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[XiaNaphryz]

UPDATE 3 - Drought free number is now 83%, updated article added to bottom of OP.

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UPDATE 2 - Drought free number is now 53%, updated article added to bottom of OP.

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UPDATE - Drought free number is now 49%, see updated article at the bottom of the OP.

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Original Post:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/...han-40-percent-of-California-out-10852763.php

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than 40 percent of California has emerged from a punishing drought that covered the whole state a year ago, federal drought-watchers said Thursday, a stunning transformation caused by an unrelenting series of storms in the North that filled lakes, overflowed rivers and buried mountains in snow.

The weekly drought report by government and academic water experts showed 42 percent of the state free from drought. This time last year, 97 percent of the state was in drought.

Southern California, also receiving welcome rain from the storms, remains in drought but has experienced a dramatic reduction in the severity. Just 2 percent of the state, a swath between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, remains in the sharpest category of drought that includes drying wells, reservoirs and streams and widespread crop losses. Forty-three percent of the state was in that direst category this time a year ago.

California will remain in a drought emergency until Gov. Jerry Brown lifts or eases the declaration he issued in January 2014, while standing in a bare Sierra Nevada meadow that one of the state's driest stretches on record had robbed of all snow.

State officials said this week that Brown will likely wait until the end of California's winter snow and rain season to make a decision on revising the drought declaration.

For Northern California, at least, the onslaught of storms that brought the Sierras their heaviest snow in six years and forced voluntary evacuations of thousands of people as rivers surged will likely make it a much clearer call for the governor, water experts said.

"It's hard to say we have a drought here right now," said Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California at Davis, an area near Sacramento that was awash after its heaviest rain in 20 years.

The past week's storms were enough to double the snowpack in parts of the Sierras, runoff from which provides Californians with much of their year-round water supply. Stations up and down the mountain chain were reporting twice the amount of normal rain and snow for this time of year.

The state's reservoirs were brimming above average for the first time in six years.

"It's been so wet in some places this winter we would do pretty well even if it tapered off right now," said Daniel Swain, a fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles whose weather blog has been a closely watched chronicle of the state's drought.

Water experts look at factors including soil moisture, stream levels and snow pack in determining drought, said Claudia Faunt, a San Diego-based hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Those of us in NorCal these past few weeks have seen plenty of rain and various reports of flooding issues.

Plenty of flooding in counties like Sonoma and Marin.

Various road closures due to ground giving way, rockslides, and mudslides:

And I-80 near the Nevada border had been closed for 2 days due to blizzard conditions and avalanche danger:

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EDIT: Some before and after pics of various locations, before these 2 weeks of storms and after.

Folsom Lake:

Truckee River:

Guerneville, right on the Russian River:

Lake Oroville:

Folsom Dam:

Yuba River:

EDIT 2 (1-26): Update!

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feds-Thanks-to-storms-nearly-half-of-California-10886358.php

This month's powerful storms have earned California the not-so-trivial distinction of being drought-free across nearly half the state.

The U.S. government's Drought Monitor on Thursday classified 49 percent of California as being without drought conditions, an astonishing recovery from a year ago when just 5 percent of the state was considered removed from peril. It's the most area marked free of drought since April 2013.

All of the Bay Area, except for a tiny portion of Santa Clara County, was drought-free, according to the federal analysis, as was the northern half of the state, from San Francisco to the Oregon border.

The improving water picture comes amid a January that is closing in on rain and snow records across the state. In the Northern Sierra, where precipitation is most vital for filling reservoirs, more rain has already fallen this winter than during an entire average year, while snowpack across the mountains was an impressive 189 percent of average on Thursday.

San Francisco has seen 18.45 inches of rain since Oct. 1, nearly 150 percent of average for the period.

While the situation in the north has dramatically turned around, in part because last winter's weather also provided relief, half of California continues to wrestle with at least some stage of drought.

The Santa Barbara area, where reservoirs have shown an uncanny inability to fill, is in the worst shape, according to the Drought Monitor. Other parts of the southern coast and San Joaquin Valley also remain dry.

