Over the past two weeks, parts of California are no longer in drought for the first time in three years.
As of last Thursday, areas of California were still experiencing moderate drought and severe drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor website.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classification presents five levels of drought, varying from “abnormally dry,” to “exceptional drought,” according to its website.
The monitor’s statistics from three weeks ago found that California was facing both extreme and exceptional drought, the two highest levels of drought conditions.
State officials had previously estimated that California was headed for its fourth year of drought conditions, according to a Saturday Washington Post article.
California’s Sierra Nevada experienced around 12 feet of snow over the weekend, according to the same Saturday article.
Last fall, California reservoirs dropped to extreme low levels, but the water supply is projected to improve once the snow melts in the spring, according to the same article.
Katherine Cushing, professor and environmental studies department chair, studies and specializes in sustainable water resources management.
She said, 17% of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, is officially out of a drought, and there is a month to go before the end of the water year on April 1st.
The water year
The water year goes from October 1 to September 30 of the following year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
“While our unprecedented rainfall events of December and January helped us fill reservoirs and create an incredibly robust snowpack – this weekend we have the potential for another atmospheric river but it is predicted to be warm,” Cushing said. “Which could actually melt some of the snow that's been able to accumulate at lower elevations.”
The drought has caused Bay Area residents to be asked by Gov. Gavin Newsom to restrict their water usage by 15% starting July 2022.
Environmental studies assistant professor Costanza Rampini, whose expertise is in floods and flood risks, said the rain is good news in terms of water supply because California reservoirs and snowpacks are full.
“The consequences of all the rain we’ve been getting is largely positive,” Rampini said.
Cushing said the recent weather conditions made it possible to avoid issues in the future.
“We have bought ourselves some time to think about how we can improve our water infrastructure to capture more stormwater in our groundwater aquifers,” Cushing said. “And how to promote the use of non-conventional sources of water, such as water from our clothes washers, for landscape irrigation.”
However, the recent weather condition had consequences for the vegetation in the Bay Area.
“I live in Santa Cruz and a lot of our trees have fallen due to the soil getting soggy, or they just have weakened during the drought and now they can’t handle the recent storms,” Rampini said.
Experts say the unusual weather conditions will also have negative effects on Bay Area residents’ lifestyle.
“We are better prepared to manage for extreme precipitation events and know, for example, that students and staff may have a hard time physically making it to campus or logging on to online classes due to impassable roads and power outages,” Cushing said.
Jamsheed Mistry, a master’s student in environmental studies at SJSU, says he does not believe that unusual weather conditions or snowfall will have significant consequences in California because they are temporary.
“Since snow across California is mostly present on mountaintops and areas of high altitude, I simply don't believe that it will change the direction of water flow across the state,” Mistry said. “However, I do believe that the quantity of water across our state has slightly increased, which is a great sign for mediating our decade-long drought.”
Rampini said although the current water reservoir conditions are positive, California residents have to continue conserving water because drought conditions may happen again in the future.
“California has risen to the challenge and significantly reduced their water use,” Rampini said. “We have saved 15% in Santa Clara county but these gains will be lost if people feel confident that we have enough water.”
