Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Drought, Weather & Snowpack Category
Click here to view all posts

DWR Weather and Climate News: Rainfall totals from recent storms, upcoming events

Posted by: Maven on November 7, 2008 at 6:00 am

From DWR Meteorologist Elissa Lynn:

We have a WinNer! We have a WinTer! …

Congratulations to recipient 1500 of the Weather and Climate Newsletter! Rob Floerke, retired Department of Fish and Game, was the 1500th person to sign up. A resident of Davis, Floerke is an active outdoor enthusiast. He works with K thru 6 students in the Discover the Flyway program and assists with Yolo Basin Foundation tours (second Saturday of the month) on the wildlife area. The Yolo Basin Foundation web site is: www.yolobasin.org A few fun favors are being sent: DWR lapel pin, ball cap, business card holder, and rain gauge; a CoCoRaHS t-shirt, and an offer to tour the Flood Center. Thanks, Dale, for your support of weather observation and forecasting. We’ve moved well above 1500, now, in total readership. Maybe another milestone contest will take place. Say, when we reach a million. :)

What a great start to the rainy season. Last weekend’s prodigious rain came in 3 waves, with a follow up system earlier this week. That last one was a good deal colder. With the added use of snow blowers, Boreal Ski Area on I-80 and Mammoth Mountain each have ONE run open! Here are some seasonal totals, with percentage of normal for this date, if available. (Note: The hydrologic Water Year starts on October 1; that is the date used for the Northern Sierra 8-Station Index, and the new San Joaquin 5-Station Southern Sierra Index. That is also the seasonal start date for most monitoring sites used for river forecasting.)

As of November 6,

Northern Sierra 8.0″ 186%
Southern Sierra 4.8″ 200%

Gasquet 12.52″
Angwin 5.68″
McCloud 10.16″
CSU-Sacramento 2.86″
Pine Crest, Stanislaus River 6.98″
Black Mountain, Salinas River 1.04″

Early warm storms do not provide the vital spring snowpack, which provides 60% of the state’s urban and agricultural water supply. Drought conditions remain in place, in terms of reservoir and broader supply factors. However, on the very up side, it’s a very good start, and hopefully an indicator of a pattern that will maintain itself through the winter. It’s not over till the fat rain gauge sings.

National Weather Service site seasonal rainfall (Using July 1 as beginning of season), as of November 5,

SAN JOSE 1.16″ 78%
OAKLAND AIRPORT 2.23″ 96%
LAX INT`L AIRPORT 0.74″ 80%

The Cooperative Community Rain, Hail, and Snow weather reporting network has gotten off to a good start. Begun merely a few weeks ago in our state, California observations reached 100 on Halloween. We were the wettest place for 3 days running on the CoCoRaHS network. If you’d like to participate, or see local observations, please go to: http://www.cocorahs.org/state.aspx?state=ca

Additional systems will be coming through every few days, although at this time, they do not look as moist as last weekend’s, nor as south-reaching.

Announcing the 2009 Winter Outlook Workshop. DWR is hosting a climate science workshop, with presentations on long-range predictions about what may be in store over the western United States this winter, and what it takes to do this sort of work. Long-range forecasts pose true challenges, so this first ever workshop devoted to the topic ought to be very interesting. It will be held on Friday, November 21, in San Diego. When the location is announced, watch for a DWR news release.

A few other upcoming conference dates:

Annual Snow Surveys Cooperators’ Meeting
November 12-14, Bass Lake
Climate Change Adaptation Summit (DWR, Water Education Foundation)
November 13/14, Long Beach
ACWA’s 2008 Fall Conference
December 2-5, Long Beach

Be back in a few weeks with another letter.

November 7, 2008 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack

Comments

Leave a Reply