There’s a white line known as the bathtub ring around Lake Mead. It’s a constant reminder for Boating Lake Mead’s Director of Operations, Bruce Nelson. The lake is at a historically low 1,067-feet above sea level, affecting boat launch ramps and customers.
A series of storms have made for an exceptionally rainy and snowy start to California’s winter season, pushing snowpack and precipitation well above 150% of normal for this time of year and bringing a welcome influx of moisture amid an ongoing drought.
As the calendar prepares to turn into 2022, Northern California is getting covered with snow, and rainfall in Butte County is leading to more water in Lake Oroville.
As of midnight Tuesday, Lake Oroville had 1,323,897 acre-feet of water in it. While that number is 37% of the lake’s capacity, it also reflects 72% of its average storage his time of year.
For the fifth time in less than a week, significant rain will fall across San Diego County Wednesday through Friday, drenching a region where precipitation is running twice its December average.
After months of extreme drought that triggered water shortages and stoked wildfires, heavy snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada — enough to break decades-old records.
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.
The onslaught of storms that have marched into the western United States has undoubtedly created headaches for travelers and residents at times, but it has also proven to be very beneficial in building up an expansive snowpack across most mountain ranges in the region. Looking ahead to the final week of 2021, the cold and unsettled weather regime is expected to continue.
A major Christmas weekend storm caused whiteout conditions and closed key highways amid blowing snow in mountains of Northern California and Nevada, with forecasters warning that travel in the Sierra Nevada could be difficult for several days.
Authorities near Reno said three people were injured in a 20-car pileup on Interstate 395, where drivers described limited visibility on Sunday. Further west, a 70-mile (112-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 80 was shut until at least Monday from Colfax, California, through the Lake Tahoe region to the Nevada state line.
Snow, snow, snow!
The folks at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab have been tracking the fluffy white stuff and predict that Christmas will be the snowiest day of the week.
We may not be getting a White Christmas this year, San Diego, but it will certainly be wet.
Back-to-back storm systems — one fueled by an atmospheric river — will bring rain, gusty winds, chilly temperatures and potentially some light mountain snow to San Diego County this week.
While California comrades to our north saw stormy weather starting as early as Tuesday, the first storm system is expected to reach San Diego County on Thursday.