For the first time since January 2014, however, none of California was classified in the Drought Monitor's most severe category of ”Exceptional Drought."

State water managers have welcomed the improved conditions but aren't yet claiming victory. The wet weather could take a turn for the worse, and the future will undoubtedly bring other dry periods, they say.

Additionally, a lot more rain is needed to fill California's over-pumped aquifers and restore the health of its ecosystems, including Sierra Nevada forests, which have seen an unparalleled tree die-off.

EDIT 3 (2-10) - Update!

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-monitor-map-11-percent-severe-10920707.php

About 47 percent of California still faces a drought, and the conditions are severe in 11 percent of the state, according to the most recent weekly report from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Some 83 percent of the state was in the monitor's second-most severe category one year ago.

The dramatic changes in the drought map comes amid a rainy season marked by a series of moisture-packed atmospheric rivers that drenched the parched West Coast and dumped copious amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada. All of this rain has ended the drought in most of Northern California.

As a result, nearly all of the state's major reservoirs are currently above historical average levels, the Drought Monitor reports. The state's two largest reservoirs, Oroville and Shasta, are currently at 126 percent and 124 percent, respectively. What's more, the Sierra snowpack is now at an impressive 173 percent of average.

"Looking at the map of California three months, we were seeing 73 percent of the state in drought and now we're seeing 47 percent," said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. "If we go back to the start of the water year, which is Oct. 1, California had over 83.5 percent is drought. The map that came out a year ago, 94.7 percent of the state was in drought. We've made a big change toward the positive. This winter has been very good for the drought."

Despite the promising situation, water regulators extended conservation measures on Wednesday and will continue to do so until at least the spring as a precaution against a dry weather spell.

EDIT 4 (2-23) - Update!

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-levels-lowest-since-2011-10954402.php

After a surprisingly few wet winter months, scientists said Thursday that California is 83 percent drought-free compared to just six percent a year ago — the lowest drought levels have been since 2011.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that Northern California is completely in the clear and this is the first time in four years that no part of the state is under an ”extreme drought" designation.

The only counties in the state showing lingering drought indicators are in the Southern California area, primarily in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Imperial counties.

Despite the rainy weather that's caused streams and creeks to swell and an abundance of water to overflow reservoirs in California, Richard Heim, the author of the report and a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said California should still err on the side of caution when it comes to water use.

California has ”been in a wet pattern. You've been experiencing rain for months," Heim said. ”Still, don't waste water."

Some wells, particularly in Southern California, are still producing low groundwater resulting in the severe drought designations for the area. Reservoirs in that region are also producing little runoff, Heim added.

 

[Chris R]

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/WeeklyComparison.aspx

pick Cali

looks much better, sucks about the property destruction tho

 

[VaultBoy101]

Drought over? This proves that global warming isn't real!

 

[pr0cs]

Drought over? This proves that global warming isn't real!

That's why we renamed it to climate change, it catches a lot more events that way so we can keep the topic in the limelight

 

[Dreamwriter]

It's all my fault, I just moved here to Northern California from Seattle, and I packed the rain in my bags.

 

[SerAardvark]

All the rain also provided a helpful reminder that I needed an umbrella that didn't have our competitor's logo and brand on it. Win-win.

 

[Miletius]

It's been a crazy couple of days here in the Bay, but nowhere near as bad as North Bay from what I can hear on the radio. We've got 1 day on, 1 day off for about a week now, so it gives roads time to recover before the next big storm.

 

[SafeinSound]

Pretty unreal. Not really what people living there needed since the ground has become so hydrophobic after so many years. A steady rain over numerous weeks would of been better. But being out of that drought none the less is really great news.

 

[M52B28]

Fuck yeah!

 

[Oblivion]

Does this mean we can start building coal fired power plants now?

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Replant your grass! Turn those ground fountains back on! Almonds for everyone!

 

[Iriscomeback]

Does this mean we can start building coal fired power plants now?

Yes, everything is ok.

