Is the Drought Over? Is El Nino Helping? Can anything be done to ameliorate the drought/El Nino cycle? http://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...fers-hope-for-californias-worst-ever-drought/ 44-Foot Rise Of Folsom Lake Offers Hope For California's Worst Ever Drought Thanks, El Niño! MOST POPULAR Where Did China Get This F-22 Raptor? North Korea Is Hosting Its First Air Show The 21 Best Android Apps You Should Download Right Now Getty Mark Ralston By Brandon Mercer 532 California lake levels are rising as fast as the stock market is falling, with Folsom Lake east of Sacramento rising an astonishing 44 feet in just over a month and Lake Oroville, the second most expansive water storage facility in the state rising another 20 feet. Early December saw Folsom Lake, just off Highway 50 on the way up to South Lake Tahoe, dwindle to the hydrological equivalent of a mud puddle. A bottom section is exposed at the Oroville Lake reservoir that is now at 44 percent capacity as a severe drought continues to affect California on May 24, 2015. Getty Mark Ralston It reached its lowest levels since they started filling it up after building the dam of around 349 feet above sea level. By today, it has risen over 44 feet to just under 393 feet above sea level. Folsom Lake water levels. Current data is the thick blue line. The worst year previously was 1976-1977. Then, in fall of 1977, it began filling up again, following a trajectory that looks rather similar to what's happening right now. And, to be clear, as you can see in the shaded aqua area in the graph above, the lake ALWAYS rises a hundred feet or much more every winter or spring. The difference is it was on a track similar to 1976-1977 of flatlining over the past years, and now it's getting the hoped-for rocket-like rise. The real answers will be found by checking back in a month to see if the chart is still going upward, toward that normal trend line. From: SFGate
Northern California has gotten some rain. Southern California has gotten very little, and is still in severe drought.
Is the drought over: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-northern-california-reservoir-levels-20160314-story.html Drenched by 'March Miracle,' Northern California reservoirs inch toward capacity California storms A woman walks her dog over the rising Russian River on Friday in Monte Rio, Calif. (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) Joseph Serna Joseph SernaContact Reporter A series of storms pushed California’s biggest reservoir past its historical average for mid-March this weekend and put the second largest one on track for doing the same by Monday afternoon, officials said. Together the Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville reservoirs have the capacity to hold more than 8 million acre feet of water and after a wet weekend in Northern California, they were 79% and 70% full, respectively, by Monday morning, according to the state Department of Water Resources. Some people have referred to the recent series of powerful storms that have dumped rain and snow on the Sierra as the “March Miracle.” Water and Power is The Times' guide to the drought. Sign up to get the free newsletter >> The storms filled Lake Shasta above its average for this time of year and by 4 p.m. Monday, Lake Oroville surpassed its historic average, said DWR spokesman Doug Carlson. Lake Shasta is the state's largest reservoir. “It’s happened a little quicker than I personally thought,” Carlson said. “It would appear the [seasonal storms] have really achieved what they historically do, which is deliver a lot of rainfall to the mountains.” Beverly Hills put a spotlight on its celebrity water wasters -- and it worked Beverly Hills put a spotlight on its celebrity water wasters -- and it worked Neither reservoir has reached its historical average in nearly three years, data show. “I don’t know if people here will be dancing in their cubicles when [Oroville] hits the historic average, but it will be the first time it’s done that for the duration of the drought. That is reason to be joyous,” Carlson said. According to the National Weather Service, it rained nearly a foot in El Dorado County and more than nine inches in Shasta County between Friday and Monday mornings. Since March 1, the Shasta reservoir has received more than 16 inches of rain. On March 6, Lake Oroville saw its biggest single-day rise in 12 years, DWR reported. If the soggy month continues, both reservoirs could actually fill to the brim by April, officials say. Neither reservoir has been full since about the beginning of the drought, officials said. The Shasta reservoir would need about 1 million acre feet more of rain to hit its capacity. See the most-read stories this hour >> “It’s possible that it could fill if the wet pattern continues…it’s on track to at least get to average storage” for that time of year, said Shane Hunt, a spokesman with the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which monitors the Shasta reservoir. After four years of drought, even hitting a 15-year historical average for a reservoir in California is a sign of progress, experts say. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but it’s not a panacea. We’re not saved,” Hunt said. “We dug a pretty big hole in a lot of spots.”
Shasta and Oroville are very large reservoirs. But we have many other reservoirs that are also filling super fast. Yes, the drought is over. Thank you global warming. They don't tell you of the many benefits to global warming. Such as the enormous snow pack that will feed our reservoirs for a very long time. I imagine the roads over the Sierra's now closed will stay closed longer than normal. We have rain coming again Saturday and predictions are for several more huge storms.
CA has a great site to show our reservoirs all over CA We in the North are in great condition. As you sweep down the state, the reservoirs are less and less filled. This however does not this minute show snow packs and how much the melt off helps. Further south, the snow is less important. We ship water SOUTH to them. They NEVER ship water north to us. I was hoping to see more water at Trinity Lake than there is. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
22 feet up at Lake Folsom! Wow... That's good, but you know we could do more to capture ground water.. I can't say that I understand it entirely, but we often have a huge excess of water in the Mississippi Basin.. Why couldn't we build more recharge dams. Look at the amount of water that goes over Niagara falls and ultimately back into the ocean.
The problem with that is that the organisms downstream (even as far downstream as the Gulf of Mexico) need that freshwater to thrive. Recently (a few years ago during the Georgia drought), there were major issues between Alabama, Georgia and Florida over the use of Chattahoochee river water. Appalachicola bay needs that river water for it's organisms. Atlanta was sucking down way too much of that water. I believe it's still in court.
Yeah, dumping fresh water into the oceans is such an obvious waste. And flood waters along the Missouri and Mississippi could be used to recharge the Oglala. Takes money.
So why didn't people dig wells? Also, one would think that instead of building a train to no where in California that they would invest in a water desalinization plant... It's not like we lack the technology to remove harmful minerals from water...
So people are opposed to building an oil pipe, yet they want to build a pipe going from the Mississippi River to California? Never mind the fact water desalinization plants would be way more cheaper and less invasive... California has an issue with turning simple problems into complex issues...
In Atlanta? I have no idea why, except for cost. Cost. It takes a lot of energy to desalinate water. Not sure what desalinization has to do with Appalachicola bay, though.
The current dissipating El Nino did not help as much as the 97/98 one because it is further south. If a La Nina follows on it's heels the chances are that Cali will be back to drought but no one knows how the dissipation of the Warm Blob will affect it.
Why would we care? Those organisms will just be replaced by ones that don't. Then you'll say, "Don't release any more fresh water, those organisms can't thrive in too much fresh water!" There's nothing special about the current mix of organisms. It was different before people showed up, it will be different again.
It wasn't California's worst drought. Just more leftist revisionist history. Just your typical California drought that has been taking place for hundreds of years. It's just California's first drought where there wasn't enough water for 39 million people.
For 5 years, I posted a web site that proposed a pipeline, from the coast to Owens valley, where Lake Owens once was. This pipeline would move salt water to refill Lake Owens. It would be powered exclusively by wind and solar energy. Along the way, and at the destination, it would supply huge seafood farms. Once there, the water would be desalinated by solar powered desal plants that run on sterling engines, and actually produce more power than they use. The web site gained zero interest. Fine. CA would rather have their high speed rail to nowhere than invest in their own future. I'm done with caring about it.
