Tag Archive for: Los Angeles Times

OPINION: California Should Stop Thinking About More Dams. The State Is Brimming With Them

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby George Skelton

Think California should build a lot more dams to catch these deluges? Forget it. Yes, the next severe drought is inevitable. And after California dries out and becomes parched again, we’ll wish we’d saved more of the current torrents. Instead, the precious water is washing out to sea. There’s one dam being planned north of Sacramento in Colusa County that makes sense: Sites. There are also some dam expansion projects that could work. But California is already dammed to the brim. Every river worth damming has been. And some that weren’t worth it were dammed anyway.

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Atmospheric River To Bring Drenching Rain, Significant Snow To Northern California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry

Get your umbrellas back out because California’s wet winter isn’t over yet. A moisture-rich atmospheric river that is bearing down on Northern California is expected to dump up to 8 inches of rain on portions of the Bay Area, unleash gusty winds and bring the potential for widespread flooding through at least Thursday. The storm, bringing warm air from the tropics into the region, is expected to raise snow levels to 6,000 feet across much of the Sierra Nevada, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

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OPINION: How Can California Capture More Water? Competing Interests Will Have To Compromise

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby George Skelton

Storm water has been rampaging down the Sacramento River, carrying ripped out docks, uprooted trees and homeowners’ backyards, hellbent for the Golden Gate. But very little of this precious water can be saved. Environmental restrictions limit the amount of water that can be pumped into southbound aqueducts. That’s because the pumps are deadly for fish, particularly young salmon trying to reach the ocean.

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California Wastes So Much Of Its Rainwater. Here’s Why

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

California’s wet winter has dumped an estimated 18 trillion gallons of rain in February alone. But much of it is simply going down the drain. In what has become a source of much concern in a state prone to droughts and water shortages, the vast majority of rainwater in urban areas flows into storm drains and is eventually lost to the Pacific Ocean.

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Storms Cause Millions Of Dollars In Damage To California Highways

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Recent debris flows and flooding in the San Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains have caused extensive damage to Southern California roadways, requiring some highways to be closed for months as crews work on repairs that will cost at least $14 million. Last week’s series of storms, including a moisture-packed atmospheric river that slammed the state, has brought consistent rainfall to California, dumping 18 trillion gallons of rain — nearly half the volume of Lake Tahoe.

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Rare L.A. Mega-Storm Could Overwhelm Dam And Flood Dozens Of Cities, Experts Say

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Scientists call it California’s “other big one,” and they say it could cause three times as much damage as a major earthquake ripping along the San Andreas Fault. Although it might sound absurd to those who still recall five years of withering drought and mandatory water restrictions, researchers and engineers warn that California may be due for rain of biblical proportions — or what experts call an ARkStorm.

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Monster Storm Pummels California, Prompting Evacuations Amid Mudslides And Flooding

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry

A fierce winter storm packed with subtropical moisture continued its destructive path across California on Thursday, triggering widespread flooding that prompted evacuations and unleashing a mudslide that sent one home sliding into another in Marin County. Southern Marin fire officials said the mudslide dislodged the home from its foundation and pushed it down a hill before it slammed into another residence shortly before 3 a.m.

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Why L.A. Is Having Such A Wet Winter After Years Of Drought Conditions

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

With every storm this winter, climatologists and water managers have crossed their fingers, hoping for continued rain and snowfall to cushion the state’s water supply. So far, the streak has held. This week is expected to bring the heaviest rainfall of the season to date, adding to an already wet winter that has replenished reservoirs and created a healthy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, a major source of California’s water supply. Climatologist Michael Anderson said that after hovering just below average precipitation levels, the state has now reached above-usual levels — with an average of 11.85 inches of precipitation across the state from October through January.

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More Frosty Weather On The Way For California, And The Snow Might Stick Awhile

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar

From the Bay Area to Los Angeles, it was a day to gaze upon snow-capped peaks, acknowledge that yes, California does have a winter, and share a photo or two on social media. And don’t expect the alpine glory — caused by a series of cold storms that dropped snow levels dramatically — to disappear soon. Wet weather will kick back up again Friday for large swaths of the state, which could bring hazardous conditions for drivers.

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With Impressive L.A. Rain and Bay Area Snow, Hope Rises For A Rare Wet Winter

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar and Rong-Gong Lin II

Snowcapped mountains are pretty typical in California — just not the peaks that got dusted this week. A series of storms has brought a rare wet winter to the state, sending snow levels plunging and creating some surreal scenes Californians won’t soon forget: blankets of white covering vineyards in Napa Valley. Plows clearing California 17 between Santa Cruz and San Jose. Peaks in the San Francisco Bay Area with an alpine feel. Even San Francisco’s Twin Peaks got a light dusting.

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