Spoiler

it's not

 

[Oblivion]

Yes, everything is ok.

Spoiler

it's not

But there's clean coal now. It's clean.

 

[Baka Sempai]

This is definitely good news, as it will hopefully help decrease the price of certain locally-grown food items (grapes, lemons, oranges, strawberries, radish, etc... ).

Is just bad that while we do need the rain, some of the super dried up terrain is giving away and some house properties are directly being affected.

Saw in the news this morning a couple of houses got red/yellow taped due to to their foundation sliding under, and the mudslide causing even a road closure (in the SFV), still probably not as bad as up north.

 

[One Eyed Willy]

My lawn is looking great with all this water. The City allows me to water 3 days a week, which is enough but I haven't had to water but once the past month. It's awesome.

 

[studyguy]

Going to Mammoth on the 27th, expecting nothing but pow runs. Give me the dream I've wanted for the past 4 years, storm.

I mean this was just recently so whew son.

Chair 14 normally.

They're literally firing a howitzer at the mountain right now to clear avalanche prone areas lol.

 

[Futureman]

My GF's sister lives in Portland and it looks like they've got more snow than us over in Pittsburgh at this point. It's a high of 60 today.

 

[olympia]

is there another storm system hitting us next week?

 

[Leynos]

Drought's over, folks, go back to your wasteful ways!

*ahem*

Anyways, please don't lift the restrictions; they need to become the new normal, and not trotted out when we are on the brink again.

 

[studyguy]

is there another storm system hitting us next week?

Rain all next week is assured at the very minimum.

Drought's over, folks, go back to your wasteful ways!

*ahem*

Anyways, please don't lift the restrictions; they need to become the new normal, and not trotted out when we are on the brink again.

My county, I'd imagine most counties literally just passed ordinances for water measures on ballots locally this past election. If there's any good that the drought has done, it's that it put in place legislature and infrastructure that had conservation in mind from the jump

 

[davepoobond]

That's why we renamed it to climate change, it catches a lot more events that way so we can keep the topic in the limelight

I thought the phrasing of "climate change" was invented by the Bush administration to make it seem less of an issue.

 

[Struct09]

It's all my fault, I just moved here to Northern California from Seattle, and I packed the rain in my bags.

Dude, send that shit back up to Seattle. We're having a dry and freezing winter here.

 

[Blader]

Those 2nd and 3rd pics... how the hell do you even begin to fix that?

 

[wenis]

really wish they wouldn't announce that the drought is over (even on a location basis). I'd rather people still conserved, now we'll have people washing out their garbage bins and sidewalks again. fuckin ridiculous.

 

[Thaedolus]

I've actually been surprised at how long the drought has persisted, I thought one of the climate changes caused by warming is more moisture in the atmosphere.

 

[SpecX]

I've actually been surprised at how long the drought has persisted, I thought one of the climate changes caused by warming is more moisture in the atmosphere.

The storms were still coming, but they just weren't reaching California. We're finally getting them to hit not Just Northern Cali, but SoCal as well.

 

[Wilsongt]

Thanks, Obama?

While the immediate effects of the storm are devasting, being able to punch a hole in the drought has some decent long term effects...

 

[otapnam]

I don't remember us getting this kind of rain since the late 90s. We're still not out of the woods yet but we've needed this for a long time

 

[subrock]

Nice they should see if nestle is in the market for some extra water

 

[Nafai1123]

Yeah our reservoirs up here in Sonoma, Marin and Napa are well over 100% at this point I believe.

 

[hoserx]

Nature finds a way?

 

[Got]

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I've actually been surprised at how long the drought has persisted, I thought one of the climate changes caused by warming is more moisture in the atmosphere.

The storms were still coming, but they just weren't reaching California. We're finally getting them to hit not Just Northern Cali, but SoCal as well.

There's also this:

MIT scientists: California should brace for more monster storms per year by 2100 if the world's average temperatures are 4 degrees Celsius higher then they are today.

