3 ms·

Dr. Jeff Masters adds some color to this data on his blog[1]. Also note the second vortex off the Canadian coast[2]. [1] http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffM

Dr. Jeff Masters adds some color to this data on his blog[1]. Also note the second vortex off the Canadian coast[2]. [1] http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2877 http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?en... [2] http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/12/11/0900Z/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-128.81,45.74,1154 http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/12/11/0900Z/wind/surface/l...

pwarner 12y ago
I don't know why people are so worried about the lack of snow at this point. There is plenty of room in the reservoirs for rain at this point. Maybe later in the season the snow will become important, but at this point I think CA can store lots of liquid water Some reservoirs can't be filled this early as the need to leave space for flood control, but the big ones have so much extra room I imagine they can store every drop.
- mc32 12y ago
  It's because most of the rainwater will end up back in the sea via sewers, rivers, etc. Snow becomes snowmelt --which happens slowly so it does not become runoff but filters into aquifers, reservoirs, etc.
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  I don't think it works that way. A few of the large California reservoirs, like the San Luis Reservoir and Lake Berryessa, get their water from storm runoff in mountains that don't typically accumulate much snow, but a large amount of the water storage in California comes from Sierra or Trinity snowpack. Unfortunately, a lot of California storm drainage is designed to move the water to the ocean as quickly as possible, to prevent flooding. I think most of the rainfall in the Bay Area that doesn't soak into the ground will find its way to the delta or to the Bay rather than a reservoir. Think of it this way: cumulative snowpack is a massive year-round reservoir in California. See e.g. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article3505269.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article3505269....
- sp332 12y ago
  Here are the reservoir levels. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.act...
aw3c2 12y ago
aaaargh those color schemes in [1] are horrible!
dghughes 12y ago
Yeah almost right over me :( I'm currently using a shop vac in the basement after a pretty good bit of flooding. We had a lot of rain all day yesterday maybe 100mm total. We're used to it being -10C and snow not monsoon rains.

pwarner 12y ago

I don't know why people are so worried about the lack of snow at this point. There is plenty of room in the reservoirs for rain at this point. Maybe later in the season the snow will become important, but at this point I think CA can store lots of liquid water Some reservoirs can't be filled this early as the need to leave space for flood control, but the big ones have so much extra room I imagine they can store every drop.

mc32 12y ago
It's because most of the rainwater will end up back in the sea via sewers, rivers, etc. Snow becomes snowmelt --which happens slowly so it does not become runoff but filters into aquifers, reservoirs, etc.
thaumaturgy 12y ago
I don't think it works that way. A few of the large California reservoirs, like the San Luis Reservoir and Lake Berryessa, get their water from storm runoff in mountains that don't typically accumulate much snow, but a large amount of the water storage in California comes from Sierra or Trinity snowpack. Unfortunately, a lot of California storm drainage is designed to move the water to the ocean as quickly as possible, to prevent flooding. I think most of the rainfall in the Bay Area that doesn't soak into the ground will find its way to the delta or to the Bay rather than a reservoir. Think of it this way: cumulative snowpack is a massive year-round reservoir in California. See e.g. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article3505269.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article3505269....
sp332 12y ago
Here are the reservoir levels. http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.act...

aw3c2 12y ago

aaaargh those color schemes in [1] are horrible!

dghughes 12y ago

Yeah almost right over me :( I'm currently using a shop vac in the basement after a pretty good bit of flooding. We had a lot of rain all day yesterday maybe 100mm total. We're used to it being -10C and snow not monsoon rains.