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California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

latimes.com

61–70 of 280 posts

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#61

strange because this is one of the warmest winters in decades. snow levels are far below normal, i saw 8% of normal in truckee. full reservoirs now are great but keeping them filled depends on a long snow melt going into june. i don’t think this is going to be a good year for that

The warmth partially explains the rain. Storms far across the pacific have formed and traveled east to land on California. Unfortunately it also means, as you said, we can't capture as much of it as snow pack.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#62

strange because this is one of the warmest winters in decades. snow levels are far below normal, i saw 8% of normal in truckee. full reservoirs now are great but keeping them filled depends on a long snow melt going into june. i don’t think this is going to be a good year for that

Here's the data from the Berkeley snow lab, located along I80 at the Sugar Bowl exit: https://cssl.berkeley.edu/

Snowfall is currently 75% of normal.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#64
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

California is big! That's also why there have technically been small parts of California which have been in drought for the last few years while most of the state is in good shape. This year, Southern California is having a wet year while most of Northern California is having a relatively dry one.

We're north of Los Angeles and the area has never really handled rain well. This is also entirely anecdotal having lived here for ~35 years.

Some of the towns in our county have developments built on floodplanes. In our neighborhood, only some streets have storm drains so many of them flood. On one of the main roads numerous trees fell over damaging walls and homes.

That last set of storms that really stands out were the El Niño events in the early oughts.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#65
post #29
post #21

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?

I wonder if overall rainfall doesn't tell the whole story. From my experience in SF (and admittedly CA is big and people will have very different experiences) there has been an enormous amount of rainfall early in the season and then another enormous amount over the holidays, but the rest has been dry. The total may not be that much but the acute heavy storms have been pretty intense.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#67
post #47
post #25

Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...

Bone dry here in Utah. Just as local government has been lowering their guard on the Great Salt Lake issue due to a couple strong snowpack years. Really hope we're proactive in response to the lack of snow.

Same in idaho. We are looking at historic lows for our reservoirs.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#69
post #3

As John Steinback said in East of Eden : “I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. The water came in a thirty-year cycle. There would be five or six wet and wonderful years when there might be nineteen to twenty-five inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of twelve to…

This is practically all that need be said on the topic

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#70
post #3

As John Steinback said in East of Eden : “I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. The water came in a thirty-year cycle. There would be five or six wet and wonderful years when there might be nineteen to twenty-five inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of twelve to…

I read that recently and meant to look up the reality of that cycle. I mostly pay attention to ENSO but looking it up now I see there is a 15-30 year PDO cycle.
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