How has the recent burst of storms affected California's water supply?
The repeated storms so far in 2024 haven't been as strong as the ones a year ago, but they've still been enough to lead to reservoir releases throughout California.
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00:00 Dr. Michael Anderson is the state climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources and in California this month continues to bring
00:07 Rounds of heavy rain and snowfall across various parts of the state. So dr. Anderson. Thanks for making a time for us here today
00:15 Happy to be here
00:17 We have a few questions for you, and we're always keeping an eye on California water supply
00:22 I know we've done well over the past year and we're just wondering how has this past couple of weeks contributed to the water levels
00:30 It really has helped this is our wettest time of the year December January
00:34 With February those three months on average we get half our annual precip and is the bulk of our snowpack
00:40 Beginning of February we were only about half of average
00:45 But right now we're sitting at about 86% of a seasonal snowpack. It's pretty good
00:50 And we had a spectacular year last year. How do we compare with where we were?
00:55 365 days ago
00:59 Much less we had a much stronger pattern of storms with much stronger storms
01:04 Last year including the nine atmospheric rivers in that three-week span
01:08 crossing in to 2023
01:11 This year the storms haven't been as strong and have had more coastal impacts not as much inland
01:20 Benefit received until this latest batch
01:25 And are you releasing water from reservoirs and are you personally involved in that decision?
01:30 I'm not involved in that decision
01:33 But there are as worse that are making releases in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers
01:37 Which oversees the flood control space in the major as worse?
01:41 Is it normal for releases to occur this early in the season or how does that usually work?
01:48 Is it something that's usually done just before major events to mitigate flooding?
01:54 Well, it depends on the broader conditions so
01:57 In the case where we've been dry
02:00 The tendency is usually to hold on to the water and encroach into the reserve space for floodwaters
02:07 But then as the storm clears
02:09 Release that water that's in the flood space to make room for the next storm
02:14 And given the theme that we had a slow start November and December were pretty disappointing for water supply
02:20 But we've made up lost ground at a big way January and February
02:24 Has this bit of a recovery in the season altered plans for water management for the coming months in any way?
02:30 A little bit, but they don't get finalized until we get to that April one date typical peak of the snowpack
02:38 But we are seeing
02:41 improvements in
02:42 The allocation amounts. Dr. Michael Anderson State Climatologist for the California Department of Water Resources. Thanks again for your time
02:49 Thank you.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]