Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
NASA Satellite Images Tell the Story of California's Growing Snowpack
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 12 months ago on
February 23, 2024

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

โ– State snowpack was 28% of normal on Jan. 1. Itโ€™s 86% of normal today.

โ– More storms are forming over the Pacific Ocean.

โ– Downtown LA has already gotten 17.8 inches of rain this water season.


After a dry start to winter, Californiaโ€™s wet season is finally well underway.

December downpours sent water racing through streets in coastal Ventura County and the city of Santa Barbara. Flash floods hit San Diego in late January, and back-to-back atmospheric river-fueled storms arrived earlier this month, causing wind damage in Northern California and hundreds of mudslides in Los Angeles. Yet another storm blew through over Presidents Day weekend.

The frequent deluges have fended off a return to the drought that has plagued the state over the past decade. Some parts of California are so wet these days that even Death Valley National Park has a lake big enough for kayakers. Still, the state is not on pace for a repeat of last yearโ€™s epic rain. And the mountains havenโ€™t seen nearly as much snow as a year ago.

Hereโ€™s a look at Californiaโ€™s winter so far:

WHAT ABOUT SNOW?

The vital Sierra Nevada snowpack, which normally supplies about 30% of California water when it melts, has rebounded somewhat from a slow start.

In addition, forecasts indicate that more storms are building over the Pacific Ocean. If they materialize, the snowpack will get an additional boost.

The snowpackโ€™s water content Wednesday was 86% of normal amounts to date and 69% of the April 1 average, when it is normally at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

On Jan. 30, the water content was just 52% of the average for that date โ€” a far cry from a year earlier when it was around 200% of its average content, thanks to repeated atmospheric rivers that dramatically ended Californiaโ€™s driest three-year period on record.

HAS ALL THIS RAIN HELPED?

Downtown Los Angeles has received nearly 17.8 inches of rain, already more than an entire yearโ€™s worth of annual precipitation, which is measured from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 of the following year. This is now the fourth-wettest February in downtown since since weather records began in 1877, according to the National Weather Service.

But while rainfall has reached historic levels in Southern California, it remains to be seen if the year will be regarded as very wet for the state overall.

Northern California is only just approaching its annual average, with about a month and a half to go for the wet season, which โ€œmakes it very hard to get โ€˜extremely wet,โ€™ โ€ said Jay R. Lund, vice-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

โ€œWeโ€™re already wet enough that itโ€™s not going to be a deep drought year, and the really wet years, they are already much wetter than this,โ€ Lund said.

WERE RESERVOIRS REPLENISHED?

Even with the laggard start to the current rainy season, water storage in Californiaโ€™s major reservoirs has been well above average thanks to runoff from last yearโ€™s historic snowpack.

Some reservoirs have been releasing water into rivers to make room for incoming storm runoff and maintain flood control protection for downstream areas.

The Department of Water Resources announced Wednesday that the State Water Project is forecasting that public water agencies serving 27 million people will receive 15% of requested supplies, up from Decemberโ€™s initial 10% allocation.

The department said that the assessment doesnโ€™t include the impact of storms this month, and the allocation could be further revised in mid-March.

Lake Oroville, the State Water Projectโ€™s largest reservoir, was at 134% of its average amount to date, but the department noted that the Northern California headwaters of the State Water Project saw below-average precipitation from storms over the past two months.

Contractors of the Central Valley Project, a federally run system that supplies major farming districts, will also receive 15% of their requested water supplies, federal authorities said Wednesday. That could change with more storms.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Who Runs Elon Muskโ€™s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.

UP NEXT

New Self-Pollinating Almond Tree Could Be Huge for a Big Fresno Cash Crop

Musk Team Seeks Access to IRS System With Taxpayersโ€™ Records

3 hours ago

Bannon Calls Musk a โ€˜Parasitic Illegal Immigrantโ€™

3 hours ago

Who Runs Elon Muskโ€™s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.

WASHINGTON โ€” Who, exactly, runs the so-called Department of Government Efficiency? You might think it would be Elon Musk, the man who Presid...

1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Who Runs Elon Muskโ€™s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.

2 hours ago

New Self-Pollinating Almond Tree Could Be Huge for a Big Fresno Cash Crop

Fentanyl M30 Pills
3 hours ago

Madera County Secures First Fentanyl-Related Homicide Conviction

3 hours ago

Musk Team Seeks Access to IRS System With Taxpayersโ€™ Records

FILE โ€” Steve Bannon speaks to reporters outside State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Feb. 11, 2025. Stephen Bannon, a top adviser during President Trumpโ€™s first term and a key figure among his supporters, said Elon Musk wants to โ€œplay-act as Godโ€ as part of his push to overhaul the federal government. (Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times)
3 hours ago

Bannon Calls Musk a โ€˜Parasitic Illegal Immigrantโ€™

3 hours ago

Fresno Weather Forecast: Pretty as a Postcard

3 hours ago

Kennedy Says โ€˜Nothingโ€™ Off-Limits in Scrutinizing Chronic Disease

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as Elon Musk listens in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)
3 hours ago

Judge Declines to Immediately Block Elon Musk or DOGE From Federal Data or Layoffs

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend