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

latimes.com

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

#81

Post by JohnMakin »

jmspring wrote: post #51
cdrnsf wrote: 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.

Spent 7+ years north of Truckee. There have been wetter/more snow years.

California is big, and the LA basin can be extremely dry. For me this is the most I’ve seen since the one bad el nino season in the 90’s, but that one didn’t last nearly as long. It seems normal the last few years to get winter storm conditions that last months.

2025 was the coolest summer I’ve ever experienced living where I do near the coast with an onshore breeze that is now frigid and very wet at times. I usually get fog now in times of the year it rarely happened - almost like san francisco’s notorious summers.

Tracking local weather patterns used to be part of my last career so this stuff I notice pretty well.

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

#82

Post by zobzu »

cdrnsf wrote: 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.

curious where in CA. in the past 15y ive def. seen more rain lol.

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

#83

Post by [deleted] »

johnsmith1840 wrote: post #5

The dams in california were built years ago for a smaller population and since then they've only removed them. If we simply built like the people who first came to california did we would never have water shortages again. Any water shortage is a 1:1 failure of the state to do the clear and obvious task needed.

[deleted]

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

#84

Post by zobzu »

accrual wrote: post #12

Previous CA resident anecdata, I remember droughts being a normal part of life in central CA 1990-early 2000s. Don't run sprinklers during certain hours, odd/even watering, "the water bill" exclaimations, etc. Like another commentor mentioned I don't anticipate this will last, but it's nice to see the "official" state change even if for a bit.

im not sure you're allowed to state all this! kidding but yeah.

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

#85

Post by [deleted] »

cdrnsf wrote: 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.

[deleted]

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

#86

Post by sieabahlpark »

obidee2 wrote: post #80
trollbridge wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall rather absurd demands such as telling restaurants not to offer water (as if a glass of water makes any difference) and telling residents to skip showers.

That was widely ridiculed, but despite how it sometimes seems policy makers are not so stupid to believe saving water from cups not drunk would make a meaningful difference directly. One of the big hurdles for changing human behavior at scale is improving awareness. Even people who want to conserve their water usage benefit from frequent reminders to actually make changes stick. Being reminded the state is in a droug…

[dead]

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

#87

Post by johnsmith1840 »

Analemma_ wrote: post #22
johnsmith1840 wrote: post #5

The dams in california were built years ago for a smaller population and since then they've only removed them. If we simply built like the people who first came to california did we would never have water shortages again. Any water shortage is a 1:1 failure of the state to do the clear and obvious task needed.

The new Sites Reservoir and capacity increase of the existing San Luis Reservoir are both expected to start construction this year. Several other recent proposals like the Pacheos Reservoir have been cancelled due to cost but it is not the case that California is doing nothing re: new water infrastructure.

This is my point. They know what to do but have trouble doing so.

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

#88

Post by ignoramous »

lisper wrote: post #25

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

Unironically, wet / dry cycles isn't good news for California either.

  Research published in the aftermath of the fire examines how this extremely wet to extremely dry weather sequence is especially dangerous for wildfires in Southern California because heavy rainfall leads to high growth of grass and brush, which then becomes abundant fuel during periods of extreme dryness.

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

#89

Post by bdamm »

windowpains wrote: post #79

If only we built reservoirs to keep the water for the drought years it would be great news.

California has already invested a lot into reservoirs. In fact, as a pilot, I recall noticing that nearly all lakes in California are actually man-made reservoirs. I doubt there is much room left for economically building more; all the easy ones have been taken, and more. Surely the cost benefit of just investing a lot into desalination must be getting close.

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

#90

Post by NeutralCrane »

jedberg wrote: post #33
Loughla wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah hey but for real. The news is focused on California droughts all the time, but my part of flyover country is very, very dry. Like ponds that have never been empty are dry, sort of thing. It's getting bad. . . And we grow all your food. Between this and all the political nonsense that's happening right now, I feel like a passenger that's noticed the car is out of control while the driver is still opening his beer…

California actually produced the most food of any state. :). But I know what you mean, the water is just as critical in the middle of the country as it is on the edges. Water is critical everywhere, and this problem is just going to get worse and worse.

California leads in the value of goods sold, because it produces a lot of relatively expensive agricultural products like almonds, avocados, tomatoes, etc. Additionally, it’s a larger state, so it naturally will inflate the totals. If you look at food staples, and at the amount produced by square mile, the Midwest is definitely the main food producer of the US.
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