Dry January may reduce rainfall increases during major storms in 2021 – CBS San Francisco

DAVIS (KPIX) – The recent drought in the Bay Area is having a major impact on our water supply and could take us back to where we started when it comes to drought crises.

In late December, California saw a great month of rainfall alongside the October storm. It is fair to say that winter has gotten off to a strong start. Now, on the first of February, the state is nearly a month away from another drought year.

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“This year is really a great example of how we can go from wet to dry very quickly, from month to month,” said Jay Lund of the UC Davis Watershed Science Center.

With the storm gates closed for a month, the October and December rains are now more evenly distributed, and a third year of drought is likely.

“So far, the rainfall this year has been mostly a little less, then the total rainfall of the first year of this drought in 2020,” Lund said of the year the water stalled.

While some places, like Marin, have been able to recover relatively well from what has fallen, others are still struggling.

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“Folsom, near Sacramento, is doing pretty well,” Lund said. “But Shasta is still pretty low compared to what it should be. This is a big concern.”

“We wanted to see more ice, to fill the hole I left in the years of drought in Lake Shasta,” said Jennifer Allen from Contra Costa Water County.

With Shasta still low and the snow cover dwindling, counties like Contra Costa Water are still very much in a dry state.

“We’re calling on our customers to continue conservation and they’re doing great,” says Allen. “They’re pretty much conserving compared to their 2020 numbers.”

Five countries can still break either way. There was a Magic March in 1991 that brought in three times the average rainfall for the month. But that is an anomaly. And the clock is ticking.

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“Well, something is about to happen,” Lund laughed. “Sure. It’ll be wet or dry, or somewhere in between.”