California鈥檚 'Pineapple Express': more where that came from
The 鈥�Pineapple Express鈥� has barreled through California, leaving behind floods, mud slides, power outages, and mandatory evacuations as winds neared 90 miles per hour in some places, whipping the rain sideways.
The deluge had a damaging ally in fire-scarred hillsides no longer able to secure the soil and rocks above threatened neighborhoods in Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties.
One expert tells the Los Angeles Times the rainfall amounted to 10 trillion gallons of water 鈥� enough to power Niagara Falls for 154 days.
Stored properly in reservoirs and mountain snowpacks, that would bring wonderful relief to the drought-parched state. But not when it comes all at once, and not when it鈥檚 rain in the mountains instead of snow banked for later.
The state鈥檚 major reservoirs should be about half full at this point in the water year, but most are down around 30 percent or less, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
鈥淢ost of the precipitation was rain,鈥� Jon Gottschalck of the Climate Prediction Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the New York Times. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 really adding to the snowpack, which is really what they need.鈥�
鈥淐ertainly this is good,鈥� Mr. Gottschalk said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 going to be just a minor dent in the drought.鈥�
Christopher Burt, author of 鈥淓xtreme Weather; A Guide and Record Book,鈥� says, 鈥淎t this point, the most significant impact of the rainfall has been to drastically improve soil moisture levels.鈥�
鈥淭he reservoir situation has also improved, albeit not so markedly,鈥� he writes on his blog at Weather Underground. 鈥淭he state鈥檚 largest reservoir, Shasta Reservoir, has grown by 2 percent in volume and Lake Oroville, the 2nd largest and where most of the state鈥檚 drinking and urban use water comes from, saw an increase of 5 percent in volume as a result of the recent rain.鈥�
Meanwhile, authorities are sorting out possible deaths attributable to the storm, which hammered the Pacific Northwest before reaching Southern California. One for sure occurred in southern Oregon where a homeless man camping with his teenage son was crushed by a falling tree.
While drought may improve in some portions of the country this winter, California's record-setting drought will likely persist or intensify in large parts of the state, the National Weather Service predicts.
鈥淐omplete drought recovery in California this winter is highly unlikely,鈥� Mike Halpert, acting director of NOAA鈥檚 Climate Prediction Center, said in October. 鈥淲hile we鈥檙e predicting at least a 2 in 3 chance that winter precipitation will be near or above normal throughout the state, with such widespread, extreme deficits, recovery will be slow.鈥�
For now, calmer weather in the region is likely to be followed by more storms.
鈥淎fter a day of record rainfall, California will see a break in precipitation this weekend; however, the next Pacific system will begin impacting drought-stricken California by early Monday,鈥� the weather service forecasts.
