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Atmospheric River Storm This Week Will Bring Heavy Rain, Raise Flood Concerns With Huge Sierra Nevada Snowpack

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The winter of 2023 isn’t finished yet. Not by a long shot.

An atmospheric river storm is likely to hit Northern California late Thursday into Friday, meteorologists and climate scientists said Monday, bringing high chances of heavy rain in the Bay Area, 1 to 3 feet of new snow at higher elevations in the Sierra, and an increased risk of flooding as the warm rain hits the state’s massive snowpack.

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Is California’s Drought Finally Over? Here’s the Impact of the Latest Storms

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

If there’s concern about California’s wet winter turning dry, consider it shushed.

The heaps of snow over the past week on top of the parade of deluges in early January have been extraordinary and left much of the state with well-above-average precipitation for the season. The winter storms, which account for the bulk of the state’s rain and snow, are forecast to continue into next month, virtually ensuring a good water year for California.

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How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by James Dinneen

Between Christmas and January this year, a parade of nine atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor flowing east from the tropical Pacific — pummeled California. The trillions of gallons of rain poured on the state caused widespread flooding. While the rain topped up some drought-depleted reservoirs and aquifers and filled out snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, much of the water quickly ran off into the sea, flowing off asphalt and farms or released from reservoirs to prevent further flooding.

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Letting Go of Our Love of Lawns

/in , , /by /LAistby Erin Stone

Lynetta McElroy stands outside her home on a tree-lined street in the south L.A. neighborhood of Leimert Park, where she’s lived since the 1980s.

“Leimert Park was known for its beautiful lawns,” McElroy said. “No fences, and you could go to one corner and you could see just about to the next corner. It gave a community feeling. I’ve always loved this area. And it took a while to get a home in this area, needless to say.”

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Winter Storm to Boost California’s Snowpack at the Right Time

/in , /by /KTLA 5by Marc Sternfield

A significant winter storm is expected to deliver heavy rain and snow to a wide swath of the United States this week, from the West Coast to the Northeast.

Cold air from Canada will interact with a pair of fronts, causing “numerous weather hazards” and abnormal temperatures while “almost all of the country [experiences] some form of notable weather,” the National Weather Service said.

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Will California’s Excess Snow Become Usable Water This Year?

/in , , /by /The Wall Street Journalby Josh Ulick, Andrew Mollica and Taylor Umlauf

After three of the driest years in California history, this winter’s storms brought some of the wettest and snowiest weeks on record to parts of the state. Snowpack accumulated during winter is vital to the state’s water system because the natural form of water storage melts during the spring and fills reservoirs that can then distribute water downstream where needed.

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Understanding California’s Relationship With the Colorado River

/in , , /by /SFGATEby Amy Graff

It may feel like California is flush with water at the moment, after a winter of historic storms that replenished drought-starved lakes and left the Sierra Nevada snowpack at the deepest it’s been in 28 years. But follow the Colorado River, which supplies 15% of California’s water, back to bottomed-out reservoirs like Nevada’s Lake Mead, and it becomes clear the future of water in the Golden State is still very much in flux.

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Colorado River Crisis is So Bad, Lakes Mead and Powell Are Unlikely to Refill in Our Lifetimes

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin Ii and Ian James

The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is the deepest it’s been in decades, but those storms that were a boon for Northern California won’t make much of a dent in the long-term water shortage for the Colorado River Basin — an essential source of supplies for Southern California.

In fact, the recent storms haven’t changed a view shared by many Southern California water managers: Don’t expect lakes Mead and Powell, the nation’s largest reservoirs, to fill up again anytime soon.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Now at 205% of Normal, But Dry Weather Could Return

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

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.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Hits Biggest Level in Nearly 30 Years

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply — is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Not since Toy Story packed movie theaters, Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Super Bowl win, and gasoline cost $1.28 a gallon has there been so much snow in California’s most famous mountain range at the end of January.

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