Tag Archive for: California drought

When Will California Have Its Next Drought? JPL May Soon Offer a Water Crystal Ball

/in , , /by /NBC Los Angelesby Helen Jeong and Belen De Leon

A new satellite by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will soon provide more precise — and vital — data on how much water is available on Earth’s surface, allowing better forecasts for extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods, and helping water resources managers and farmers to get a better picture of their water budget.

The international Surface Water and Ocean Topography or SWOT mission was launched in December 2022 from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

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Water Supply Beneath the Surface: Why Groundwater Matters

/in , /by /NBC 4by David Biggar

When we talk about California’s water, we often think of what we can see: a snowpack, reservoirs to hold water, and aqueducts to deliver water to communities throughout the state.  There is another source of water for California, and it sits deep under our feet.  It’s called groundwater.

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What Colorado Water Officials Think of the Federal Government’s Proposed Colorado River Cuts

/in , /by /The Colorado Sunby Shannon Mullane

The federal government has laid out its ideas for water cuts in the Colorado River Basin, which means time is running out for basin states to agree on a plan of their own.

In Colorado, water officials say the onus is on California and Arizona to make it work.

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Opinion: Drought and Flood, California’s Double Whammy

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby The Times Editorial Board

Just as federal officials were laying out alternative scenarios last week for steep water supply cuts from the Colorado River due to the drying Southwest, California officials were warning that this year’s historic Sierra snowpack could flood much of the state later this year.

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This Drought is Dead – Long Live the Drought

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Jay Lund and Andrew L. Rypel

Floods and droughts are not opposites and can occur simultaneously. This occurs often in California and is especially well-illustrated this year.

Floods, droughts, and water scarcity are different. Floods are too much water at a place and time, and we would often pay to reduce the water present at that location and moment. Droughts and water scarcity represent too little water at a place and time, meaning we would often pay to increase its availability. We highlight these differences because people tend to view such conditions through an unrealistic zero-sum lens. This essay uses this year’s experience to examine how floods, drought, and water scarcity differ, can occur in the same year, and how droughts might end, but leave legacies.

This California drought is largely over. Even though there is another month left in California’s wet season, the 2020-2022 California drought is largely over. Precipitation in all major basins of California exceeds averages for the entire water year. Snowpacks are well above April 1 averages (usually about the maximum for the year). Most reservoirs have more than average volumes stored for this time of year, and many are in flood operations. Only a few very large reservoirs (relative to their average inflows) remain below historical averages (such as Trinity at 50% and New Melones at 90% of their averages).

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California Ends Some Water Limits After Storms Ease Drought

/in , , /by /AP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended some of the state’s water restrictions on Friday because a winter of relentless rain and snow has replenished the state’s reservoirs and eased fears of a shortage after three years of severe drought.

He also announced local agencies that supply water to 27 million people and many farmers would get much more from state supplies than originally planned. But Newsom did not declare an end to the drought, warning much of the state is still suffering from its lingering effects.

“Are we out of a drought? Mostly — but not completely,” Newsom said Friday from a farm northwest of Sacramento that has flooded its fields to help replenish groundwater.

Newsom said he would stop asking people to voluntarily cut their water use by 15%, a request he first made nearly two years ago while standing at the edge of a nearly dry Lopez Lake in the state’s Central Coast region — a lake that today is so full from recent storms it is almost spilling over. Californians never met Newsom’s call for that level of conservation — as of January the cumulative savings were just 6.2%.

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Snow Readings Give Reprieve to Colorado River Shortage

/in , , /by /The Desert Reviewby Betty Miller

“It’s snowing!” is how Imperial Irrigation District Water Manager Tina Shields began her hydrology report at the March 21 regular meeting. The water manager’s monthly reports have taken a turn to the positive after years of dire Lake Mead elevation readings.

Although Central California irrigates with water from different sources other than the Colorado River, the Valley’s sole source of water, Shields reported the continuous atmospheric rivers have been devastating to the Central Valley farmland with reports of flooding and washing out of ground.

“Every drought is followed by a flood,” she said. “They have had 250% above average of rain, the photos of two-story houses buried in snow and ski lifts unusable because they are covered in snow are crazy. They are actually talking about Fourth of July skiing and that fields will stay flooded for months. It is all time record breaking.”

California’s Drought is Not Over

/in , , /by /Capital & Mainby Mark Schapiro

More than a dozen atmospheric rivers in succession prompted people to think: The California drought is over! The levees are breaking, hundreds of people are being displaced by the raging waters, rainfall is breaking records, and story after story suggest we are headed out of the decade-long drought that has devastated agriculture and wiped out the state’s water reserves. Whew. Dodged a bullet.

One part of that story is true. By mid-March, two-thirds of the state was officially out of drought.

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NOAA Spring Outlook: California Drought Cut by Half with More Relief to Come

/in , , /by /Water News Networkby NOAA

NOAA’s U.S. Spring Outlook indicates the abnormally wet winter will further improve drought across much of the western U.S. as the snowpack melts in the coming months. Winter precipitation, combined with recent storms, wiped out exceptional and extreme drought in California for the first time since 2020, and is expected to further improve drought conditions this spring.

Significant flooding in the western U.S., especially in California, followed another series of strong Pacific storms that battered the region in March, and piled on to an already historic snowpack.

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Scripps Institution Researchers Visit Bakersfield College for Ag and Water Study

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby Steven Mayer

A changing climate in California could very well mean longer periods of drought, then wetter and more intense storms when the rains finally arrive.

It’s not an ideal scenario when trying to manage precious water in the Golden State.

Learning how to manage California’s water for the greatest benefit — even as these new challenges come to the agriculture-intense San Joaquin Valley — is one of the reasons Tom Corringham led a team of researchers to Bakersfield College on Thursday and Friday.

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