California has recorded alarmingly low levels of rain across the state over the last year, according to measurements completed this week, worsening an already bad drought and priming vegetation for a potential disastrous fire season.
The situation was most critical in Northern California, where rain and snow provide water for other parts of the state.
Southern California didn't fare much better.
“Rain years” are measured from the beginning of July to the end of June, and the last 12 months were the seventh driest in Los Angeles’ 144 years of records, said Jan Null, meteorologist and founder of Golden Gate Weather Services.
Null tracks rainfall in California and found that from July 2020 through June 2021, the L.A. received 5.82 inches of rain — 41% of what the city typically records.
Despite that grim distinction, Los Angeles was in bit better position than its neighbors to the north.
L.A.’s rainfall from July 2018 to June 2021 is within 92% of what is considered normal, Null said.
In comparison, the Northern Sierra region recorded its third driest year on record — and its second driest two-year span — according to Golden Gate Weather Services data.
“California can usually weather one dry year without significant impacts," Null said. "When we start having back-to-back [dry] years, that's when we run into problems.”
“If I have one metric to look at for California water, it is going to be the northern Sierra Nevada,” he continued, “because that's the watershed that feeds into the Sacramento River, Lake Shasta, Whiskeytown, Lake Oroville, which are the biggest reservoirs.”
California as a whole is in the middle of a second-dry year, with 2020 being the 13th driest in statewide precipitation and the fifth driest in statewide runoff, according to the California Department of Water Resources, which uses an October-to-September “water year” to measure rainfall. In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in 41 of the state's 58 counties.
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