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Extreme Rain Helps Drought & Snowpack, When Bay Area Rain Could Return

California snowpack is also doing great and averaging over 100%.

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While there’s still a lot of work to be done, we have made some incredible headway on the California drought as extreme rain and atmospheric rivers slammed the Bay Area. Look at the side by side images and you can see on October 1st before our storms rolled in there was extreme drought covering much of the state. Currently, we’ve now dropped to moderate and severe drought over the state. There’s still much more rain needed but quite a dramatic change in just 3 ½ months.

Before:

After:

Despite mainly dry weather in January we’re still managing to hold onto our rain surplus. Most cities averaging rain 3.00 to 5.50” above average, except San Jose which was rain shadowed when a few stronger storms moved across the region.

California snowpack is also doing great and averaging over 100%. This is very important as snowpack provides 1/3 of the state’s water supply.

What about future rain chances finally returning? I’m forecasting a 70% chance that a moderate storm will bring SF Bay Area rain in early February. New indications show totals could range .50 to 1.00”. There’s still quite a bit more time before this happens, we’ll keep you updated.

You can find out more about our changing climate and all of our stories in this link.

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