After Last Week’s Storm, April is Already 3rd Wettest Month on Record
Although a mere 13 days old, this is the third-wettest April on record in San Diego, the National Weather Service reported Monday.
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Rare April Deluge Boosts Southern California Rainfall to Normal Levels After Bone-Dry Winter
To hear that the weather is producing average results prompts thoughts of a metronome, plain brown wrappers and the smell of vanilla. But that certainly is not how Los Angeles’s rain intake for the water year has reached its historical average.
923 Million Gallons of Water Released From Hodges Reservoir After Storm
Because of recent heavy rainfall, the city of San Diego Saturday began releasing about 923 million gallons of water from Hodges Reservoir into the San Dieguito River, which may eventually lead to the ocean, city officials said.
The dam release began at about 11 a.m. Saturday and will continue for about seven days or until the reservoir elevation is near 295 feet, spokesperson José Ysea said.
For safety reasons, the California Division of Safety of Dams has determined that the water level at Hodges Reservoir should not exceed 295 feet, which is 20 feet below spillway elevation, Ysea said. This requires periodic water releases from Hodges Reservoir.
Forty Atmospheric Rivers Have Hit West Coast Since October
More than three dozen atmospheric rivers made landfall on the West Coast from fall through early spring, but a lack of strong events in California led to the development of drought conditions in parts of the state.
An atmospheric river is a thin, but long plume of moisture in the atmosphere that stretches from the Pacific Ocean tropics or subtropics into higher latitudes. They provide a boost to the rain and snow totals produced by storm systems taking aim at the West Coast, mostly from late fall into early spring. Although these events can bring hazardous impacts, they are also beneficial since they help replenish the water supply in the West.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography studies atmospheric rivers and other extreme weather. Graphic: CW3E Scripps/UC San Diego
San Diego Will Get Soaked for Sixth Straight Day by Storm That’s Produced Twice as Much Rain as Expected
A Pacific storm that was expected to drop about 1.5 inches of rain along the San Diego County coastline has produced more than twice that much and will continue to wash across the region until Friday night, according to the National Weather Service.
The system arrived in force on Sunday and was supposed to be gone by Wednesday night or Thursday at the latest.
“But it’s been sitting and spitting over us all week”, said Miguel Miller, a weather service forecaster “The models have it moving out pretty quickly on Friday night.”
San Diego International Airport unexpectedly received about 1.50 inches of rain overnight. By 6 a.m. Friday, the airport’s seasonal rainfall total had hit 12.54 inches, more than three inches above average.
April Rains Have Put a Dent in the Drought, at Least in Southern California
U.S. Drought Monitor data released Thursday show that less of California is abnormally dry, and more of the state is drought-free.
The improvement is mostly in Southern California and along the Central Coast, while data for Northern California show little change.
Spring Storm Brings More Rain and Snow to California
Rain and snow continued to fall Thursday on parts of California as a wet spring following a no-show winter pushed back against resurgent dryness that spread over three-quarters of the state this year.
Mountain peaks from the Sierra Nevada to major ranges crossing Southern California glistened with new coats of white as hillsides sported increasingly vivid shades of green fueled by precipitation that began in March after a largely withering January and February.
The latest storm entered the state from the north last weekend and slowly moved down the coast.
Record-Setting Storm to Continue Crawl Over California into Friday
A nearly stationary storm will be slow to wring out all of its moisture over central and Southern California into the end of the week.
Snow Day? No Way. Coronavirus Restrictions Bar Outdoor Play After Storm Blankets Mountains
Residents in the Southern California mountains awoke to a blanket of fresh snowfall on Wednesday, but thanks to restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, a would-be snow day was quashed by health officials.
Unusual Storm Guarantees a ‘Green Spring’ in Greater San Diego
An Alaska storm that dropped unusually far south, drawing moisture from the subtropics, put San Diego over its annual rainfall mark.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
