The golden hills of California have turned green in recent weeks after a series of storms delivered much-needed rain and snow to a state suffering from two years of drought.
But state officials and water policy experts are still urging caution even in these wet conditions, pushing for water-saving measures as the drought is expected to continue throughout much of the West.
After an atmospheric river unleashed a torrent of rain over Northern California in October, the state saw another moisture-rich system in November and then a parade of storms across December.
With a wet start this season, the rivers are rushing, the waterfalls flowing and the reservoirs beginning to rise. The snowpack is signaling a remarkable turnaround after two dry seasons. The Hyatt Power Plant is back online at Lake Oroville after it was forced to shut down due to historic low reservoir levels in August.
San Diego’s rainy season is off to a good start thanks to a series of atmospheric rivers according to Alex Tardy who is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Well, for this year, this is our third. The one in late October was strong for Northern California, weak for us, then there was December 14th and that was strong for Southern California,” Tardy said.
A cold, wet holiday season will continue this week with two winter storms hitting Southern California and Northern California grappling with heavy accumulations of snow and rockslides that have closed off the Tahoe area. The first Southern California storm arrived in the Los Angeles region Monday afternoon, with a second storm expected Tuesday night that could linger into Friday morning.
Last year, Northern California had very little precipitation in October and November, and we wondered if California was entering into a multi-year drought. Today, we know – last year became the 3rd driest year on record for northern California, in terms of precipitation.
October storms helped this winter’s rainy season get off to a good start across Northern California. But they weren’t enough to erase the two very dry previous years: 80% of California remains in an extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly federal report.
Reservoir levels are very low and groundwater tables are depleted because the past two years had the least rainfall in Northern California of any two-year period since 1976-77.
Rain and gusty winds are coming to Northern California with precipitation in Sacramento expected to start as soon as Monday evening. Sacramento can expect up to 1 inch of rain along with wind speeds between 30 to 35 mph starting Monday around 5 p.m. into Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office.
After a brief interruption for some rain late last month, the Los Angeles region is back to its regularly scheduled programing. In November, that means little or no rain.
For those hoping for more rain, the prospects aren’t good, as the National Weather Service puts it. The long-range models look dry into early December.
Not that L.A. gets much rain in November. The monthly normal for downtown Los Angeles is 0.78 of an inch. Downtown normally receives 0.58 of an inch of rain in October, but got 0.71 of an inch, putting L.A. less than a quarter-inch above normal so far for the rainfall season.
The Bay Area is preparing for the second atmospheric river storm to soak the region this rainy season and alleviate the dire drought conditions in Northern California. There will be a slight chance of rain on Friday night into Saturday morning, with less than 0.10 of an inch forecasted in the North Bay, according to the National Weather Service.
Another series of storms is set to sweep through the Pacific Northwest and Northern California into next week and not only bring much-needed rain and mountain snow but also flooding concerns.
A dip in the jet stream across the Bering Sea through the northern Pacific Ocean will push waves of energy toward the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Northwest this week, according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, who added that temperatures will be near to below normal.
