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A Very Wet Year for San Diego

San Diego’s water year ends Saturday — and it will be recorded as the 14th wettest year on record for the city.

A recorded 15.72 inches of rain fell at the San Diego Airport over the past 12 months. The weather station there typically sees about 9.5 inches a year.

It was the wettest year ever on Palomar Mountain. Rainfall there totaled 69.24 inches.

El Niño is Coming, But Will It Be a Super One?

An El Niño winter is ahead, weather forecasters firmly believe. The question they are pondering is exactly how strong it might be.

Locally, the worldwide weather factor is mostly known for directing heavy moisture toward California and the Southwest as temperatures warm several degrees across the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

California’s First Snow of Season is Coming to Sierra Ski Resorts

Less than two months since Mammoth Mountain’s historic ski season concluded, the first snowfall of the new season is set to arrive in the Sierra Nevada.

Weather models predict a low-pressure system with Canadian roots will bring cool temperatures and rain showers to the California coast and Central Valley on Saturday. In the Sierra Nevada, the air is expected to be cold enough for the first snowfall of the season at Kirkwood Mountain, Mammoth Mountain and other high-elevation ski resorts.

How Bad Will California’s Winter Be? Weather Outlook for North and South

El Niño has arrived, and the climate pattern is likely to bring above-average moisture to the southern U.S. this winter.

El Niño is one of two climate patterns that greatly impact Earth’s weather. La Niña recently culminated in the spring, ending a multiyear period in which the pattern influenced the weather. El Niño started in June, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) most recent update has identified El Niño as having high odds of being historically strong.

That means parts of California could see another wet winter, a welcome weather pattern as many of the state’s lakes and reservoirs continue to recover from a years-long drought. But an El Niño year doesn’t guarantee excess moisture in Southern California.

An El Niño Winter is Coming. Here’s What That Could Mean for the US

Fall has only just begun, but it’s not too soon to look ahead to winter, especially since this one may look drastically different than recent years because of El Niño.

This winter will be the first in a few years to feel the effects of the phenomenon, which has a sizable impact on the weather during the coldest months of the year.

El Niño is Getting Stronger, and Odds Are Tilting Toward Another Wet Winter for California

On the heels of a record-setting wet and warm August, forecasters on Thursday announced that El Niño is gaining strength and will almost certainly persist into 2024.

El Niño, the warm phase of the El Niño-La Niña Southern Oscillation pattern, is a major driver of weather worldwide and is often associated with hotter global temperatures and wetter conditions in California.

Atmospheric River Forecast to Bring Rain to Northern California

A moisture-rich atmospheric river that’s being called the first storm of the season is forecast to deliver rain to Northern California as early as Sunday night with the chance for showers continuing into Monday and Tuesday. Eureka and areas to the north are expected to see the heaviest rainfall with totals of 1 to 3 inches, while the Bay Area is likely to receive only light showers, according to the National Weather Service.

Tropical Storm Jova Bringing Clouds, Showers to San Diego Into Monday

Southern Californians saw mid-level moisture and cloud cover that helped lower high temperatures on Sunday as Tropical Storm Jova continued moving away from the region, the National Weather Service said.

The warm-up continues into Monday before temperatures drop and post card weather returns to finish out the week.

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New California Law Taps Science to Improve Water Management

Legislation signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom ensures the state has the science and weather forecasting tools it needs for more flexible reservoir operations. The bill, AB 30, makes breakthrough water management technology standard for the California Department of Water Resources.

The legislation was introduced by San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward and co-sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency and the San Diego County Water Authority. The bill was supported by the Water Authority’s partner, UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The strategy is called forecast-informed reservoir operations, or FIRO, and it complements Gov. Newsom’s California Water Supply strategy released in August 2022 calling for more reservoir storage capacity to capture runoff from big storms, often fueled by atmospheric rivers. The governor and Legislature have already provided funding for state water managers to integrate the strategy.

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Diagram illustrating the FIRO process to develop an adaptive water control manual. Graphic courtesy Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes

El Niño is Coming This Winter. The Question is, Will It Be a Whopper?

San Diego County’s fragile shoreline and vulnerable beachfront properties could be in for a rough winter, according to the California Coastal Commission, the National Weather Service and some top San Diego scientists.

“We are looking at an emerging El Niño event,” staff geologist Joseph Street told the Coastal Commission at its meeting Wednesday in Eureka.