February is normally the wettest month of the year in downtown Los Angeles, when 3.8 inches of rain would usually fall. This year, next to nothing has fallen. L.A.’s rainfall to date has been 4.39 inches, less than half of normal for this point, which is 9.71 inches.
The Marin Municipal Water District is calling on customers to voluntarily cut back on their water use for the first time since the 2013 drought in response to meager rainfall reminiscent of the notorious 1976-1977 drought.
“I have to say that looking at the forecast and how much rainfall we’ve had to date, we might actually be happy if we achieve the 1976-77 rainfall numbers at this point,” Paul Sellier, the district’s operations director, told the board of directors on Tuesday evening.
Marin County water districts are weighing the need for mandatory conservation actions in the face of abnormally low rainfall and what could be another prolonged drought.
Marin’s two largest suppliers — the Marin Municipal Water District and the North Marin Water District — plan to begin with voluntary conservation measures before considering more restrictive options such as rationing and irrigation bans similar to those of the 2014 drought.
Water supplies in El Dorado County lakes are dropping. In a report to the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors Monday Operations Director Dan Corcoran said the water agency expects to have adequate water supplies for 2021 but continues to be diligent regarding signs of a possible multiyear rainfall shortage.
For years, pairs of grebes would zoom across the water at Lake Hodges in a dazzling mating dance, and then build their nests on mats of dried brush suspended above the waterline.
Santa might be able to lose the heavy red coat when he makes his rounds in the Southland, and he probably won’t need an umbrella either.
The extended outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration favors above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation in the Los Angeles region from Dec. 24 through Dec. 30.
It’s possible that San Diego County won’t receive significant rainfall during December, which would significantly elevate the wildfire danger throughout the region, according to the National Weather Service.
“The storms that have been forming off the Pacific Northwest are not dropping into Southern California,” said Dan Gregorio, a weather service forecaster.
A study last week predicts that massive, often-devastating “hundred-year storms” may occur three times as often and be 20% more severe in the U.S. due to climate change. The researchers, in a paper published in the American Geophysical Union journal Earth’s Future, found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at a rapid rate, the continental U.S. would likely see such mega-storms every 33 years.
The occurrence of historic rainfall events, like the ones that caused Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and California’s Great Flood of 1862, are likely to increase faster than lower-magnitude events, which already happen about every decade, according to UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.
Scientists can now predict drought and overall water supply on the Colorado River years in advance, according to a new study published by researchers at Utah State University.
The team of scientists believe long-term “ocean memory,” in conjunction with atmospheric effects and the influence of land systems, correlates with cycles of drought in parts of the western U.S., which then leads to water shortages on the Colorado River.
The Bay Area’s hopes for weekend rains to help snuff the Glass Fire and dampen the parched hills seem to be evaporating.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
