![]() The second largest, Oroville, in Butte County, was 48% full. On Tuesday, the largest, Shasta Lake, near Redding, was just 39% full. But in the past three years, the winter rains haven’t been enough to fill the reservoirs in most places. In normal years, California cities and farms draw down water in major reservoirs, which then fill up again during winter storms. They have missed the target by a large margin, reducing use by only 2% from July to April. Gavin Newsom asked urban residents to cut water use 15% from 2020 levels. The cumulative impact of the drought is becoming an increasing problem.įarmers have seen huge cutbacks on their state and federal water deliveries. “Looking out over the next 10 days, there are no drought busters in the forecast over that time,” he joked. ![]() Modern weather forecasting is only really accurate out to about 10 days, Null noted. ![]() Drought Monitor, a weekly report issued by the federal government and the University of Nebraska.Ĭalifornia’s last drought, from 2012 to 2016, ended with massive storms in 2017 that nearly caused the collapse of Oroville Dam and triggered $100 million in flood damage in downtown San Jose. “Not to be provincial, but north of the Tehachapis is the most important place for rainfall in California,” said Null, referring to the Tehachapi Mountains in Los Angeles and Kern counties.Ĭurrently, 97% of California is in a severe drought, and 58% is in an extreme drought, the third and fourth most serious out of five categories, according to the U.S. So generations ago, state and federal engineers built huge reservoirs such as Shasta, Oroville and Trinity in the northern part of the state to catch winter rains and melting snow and send the water to Central Valley farms and Southern California cities in the summer and fall. Historically, the rugged forests and mountains of Northern California have received far more, and bigger, winter storms than the balmy beaches and arid deserts of Southern California. “We’re going to need an exceptional year coming up to dig us out of the hole we are in right now,” Null said.īut most of the state’s largest reservoirs are in Northern California. As the state’s long, hot summer looms, hopeful eyes are already turning to November and December. ![]() July 1 to June 30 is traditionally the period that California measures its rainfall season, because nearly all the rain and snow falls in the winter months. And each passing year without soaking winter rains has been steadily drying the state out a little more - further dropping reservoirs, parching soils and forests and depleting groundwater. Over the three-year period that ended June 30, most Northern California cities received only about half to two-thirds of their historical average rainfall, according to data that Null compiled. “It’s like if you worked three years but only got paid for two. ![]() “In most places we are missing an entire year of rain over the past three years,” said Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services in Half Moon Bay. But the rainfall shortage driving the state’s current drought comes down to basic math. California’s water issues may be complicated. ![]()
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