[GPSCC-chat] The Mercury News eEdition Article

[The Mercury News EE]

wrolley at charter.net sent you this article.
Comment: 
Paul Rogers has a good analysis on the impact that the current rain
storms are having on the CA Drought.  He will also be on KQED Forum at
10:00 this AM. 

The Mercury News  01/04/2017 - Page A01

 ‘Cautiously optimistic’ A DENT IN  THE DROUGHT  Wet
relief: State’s five-year dry spell beginning to show signs of
letting up Stormy week: Bay Area can expect heavy rainfall; Sierra to
get blanketed By Paul Rogers
 progers at bayareanewsgroup.com
 A series of powerful storms is set to soak California over the next
week, bringing heavy rains, flooding risk in some creeks and 10 feet
or more of new snow to the Sierra Nevada — the latest sign that the
stranglehold of the state’s five-year drought is significantly 
weakening.
  At least three storms are forecast to crash in from the Pacific
Ocean, weather forecasters  said Tuesday, dumping 3 to 4 inches of
rain on most Bay Area cities by next Monday, and 8 to 10 inches in the
Santa Cruz Mountains, Marin hills and Big Sur coast. Friday may
provide one dry day, but otherwise, every  day this week should be
wet, with the hardest rain on Saturday,  forecasters said.
  "It’s not a lot of little storms," said Jan Null, a
meteorologist

 

 Pedestrians toting umbrellas will be a common sight this week in
Berkeley, above, and throughout the rest of the Bay Area.
 KRISTOPHER SKINNER/STAFF




 with Golden Gate Weather Services in Saratoga. "These are
significant rain producers."
  Steady rains since October,  combined with nearnormal  rainfall
last winter,  have all but ended the drought in some Northern
California areas, particularly  on the coast.
  As of last Thursday, 58 percent of California was classified as
being in "severe  drought," down from 88 percent a year ago, according
 to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report issued by the U.S.
Department  of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration and the University of Nebraska.
 Two Californias
 Much of Northern California,  including San Mateo, San Francisco,
Marin and every coastal county to the Oregon border, along with
northern Santa Clara and northern Santa Cruz counties,  are no longer
classified as being in drought conditions  at all for the first time
in four years, according to the Drought Monitor, which analyzes
precipitation, soil moisture and other factors.
  But other parts of California,  notably Santa Barbara  and Ventura
counties,  and the southern San Joaquin Valley, which have not seen
consistent rain in recent years, are still classified  as being in
exceptional or extreme drought. How stark is the difference?  All
seven reservoirs owned by the Marin Municipal  Water District were
full to the top Tuesday. But 350 miles to the south, Lake Cachuma, a
primary source of water for the city of Santa Barbara, was only 8
percent full. On Jan. 1, the Santa Barbara City Council imposed a ban
on all lawn watering to conserve dwindling  supplies, even after
residents cut water use 35 percent last year. Construction  to reopen
Santa Barbara’s ocean desalination  plant, which closed 25 years ago
after the last severe drought ended and its water costs were too high,
is set to be complete by March, which will help boost the city’s
perilous water  outlook.
  The northern part of the state is in much better shape. As of
Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco was at 102 percent of the historic
average  rainfall for this date, with Sacramento at 150 percent,
Eureka at 163 and Oakland at 110 percent. San Jose was still at 84
percent, after missing some of the big October storm action. On
Tuesday, the heaviest rains were in the North Bay, where many
communities received an inch or more. Parts of the Santa Cruz
Mountains received up to 2 inches. All the rain has boosted reservoir
levels. The 154 reservoirs tracked by the State Department of Water
Resources held 21.5 million acre-feet of water at the end of December
— 98 percent of their historic average for Dec. 31.
  "Precipitation and storage  are doing quite well compared to the
past five years of historic drought conditions," said Bill Croyle, 
acting director of the state Department of Water Resources. "That
makes us cautiously optimistic about water conditions, although some
areas in California are still hit hard by the drought and require a
response."
  The turnaround from a year ago is breathtaking. Lake Shasta,
California’s biggest reservoir, near Redding,  is at 118 percent of
its historic average, up from 50 percent this time last year. And Lake
Oroville in Butte County, the second largest in the state, is at 91
percent of historic capacity, up from 47 percent a year ago.
 Brown’s glass half full
 Because of the significantly  different conditions around the state,
the administration  of Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to ease drought
rules in the next two weeks, releasing new rules that will assign a
water  conservation target to each city, water company and water
district, based on the amount of rainfall it has received, along with
other factors, such as groundwater  and reservoir levels.
  "We’re seeing vast improvement  in water supply conditions over
much of the state this winter," said Max Gomberg, a climate and
conservation manager for the state Water Resources Control Board.
"It’s a really promising sign of recovery from this drought.
However, there are parts of the state that are still feeling the
effects  of the drought, and are still short of water."
  Gomberg said that it’s likely the new rules, which the state
water board is scheduled to vote on Feb. 7, will permanently lock in
some conservation measures  that grew out of the drought. Those likely
will include a requirement that the 410 largest cities, water
companies and water districts  in California continue to publicly
report their water  use to the state every month, and that wasteful
water practices, such as hosing down sidewalks or washing cars without
nozzles  on the hose, are permanently  banned.
  Some cities with ample water supplies will have no numerical
conservation target  from the state, he said, while others in drier
areas will.
  This week’s rainy weather is already affecting the Sierra Nevada,
where the snowpack makes up about one-third of California’s  water
supply.
  Between Sunday and Tuesday afternoon, 3 feet of new snow fell at
Squaw Valley ski area near Lake Tahoe, and 2 feet had blanketed  the
ground at Sugar Bowl and Heavenly resorts.
  State officials held their first manual snow survey of the year on
Tuesday. And although the snowpack in the Sierra totaled just 70
percent of the historic average  for Jan. 3 — due to warm storms in
weeks past — those totals are expected to jump significantly in the
days ahead as the new storms dump up to 4 feet of snow by Thursday at
higher elevations and perhaps 5 more feet over the weekend.
  "It’s early days. We still have three really solid months of
winter remaining  and a wet prognosis for at least a week," said Frank
Gehrke, chief of snow surveys  for the California Department of Water
Resources.
 Staff writer Mark Gomez contributed to this report. Contact Paul
Rogers at 408-920-5045.

 

 Frank Gehrke, right, of the Department of Water Resources, checks
the snowpack with John Paasche during the first manual snow survey of
the season at Echo Summit.
 RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 Josue Ruiz, of Monterey, tries to stay warm and dry at the San
Jose Diridon Transit Center.
 GARY REYES/STAFF


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/sosfbay-discuss_lists.cagreens.org/attachments/20170104/c8f15adb/attachment.html>