Guess this is news, but the rain here in NorCal (actually central cal) is getting absurd.
So good news for the mega drought, right? Looking on the bright side?
Think this means it’s improving, but also don’t think it means it’s done. It takes rain over more time? Idk
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It’s been a lot here too in the Bay. Having big storms isn’t terribly out of the ordinary, but it’s been a very long time since I can recall having such a consistent amount of rain over this long of a time period.
Great question!
A “river” more than 100 miles wide is gushing through the air high above California, bringing with it heavy rain, winds, and snow. It’s the third in a series of weather systems known as atmospheric rivers — long, heavy columns of water vapor in the sky — to hit the state in the last two weeks.
There’s more details in the article, it’s pretty interesting.
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Sounds like it’s time to look into those massive investments of time and money to move water around in situations like this.
It’s really taking me back to 2017, the last time something fun like this happened
Not looking forward to months of having to divert around a slide again.
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I’m confused by that, because reservoir levels are way up.
The drought report published by the government also is improved.
Like I get that there’s downsides. A flood doesn’t help and there’s too much of a good thing, but it seems like it helps in some ways at least.
…relative to what, though? I dunno if this data is easily available but I checked Lake Shasta, as I used to drive by it a few times a year when my parents lived in Oregon and witnessed it going from healthy-ish to sad over time. Its level is up relative to summer which is great, but it’s still around its lowest levels in the last 20 years even after all the rain we’ve had so far.
Still looking very sad. Very possible this isn’t representative though, sample size of 1 here.
Shasta is still super low but it’s added a lot recently.
Snowpack is up
All the reservoirs
I think the biggest issue is that one massive rain doesn’t replenish ground water sources, which is more important
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Thanks for the links, that first dashboard is very cool.
has not hit where I am yet but I can see the massive front approaching and the wind is picking up a lot
There’s another slide blocking NB 17 now and every other road I would use to get home is either blocked by slides or flooding.
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this area is supposed to get 5+ inches over like 12 hours… I live in the hills so I hope no slides. if you don’t hear from me by tomorrow, pour one out for me
An excuse to bust out this one:
Seems like it may take a few years like this to actually solve the drought, but the best cause for optimism I’m seeing so far is that much this rain is being saved as snow pack. I remember some years when we got these rivers, it was too warm to save so much as snow. That was a real shame, because it did almost nothing to help the drought.
Hope everyone does OK. I do always remember being in SF/Silicon Valley with friend in 2015 and everyone was losing their minds because it was going to rain. Certainly a more hazardous topography for rain than most places
In December 2014 there was a storm they called “stormageddon” that basically shut down SF for a day, possible that remained in the public consciousness for a bit. Rain isn’t a big deal in general until these big storms come along that threaten lots of flooding and you get photos where it looks like a hurricane just passed through.
Yeah it must have been a month or two after that. Ended up going to Muir Woods in a downpour and it was deserted so maybe a good time to visit lol
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it’s gonna be mostly that classic california meme “we will rebuild” with one lawn chair tipped over, with some sad exceptions with mudslides and flooding. CA gets torrential rains every few years it’s not a thing they’re completely unprepared for.