California
Here’s where California reservoir levels stand after December’s storms
December kicked off with a parade of storms throughout California, and whereas the plentiful precipitation is probably going excellent news for California, knowledge reveals storage ranges on the state’s
main water provide reservoirs
haven’t budged a lot.
“We’re simply now transferring into the wet season,” mentioned Jeanine Jones, interstate assets supervisor for California’s Division of Water Assets, referring to the months between November and March when a lot of California’s precipitation is recorded.
A lot of the main reservoirs, together with Lake Oroville in Northern California, stay at below-average storage ranges, knowledge from the state Division of Water Assets reveals. Statewide, reservoir ranges are at 68% of common for this time of 12 months.
However one brilliant spot is that Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir by storage quantity, is a bit fuller than it was throughout the identical time final 12 months. Present knowledge reveals the lake at 31% of its whole capability of 4.5 million acre-feet, in contrast with 24% in December 2021. One acre-foot is the equal of 1 acre of land lined in a single foot of water — or 325,851 gallons — in regards to the quantity of half an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Oroville, one other massive reservoir that holds 3.5 million acre-feet, is at 28% of its whole capability — a slight drop from the identical time final 12 months, when reservoir ranges had been at 30%.
The collection of storms that kicked off this fall supplied hope for California, bringing the state’s precipitation as much as 85% of common for the water 12 months, measured from Oct. 1 by Sept. 30. Final Thursday,
rain in San Francisco
partially flooded a number of roads within the metropolis, difficult drivers in the course of the morning commute. At increased elevations, precipitation got here down as snow final week and over the weekend, blanketing locales just like the better Lake Tahoe space with
a number of toes of snow. The Sierra snowpack is
171% of regular
for this time of 12 months, as of Dec. 7.
Nonetheless, California is within the midst of a
extended drought
that in response to consultants will probably proceed right into a
fourth 12 months. And it’s too quickly to know precisely how latest storms will impression the state’s water provide, officers say.
“We have to wait and see what occurs with the water 12 months,” Jones mentioned.
Final 12 months’s wet season began equally, however didn’t have a cheerful ending as dry situations resumed. In December 2021, California noticed
widespread rain and snow
throughout the state. However this deluge was adopted by the driest January-October interval on document for California, in response to knowledge from the
Nationwide Facilities for Environmental Info.
Taken all collectively, December storms haven’t dramatically affected storage ranges in reservoirs throughout the state. That is partly as a result of early within the season, precipitation must replenish soil moisture, earlier than water runs off into reservoirs.
“We’d like greater than only a month of common rain to be useful,” Jones of the state water division mentioned.
Whereas the latest rain might really feel like begin to the water 12 months, much more must fall over the following few months to enhance the state’s water provide.
“I preserve telling folks, we do not rely our chickens earlier than they’re hatched,” Jones added.
Jack Lee and Yoohyun Jung are San Francisco Chronicle employees writers. E mail: jack.lee@sfchronicle.com, yoohyun.jung@sfchronicle.com