Rain through the Weekend Begins to Bring Rain to California and the Pacific Northwest
Northern California received a sizeable dose of rain and snow this weekend. Drought conditions are being experienced in nearly every county, and the recent precipitation was a welcome sight for residents facing the driest year in the state's recorded history. But the problem is far from over.
A resilient high pressure ridge in the Northern Pacific Ocean has been blocking storm systems for most of the winter, perpetuating California's drought situation. That ridge has now dissipated, leaving open the possibility of a California rainy season.
The recent storm system dumped rain on the coastal range north of San Francisco and several feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada range. The precipitation was the result of an atmospheric river, also sometimes called a 'pineapple express,' a band of atmospheric moisture originating in the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to LA Times.
"It's very good for California's water supply," said Darren Van Cleave, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento. "We need it badly."
However, there is evidence that the drought situation is still a big problem. In a good year, the Sierra snowmelt, which provides one-third of agriculture's water, begins at around 5,000 to 6,000 feet in spring. This year there is very little snowpack below 9,000 feet, and hydrologists are having difficulty estimating snow volumes above that elevation. Because of this uncertainty, some experts have also suggested that the state needs to invest in expensive new snow measuring equipment, according to the Fresno Bee.
The state's water deficit is substantial, and this one single storm certainly did not solve the problem by itself. I will take many such storms before precipitation levels could be called 'normal' again.
"I don't think this is going to be a drought-buster,” said Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster in San Francisco. “But it's certainly going to diminish the deficit."
LA Times
Fresno Bee
