Lake Shasta is nearly full, according to a chart depicting current conditions at California’s major reservoirs.
After years of drought, several reservoirs in California reached concerningly low water levels in the summer of 2022. However, an abnormally wet winter last year alleviated much of the state’s drought and replenished the lakes.
Lake Mead’s receding water levels are now revealing ancient volcanic eruptions from millions of years ago.
Lake Mead is the biggest man-made reservoir in North America, formed by the Hoover Dam. Its water levels are rapidly evaporating due to the ongoing megadrought gripping the southwestern United States.
One Arizona water official said Phoenix won’t require residents to conserve water yet, fearing that the action wouldn’t actually benefit the Colorado River and instead would be diverted to other states struggling with drought.
Cynthia Campbell, the water resource management adviser for the city, told WBUR’s Peter O’Dowd that the city won’t mandate that its residents save water by initiating bans on watering lawns. It will, however, pay residents to kill their grass and replace it with a more drought-resistant landscaping option, like gravel.
As California deals with the aftermath of several devastating wildfires, heavy rainfall hitting the charred remains of the terrain could cause floods in the southern part of the state.
Rainfall in Southern California began on Tuesday, flooding some roads, and was forecast to continue through Thursday morning. Some areas of California were expected to see rainfall rates of up to half an inch per hour, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Flash Flood Watch.
Experts debunked a message shared thousands of times on social media that warned of the threat of “extremely toxic” rain as a consequence of the Camp Fire in California. The Facebook post told people not to let animals or pets out into the “toxic” rain, to wash them thoroughly if they do get out, and to keep a set of “outside” clothes and to change out of them immediately upon arriving home.
Water temperature readings off the coast of San Diego on August 9 are believed to be the highest ever measured in California waters.
Two buoys off the coast logged a sea-surface temperature of 81.3 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing an earlier high temperature set on August 2. The two buoys, the Torrey Pines buoy, located 7.3 miles from the coast, and the Scripps Neashore buoy, located about a mile offshore, are managed by Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
