Snowpack

California’s snowpack is officially 162% higher than average, the fourth-highest ever recorded, after state officials performed the annual measurement this week in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The “flash drought” in the upper plains states, and rising temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, are warnings that another El Niño is forming that could slam the West Coast this winter with heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and infrastructure failure risks.

The drought that has plagued California for half a decade is over — and Lake Tahoe, tucked away high in the Sierra Nevada, is full for the first time in 11 years.

After a nearly decade-long drought, the state known for its endless summer, is now home to a seemingly endless winter, with eight feet of snow on the ground in some of the western mountain ranges.

California’s Northern Sierras have set an all-time record of 89.7 inches of precipitation for the 2016-7 year, as new storms are about to push the record higher.

Just as Breitbart News predicted a little over a week ago, temperatures rising to the high 70s are causing an early spring snowmelt that is quickly filling Oroville Lake, causing the local sheriff to issue evacuation warnings for 11 areas downstream of the troubled Oroville Dam.

California may soon be drought-free after experiencing the highest levels of runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack in 22 years.

Nearly two in three Californians call the state’s current four-year drought “extremely serious,” and nearly nine in ten (86 percent) plan to permanently reduce the amount of water they use, even after the drought ends, according to a poll that came out Thursday.

The water content of California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source on roughly a third of the state’s annual potable water supply — measured 87 percent of average on Wednesday.

Two large stretches of a Northern California highway disintegrated and gave way Monday night as El Niño-powered rainstorms lashed the area.

The Pacific El Niño is back with a vengeance — and with it, the hope that California can climb out of its devastating, four-year-long drought.

With this year’s strong El Niño tending to skirt California and drenching the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles County just went all-in to revive a controversial cloud seeding program to squeeze out every last drop of precipitation from late season rain showers.

Operators began releasing water from Folsom Dam for the first time in four years after El Niño-fueled storms dropped billions of gallons of water into California’s largest reservoirs over the weekend.

California had been hoping that by this time of year, rains from a record-strength Pacific El Niño would bolster state water supplies and help it recover from a devastating, four-year-long drought.

LOS ANGELES — California’s water conservation rate slid sharply in January, with the state failing to meet Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandatory 25 percent reduction order as the strong Pacific El Niño failed to deliver the rain necessary to provide a path out of devastating drought.

Some cities in Southern California saw daily temperature records broken this week as an unusual heat wave interrupted what has been an El Niño-fueled rainy, cold winter in the region.

Powerful rainstorms brought on by the record Pacific El Niño have succeeded in filling up California’s largest reservoirs, including Folsom Lake, but it may not be enough to pull the state out of what is quickly shaping up to be a fifth year of devastating drought.

California water officials extended the state’s mandatory conservation rules for an additional nine months on Tuesday, as residents fell behind in meeting water savings targets for a third consecutive month.

California citrus growers dodged a frozen bullet–twice–over the Christmas Day weekend.

Business is booming at Southern California ski resorts following disappointing snow seasons over the last few years.

Plentiful snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains this week has brought good tidings for drought-ravaged California–but less pleasant news for millions of motorists who will take to the state’s main interstate for Christmas travel. Snowpack levels for the mountain range

Californians saved 13.9 percent more water in April as compared with the same month in 2013, a significant improvement over the last several months’ dismal conservation numbers.

California’s record drought took a stunning turn for the worse last week: on Thursday, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains officially disappeared.

On Wednesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order introducing new mandatory water restrictions in an effort to cut statewide water use by 25 percent.

California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday mandating a 25 percent cut in statewide water use, the first mandatory water restrictions in state history.

The amount of water frozen in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains fell to just eight percent of the historic average this week, as the state struggles through a devastating fourth year of drought.

Hot, dry weather is expected in many regions of California at the end of this week, threatening to put a dismal cap on the state’s rainy season as it struggles through a fourth year of severe drought.

A new map unveiled by the NASA Earth Observatory this week shows that the risk of “megadrought”–a severe drought lasting for up to 35 years – is increasing, and not just for the already drought-stricken California.

California Gov. Jerry Brown was scheduled to visit the state Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday morning to outline a $1 billion plan to help the state navigate through a fourth year of drought.

Rice farmers in northern California’s Sacramento Valley have found a new way to turn a profit in the drought-ravaged state: selling a portion of their water supply to thirsty southern Californians for a premium price.

The California State Water Resources Control Board will hold a vote Tuesday on several water conservation measures designed to alleviate the state’s devastating four-year drought.

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, NASA senior water scientist Jay Famiglietti warned that California only has about one year’s worth of water supply left in its snowpack, reservoirs, and groundwater storage. If conservation efforts are not ramped up, and soon, the state could be facing a full-blown “crisis.”

Sierra Nevada snowpack levels and practically non-existent rainfall totals are converging to push California into a fourth straight year of drought.