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.
Record-setting dry conditions in some parts of the U.S. are raising fears of new wildfires and also could threaten drinking water supplies if substantial rain does not fall in the coming months.
Firefighters battled wildfires from California to New York on Wednesday, hampered by high winds and arid landscapes.
After a year of dominance, El Niño’s wrath has come to end — but its climate-churning counterpart, La Niña, is hot on its heels and could signal a return to dryness for California.
El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, sometimes referred to as ENSO. The climate pattern in the tropical Pacific is the single largest driver of weather conditions worldwide, and has been actively disrupting global temperatures and precipitation patterns since its arrival last summer.
California may celebrate having double the expected snowpack after a string of atmospheric river storms, but state water experts warn that more needs to come to offset years of record-breaking drought.
At the season’s second monthly snowpack survey conducted Wednesday at Phillips Station — at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road — the California Department of Water Resources measured current snow depths and water content.
The Department of Water Resources said Wednesday the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has reached 205% of normal thanks to a series of storms, though dry weather between now and April could still threaten water supplies.
The snowpack received a significant boost from one of the wettest three-week periods on record in California, following the driest three-year period on record.
It is unlikely the Sacramento area will receive a substantial amount of rain anytime soon, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasts for this weekend show temperatures climbing above the average for this time of year which is around 94 degrees, weather service spokesman Craig Shoemaker said.
And it’s expected to remain dry in the area for awhile.
Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.
Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.
The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.
A current regulation that curtails water rights in the Russian River watershed set to expire in July may be extended due to the continuing drought, according to the state agency charged with balancing all water needs of the state.
State Water Resources Control Board officials announced Friday the board released a draft emergency regulation to extend the regulation and clarify some of its requirements.
The Russian River runs from Mendocino County south into Sonoma County. It is the second-largest river in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, behind the Sacramento River.
Colorado is taking a “hard pause” on investigating the viability of demand management, a program that would allow the state to pay water users to temporarily and voluntarily conserve water and store what’s saved in Lake Powell for future use.
“No more energy spent on this right now,” Colorado Water Conservation Board chair Jaclyn Brown said this week. “Until the facts change; until someone brings us new information.”
