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OPINION – Rollercoaster Weather Shows Why California Needs Better Infrastructure For Wetter Years

As California’s traditional season for rain and snow began last fall, meteorologists and hydrologists predicted that the state would probably experience a second year of heavy precipitation.

Opinion: Lake Mead Has a 1-in-4 Chance of Going Low Again by 2026, if We Don’t Do More Now

Now that we’re knee-deep in the long-term process to save the Colorado River, almost no one is asking whether we’ve done enough to stabilize it for the next few years.

A wet winter and billions of dollars in funding already solved that problem, right?

Officials Urge California Residents to Brace for Flooding as El Niño Looms

With California facing the prospect of a second consecutive winter of heavy precipitation, state officials are urging residents to prepare for possible widespread flooding and evacuations in the coming months.

Barely a year after dozens of powerful atmospheric rivers pounded the state and triggered historic flooding, state officials gathered at a muddy berm and pumping station near the Sacramento River this week to highlight the threat of flooding in a warming climate.

Reservoirs Are So Full Long Beach Will Buy Water at a Discount, Save its Groundwater

With California reservoirs full after a historically wet winter, the Long Beach Utilities Commission has signed off on a plan to buy more imported water at a discount to help other cities clear space to capture more rain during the upcoming winter season.

Long Beach typically pumps over 60% of its customers’ water from local ground aquifers and is able to avoid paying for more expensive water piped in through the State Water Project or the Colorado River.

El Niño Set to Strengthen This Winter, What Does It Mean for Northern California?

El Niño conditions continue to strengthen and some may see the return of an active winter. But could Northern California see any impacts?

In a recent El Niño forecast by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a greater than 95% chance that El Niño continues across the Northern Hemisphere through the winter into 2024. The chance of a “strong” El Niño has also increased from 66% in August to now 71% in September.

El Niño is Getting Stronger, and Odds Are Tilting Toward Another Wet Winter for California

On the heels of a record-setting wet and warm August, forecasters on Thursday announced that El Niño is gaining strength and will almost certainly persist into 2024.

El Niño, the warm phase of the El Niño-La Niña Southern Oscillation pattern, is a major driver of weather worldwide and is often associated with hotter global temperatures and wetter conditions in California.

Fall-Like Weather Pattern for CA as El Niño Continues to Strengthen; Odds of a Second Consecutive Wet Winter Rise (Though With Caveats!)

Conditions were much warmer than average this summer across the Pacific Northwest, AZ and NM, and across much of far northern California. Elsewhere in CA, summer temperatures were mostly near long-term averages or even somewhat below in some of the SoCal coastal counties.

Los Angeles DWP Loosens Watering Rules to Three Days a Week, Citing Wet Winter

More than a year after instituting the strictest water conservation orders Los Angeles has ever seen, the L.A. Department of Water and Power announced Monday that it was loosening watering rules for its 4 million customers. Effective immediately, all Angelenos can return to three-day-a-week watering schedules after being placed on two-day-a-week limits in June 2022, the agency said.

Cities’ Thirst Nearly Killed These California Lakes. Not So Fast, Said Our Epic Wet Winter

They’re back! Arising out of their dusty/muddy/sandy graves, the zombie lakes of California are reclaiming their own. For geologic ages, they have lain there, undead — well, often drought-dry, and not their original saturated selves. But now the monumental rains of this winter and spring filled them and then some, reminding us of California’s paleo-hydrology, our ancient lakes and waterways.

When Will California Experience Another Drought? Experts Aren’t Entirely Sure

Most of California is in recovery mode after a years-long drought plagued the Golden State from 2020 until 2022, which depleted the state’s reservoirs and groundwater resources. Thanks to the historic wet winter season, many areas, such as Los Angeles, Merced and Alameda countries, are no longer in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. However, with the summer season in full swing, temperatures across the state have begun to increase and the hotter weather brings renewed potential drought concerns for many across the state.