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I've lived in California my whole life (and the same town for most of that). This was the most rain I can remember in decades and the most "destruction" I've seen caused by it. Between the ground being saturated and wind before/after/during the storms there were plenty of downed trees. We were also down to running sprinklers once a week (lawns are silly), but have had them off entirely for a bit now.
I've lived in California my whole life (and the same town for most of that). This was the most rain I can remember in decades and the most "destruction" I've seen caused by it. Between the ground being saturated and wind before/after/during the storms there were plenty of downed trees. We were also down to running sprinklers once a week (lawns are silly), but have had them off entirely for a bit now.
The statewide rain totals for the 2025-2026 water year so far rank 6th out of the years of the 21st century, so aren't that remarkable in context. Do you live in a place that got slapped with a peculiarly high rainfall?
This year, Southern California is having a wet year while most of Northern California is having a relatively dry one.
I've lived in California for 20 years so this is my first year of non-draught. We've been enjoying the unusual prevalence of greenery in Orange County.
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The statewide rain totals for the 2025-2026 water year so far rank 6th out of the years of the 21st century, so aren't that remarkable in context. Do you live in a place that got slapped with a peculiarly high rainfall?
Perhaps GP is thinking of last winter?
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Water policy isn't as simple as you might think. Dams aren't a magical fix, they cause a lot of issues (like crashing the salmon populations, etc.). They're expensive to build and maintain, and the water you store in a big reservoir doesn't magically stay in place - you lose a lot to evaporation and you lose a lot that ends up going into the groundwater system. A much bigger part of the problem is western water law,…
A lot of stuff re: Salmon Populations is primarily around native groups wanting to continue their traditional life styles. In the era of Trump/Republicans, I don't expect native issues to matter at all. "Drill baby drill" and all that. So, actually, it is pretty simple if you're willing to finish the settler colonialist project that is our country.
I had a joke that hit well: "California is in a drought? Who would have thought it doesn't rain in a desert."
I don't get it. It does rain in deserts, of course. But most of California is not a desert anyway.
Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...
People shouldn't really be celebrating anything here. Wet winters just mean that the much more important snowpack isn't happening: > Recent storms have brought snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains, but the state’s snowpack remains below average. According to the Department of Water Resources, the snowpack now stands at 89% of average for this time of year. > Much of the West has seen warmer-than-average temperatures a…
That is basically doomer nonsense. Of course we can and should celebrate the lack of drought, even if there is some mathematically more optimal way for the precipitation to be falling.
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Got any sources for that?
take a look at SB 79 is a 2025 California state law (Senate Bill 79, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener) that overrides local zoning limits to allow higher-density multifamily housing near major public transit stops, signed into law by Governor Newsom on October 10th 2025, despite local resistance by residents.
I've lived in California my whole life (and the same town for most of that). This was the most rain I can remember in decades and the most "destruction" I've seen caused by it. Between the ground being saturated and wind before/after/during the storms there were plenty of downed trees. We were also down to running sprinklers once a week (lawns are silly), but have had them off entirely for a bit now.