How did California fare during 2015-2016 winter? plus April showers in NorCal on Friday; more widespread next week
From Daniel Swain at the California Weather Blog:
With the formerly powerful El Niño event now fading in the tropical Pacific and most of California’s traditional rainy season now behind us, it’s a good time to consider the modest drought relief that occurred in California this past winter. First, the good news: the northern half of California fared pretty well precipitation wise, with virtually all of the state from the Bay Area northward experiencing near or above average season-to-date precipitation. The northernmost portion of the state–where much of California’s water storage infrastructure resides–did particularly well, with many areas seeing more than 130-150% of the long term average. Sierra Nevada snowpack was a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from near average in the north to significantly below average in the south (though still far above last year’s record-low levels virtually everywhere). Statewide, snowpack ended up below the long-term average and is now melting rapidly–largely due to warm mountain temperatures which (yet again) persisted through the winter. Many short-term drought indicators have improved considerably in response to this precipitation, and many of California’s major reservoirs are actually in better shape than they have been in years.
But while NorCal precipitation this winter was enough to stabilize the long-term accumulated precipitation deficit, it didn’t really even make a dent in the still tremendous multi-year shortfall that has developed since 2012. … ”
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