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In California, Abundant Rains, 618 Inches Of Snow And An End To Drought. More Winter And Water Are Coming.

The past week has been lovely for enjoying California’s outdoor splendor, with warm temperatures and clear, blue skies ushering in a welcome change from such a wet, dreary winter. Bring on spring! But while the Golden State might be through with winter, winter is not through with the Golden State. Forecasts are calling for precipitation, widespread and light — save for scattered cloudbursts — and cooler conditions starting Wednesday. A second round of unsettled weather, perhaps a little weaker and quicker, is coming late Friday into Saturday.

Here’s What A ‘Very Likely’ Sequel To California’s 1862 Megastorm Would Look Like

Dale Cox isn’t your typical prophet of the apocalypse. But in his work at the U.S. Geological Survey, the bald, bearded, and technically-precise project manager spends an inordinate amount of time on catastrophe. Since 2006, Cox has worked with the interdisciplinary Science Application for Risk Reduction division in an effort to model hypothetical but entirely feasible disasters—and sell local governments on prevention methods.

Climate Change Will Endanger 3 Times More Californians Than Previous Estimates, Study Says

Climate change through the rest of the 21st century could be much more threatening to coastal California than previously anticipated, based on newly published research led by the U.S. Geological Survey. The new numbers are dramatic: Dynamic flooding in California could total more than $150 billion in property damage and impact about 600,000 people by the year 2100, according to research. When factoring in population trends, extreme scenarios could increase the total number of affected Californians to more than 3 million.

Warming Trend With Above Normal Temperatures Brings Concerns Of A Melting Snowpack

After above average rain and snowfall in February, the sun is starting to shine more in the month of March with warmer temperatures. The spring-like conditions this early are a concern for the Bureau of Reclamation. “We think of the April through the July period as the snowmelt runoff period. At our basin in the upper San Joaquin River we get two-thirds of our run comes during the snowmelt season,” said Michael Jackson, Bureau of Reclamation.

One More Day Of ‘Seattle’ Weather, Then Skies Will Quickly Clear In Rain Weary San Diego

The tail of a Pacific storm will spread sporadic rain across San Diego County until mid-afternoon. Then it will stop, only to return on Tuesday evening and last until about dawn on Wednesday, says the National Weather Service. “Now we know what it’s like to live in Seattle,” says Phil Gonsalves, a forecaster for the National Weather Service. The good news: the weather will turn dry on Wednesday and should stay that way through the weekend. Tuesday’s daytime high will reach 64 in San Diego. Wednesday will be slightly cooler. Then the weather will begin to warm up.

Rain Brings 2nd California Super Bloom In 2 Years

It started with the desert lilies in December. Since then a wave of wildflower blooms has been crescendoing across Southern California’s Anza-Borrego desert in a burst of color so vivid it can be seen from mountain tops thousands of feet above. Two years after steady rains followed by warm temperatures caused seeds dormant for decades under the desert floor to burst open and produce a spectacular display dubbed the “super bloom,” another winter soaking this year is expected to create possibly an even better show by Mother Nature.

California’s Drought Largely Wiped Out After Winter Of Soaking Rain, Heavy Sierra Snowpack

Years of drought have been nearly wiped out by an active storm track in California this winter and drought conditions have dramatically improved across the West, and this trend is expected to persist into the spring. A dominant weather pattern featuring a southward dip in the jet stream over the West has allowed a series of precipitation-rich storm systems to track through the region, especially over the last two months.

As One Storm Moves Out Of Southern California, Two More Are Moving In

This week’s storm, which drew added moisture from an atmospheric river out of Hawaii, doused L.A. County valley areas early Thursday but is on its way out of the region, forecasters said. “After the spectacular lightning show early Wednesday morning and the periods of heavy rain that lingered into Wednesday afternoon, the weather across Southwestern California has quieted down quite a bit in most areas,” noted an NWS statement.

Historic Rainfall Wipes Out Drought For Most Of California

The latest report on California’s water conditions has been released and the drought monitor shows some encouraging news about our drought levels. Experts say it has very little impact on our local supply. KUSI’s Ginger Jeffries explains.

Photos: See LA’s Night Sky Electrified By Phenomenal Lightning Show

Lightning dazzled Los Angeles last night, with nearly 6,000 lightning strikes recorded over Southern California. Earth Networks, a company that uses sensors to detect lightning, observed 5,923 lighting strikes and 14,326 lightning pulses (that’s when the lightning is in a cloud and doesn’t hit the ground) from 6 p.m. to midnight. Steve Prinzivalli, a meteorologist at Earth Networks, tells Curbed that those numbers are “pretty incredible,” and climate scientist Daniel Swain on Twitter described it as the “most spectacular winter lightning display in recent memory.”