affected.
The latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows much of Southern California slipping into moderate drought status. Julie Kalansky, Deputy Director at the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, says San Diegans should be prepared for increasingly extreme conditions.
After two years of conservation efforts, Lake Mead is on the come-up.
Voluntary measures by Californians to save water in the Colorado River system are on their way to keeping well over the promised 1.6 million acre-feet of water in the reservoir by 2026, SFGATE reported. In a news release, the Colorado River Board of California announced a coalition over the last 23 months had conserved 1.2 million acre-feet of water.
