What is the water situation in Cali? (San Jose, San Francisco: 2015, live)

[Dangerous-Boy]

Should I be worried? California is the bread basket of America.

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

Should I be worried? California is the bread basket of America.

Yes, be afraid. Very afraid!

[NewToCA]

Yes, you should be worried:

California's long-running drought just keeps on going.

Despite hopes that a rainy December would ease conditions in the parched state, drought conditions came surging back in the new year — with a vengeance. Northern California is currently in the midst of its driest January on record.


California has the driest Janurary ever - Business Insider

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Yes, you should be worried:

California's long-running drought just keeps on going.

Despite hopes that a rainy December would ease conditions in the parched state, drought conditions came surging back in the new year — with a vengeance. Northern California is currently in the midst of its driest January on record.


California has the driest Janurary ever - Business Insider

Gonna be tough when folks in LA and San Jose can't have green lawns in the summer. My brother in law lives in AZ. No lawns allowed.

Historically the west has had long periods of below average rainfall compared to the last 100 years.

[recycled]

In most parts of coastal Southern California, January had just a couple of minor rainfall days that added up to under 1 inch. That's not much for January, which should be one of our highest rainfall months. Aside from colder than average temps the first couple of days in January, most days were sunny with afternoon temps above 70F. February is starting out with the same trend, with warm, dry and sunny afternoons. This is not a good sign for recovery from a bad drought.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Just think, only another 20 or so more years with PDO being negative.

On the average, that will mean lots of years with below normal rainfall.

[Des-Lab]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

Gonna be tough when folks in LA and San Jose can't have green lawns in the summer.

Naw. I wouldn't count on that. Those are the "important" parts of the State and so will always get first dibs on supply. It's the farmers and residents of the Central Valley, from roughly Stockton in the north all the way to Bakersfield in the south that are going to get shafted big time with restrictions if not complete outages. Look at what's already been happening to some of the smaller, nobody-cares-about places like Orange Cove and Mendota. And already, parts of Porterville, which is a fair sized city, are already dry.

Because the LA and Bay areas have the clout of both economic and social/image on their sides, they won't see much-if any-rationing until the state has literally gone bone dry. And that's at least a couple decades if not longer away, assuming current trends continue. The Central Valley meanwhile will have long since ceased to hold any remaining inhabitants.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Yes, you should be worried:

California's long-running drought just keeps on going.

Easy does it

San Francisco Severe Watches & Warnings NOAA Weather Radio
Special Statement
Statement as of 12:10 PM PST on February 02, 2015
...Rain to return to our area starting Thursday... ...Locally gusty winds expected Thursday night throughfriday...

Warm and dry weather across our area will come to an end starting on Thursday as a moist west to southwest flow from the Pacific will move across our area. The rain will first start over the North Bay on Thursday before slowly advancing to the south for the remainder of the week. Although there is some disagreement about specific timing of rainfall through the weekend...there is good agreement that the system will end up impacting the entire San Francisco and Monterey Bay region.

Rain could be locally heavy at times especially for coastal ranges with the highest amounts forecast for North Bay locations. Rainfall amounts by Saturday night are forecast to be 3 to 5 inches for the northern Sonoma County with 1 and a half to 3 inches expected for the remainder of the North Bay plus the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains. Urban location around the San Francisco Bay into the far East Bay can expect between an inch to an inch and a half. For the rest of our area including Santa Clara Valley down to the Salinas valley half an inch to an inch is forecast. At this time the biggest concern for hydrologic issues is along low lying North Bay locations that are prone to minor flooding. Additional rainfall is expected for Sunday.

In addition to the rain...southwesterly wind will increase through the day on Thursday with gusty winds forecast Thursday night through Friday. The strongest winds are expected near the coast plus higher elevation spots such as coastal ranges. Local gusts could exceed 50 mph.

Persons in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay region should pay close attention to the latest forecasts for Thursday through Sunday for this developing storm. Residents are urged to check local storm drains and gutters to make sure they are cleared before the upcoming rain.

[JGC97]

That's great for the San Francisco area but what about the rest of the state? I don't think we got even a quarter inch of rain in January. After the downpour we saw in December, I hoped for a "normal" winter. Now, I'm not so sure. And it's been unusually warm for this time of year, too. It's just crazy. I keep thinking it's Spring but it's still Winter.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Worry? Heck, no. If California can't grow food anymore, we'll just import it all from Chile.