 

[DragonSworne]

Do they just build a bridge over the rock/mud slides and sink wholes that collapsed large sections of the road?

 

[RedAssedApe]

I like this except for the fact that my roof is currently leaking.

 

[HellforLeather]

Do they just build a bridge over the rock/mud slides and sink wholes that collapsed large sections of the road?

Not usually. They back fill the sections and add drainage.

 

[studyguy]

My warehouse crew had to move the bobtail we use LTL shipments out of its dock since the runoff grate at the bottom of it backed up so we now have a huge dock full of water. Wat.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Live in Riverside County, can confirm: flooded as hell.

 

[SpecX]

There's also this:

MIT scientists: California should brace for more monster storms per year by 2100 if the world's average temperatures are 4 degrees Celsius higher then they are today.

Nice, although we better start planning a way to store this water for the long run and not just let it run off into the oceans. This will suck for those people in fire prone areas and mudslide areas like the foothills.

 

[One Eyed Willy]

If I went out side right now, I could do this lol. Its pouring like this right now.

 

[gatling]

Im so happy for them (outside of the problems of course), especially NorCal. Lived there for 3 years not too long ago and goddamn it was so dry. The one time we did get rain everything backed up inside the house I was living in in SF.

Visited for a week in the bay area and it rained 6 out of the 7 days I was there. I didn't complain for one second.

 

[Got]

If I went out side right now, I could do this lol. Its pouring like this right now.

I hope it rains for 6 months straight, lol.

 

[One Eyed Willy]

I like this except for the fact that my roof is currently leaking.

I've got a small leak somewhere on an enclosed patio I have. Been battling it for months and cannot find the source. Right now I just have a tarp over that section of the roof to be safe. I've exterior chaulked everything, re-tarred and patched large sections of the roof seams, replaced door sweeps (thought it was a ground swell).

If anyone has any tips for this guy or me on how to best pinpoint a roof leak I'm all ears lol

 

[Laekon]

How is a multi year drought over because of a few storms? Precipitation might be higher then average for the last few weeks but that doesn't mean shit in the long run. All that snow could melt in the next few weeks. There were some big storms 2 years ago where Lake Tahoe got over 6 billion gallons of water in a few days but it did nothing in the long run. It's dumb ass reporting like this that leads people to not believe in climate change.

 

[The Kree]

California gets no water for 15 years and then all of a sudden all the water on the planet decides to just go there?

 

[One Eyed Willy]

How is a multi year drought over because of a few storms? Precipitation might be higher then average for the last few weeks but that doesn't mean shit in the long run. All that snow could melt in the next few weeks. There were some big storms 2 years ago where Lake Tahoe got over 6 billion gallons of water in a few days but it did nothing in the long run. It's dumb ass reporting like this that leads people to not believe in climate change.

"Few storms?"

It's been raining nearly every week for over 2 months. Some of the storms are dropping several inches of waters in the cities, several feet in the mountains. I haven't seen rain like this since 1997 El Nino.

 

[Xe4]

I thought the phrasing of "climate change" was invented by the Bush administration to make it seem less of an issue.

Nope, it's been used for quite a while by climate scientists, dealing with recent and in the past changes of climate. The Bush admin may have capitalized on it, but they certainly didn't invent it.

 

[ReAxion]

really wish they wouldn't announce that the drought is over (even on a location basis). I'd rather people still conserved, now we'll have people washing out their garbage bins and sidewalks again. fuckin ridiculous.

i think they need to do better communication about the fact that we need these same rates to continue for this to really be over. i see that MIT report but i'm still worried.

thankfully the extreme drought caused a shitload of places to replace their lawns with sustainable landscaping at least.

that said, this rain has been fucking up my winter grilling schedule.

 

[Octavianus]

Storms in California! We need Global Warming!

 

[studyguy]

"Few storms?"

It's been raining nearly every week for over 2 months. Some of the storms are dropping several inches of waters in the cities, several feet in the mountains. I haven't seen rain like this since 1997 El Nino.

Pretty much, even in SoCal, it's been raining constantly since late Nov.