As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.
It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state — are in good shape, with levels at 124% of average.
About seven miles from the Sacramento International Airport, crews are putting the finishing touches on a project meant to provide massive flood relief to a wide swath of the Sacramento region during intense storms.
The Biden administration has announced new water-saving agreements with California water agencies intended to shore up supplies on the overburdened Colorado River.
Over the next two decades, Los Angeles County will collect billions more gallons in water from local sources, especially storm and reclaimed water, shifting from its reliance on other region’s water supplies as the effects of climate change make such efforts less reliable and more expensive.
Odds are that this winter’s going to be a wet one. The intermittent climate phenomenon known as El Niño, which typically means more rain and snow for California, developed over the summer and is expected to intensify in the next few months. And this year’s El Niño is predicted to be an exceptionally strong one — maybe even ranking in the top five on record, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at U.C.L.A.
Below-average precipitation and snowpack during 2020-22 and depleted surface and groundwater supplies pushed California into a drought emergency that brought curtailment orders and calls for modernizing water rights.
There was a time when meteorologists could predict whether winter would be mild, moderate or severe. That information helped emergency managers plan ahead and get resources ready to fit the forecast and try to avoid a disaster.
Now, it’s difficult to predict the weather for more than 10 days at a time, said Stephen Rea, assistant director for the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services at a regional Winter Weather Workshop for local jurisdictions Tuesday in Kearny Mesa.
Every manifestation of the dangerous weather wreaking havoc around the world has one thing in common: water. As the Earth’s climate changes, the lack of water, or its sudden abundance, is reshaping the global economy and international trade. From prolonged drought slowing down ships in the Panama Canal to deluges halting industrial production in Japan, it’s one of the most obvious ways that rising temperatures are affecting businesses.
September’s stunning rise of the average global temperature is all but certain to make 2023 the warmest year on record, and 2024 is likely to be even hotter, edging close to the “red line” of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above the pre-industrial level that the 2015 Paris climate agreement is striving to avoid.
As of Oct. 10, the daily average Northern Hemisphere temperature had been at a record high for 100 consecutive days.
California continues to make waves on climate. In some cases literally.
Over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed dozens of bills dealing with renewable energy, landscape conservation and water use — and vetoed many others.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
