Amid rains and mudslides, drought concern remains

On Jan. 3, the snow level was only about 24 percent of average In a statement released by the California Department of Water Resources, Gehrke said the levels “seem a little gloomy,” but areas that had no snow a few weeks ago, now have a few patches.
State Climatologist Mike Anderson is hopeful there is still time for rainfall.
In a report published by The Earth Institute at Columbia University, satellite images provided by NOAA show parts of central California and all of southern California likely to have warmer temperatures in January through March of this year.
According to maps published by the United States Drought Mitigation Center, southern California is classified as a mix of “abnormally dry,” and “moderate drought” as of Jan. 4.
Not every part of California is completely dry, some state reservoirs have filled up more than their 2017 levels reported last year.
Lake Shasta, California’s largest surface reservoir, now holds 118 percent of its historical average, as of Jan. 3.
Roughly half of California’s water supply comes from so-called “atmospheric rivers,” which are like tunnels in the sky, transporting most of the water vapor out of the tropics.
These tunnels move with the weather and carry an amount of water vapor equivalent to the average flow of the mouth of the Mississippi River, NOAA officials said.
Doing laundry and showering use an average of 196 gallons of water per day, according to Save Our Water.
Currently, predictions are about 70 percent accurate, he says.

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