When I left the GREATER SF BAY area this morning here in California it didn't stop raining even once the whole journey which is very unusual for California any year. So, right now it is almost 11 pm PST and it still hasn't stopped raining since about 9 am this morning non-stop. We picked up someone's belongings who is moving to Ashland in our truck because it has a fold top and put everything inside a tarp to keep it dry so hopefully it stays that way. We made it to Redding at Fawndale only to find out they had just closed Interstate 5 north between GAzelle and Fawndale for the night, even for cars and pickups that were all wheel drive or 4 wheel drives or had snow tires or 2 wheelers with chains. So, two vehicles of us had to get a room in REdding for the night as it won't open until at least dawn after all the snow plows have tried to open it up once again with so much snow coming down between Gazelle and Dunsmuir and Castella on Interstate 5.
On the drive northward I drove through Sacramento and STockton both of which had many many fields completely underwater. It looked like the Sacramento River had done this in some places so it must be very high. My friend who lives in Mt. Shasta said he stopped to look at the Sacramento River south of Dunsmuir recently and heard 100 pound or bigger boulders crunching and being rolled down the river by the incredible force of flooding waters from the mountains. He said it sounded almost like a freight train rolling down a hill it was so loud.
Though I don't think this is another 1862 megaflood from Atmospheric Rivers yet it is getting pretty crazy in some parts of the state as I drove northwards towards Mt. Shasta. The snow is coming down so fast they had to close INterstate 5 once again just north of Redding for the night.
In 1862 the Sacramento River was 20 miles wide then and this sort of thing happens historically about every 100 to 200 years sort of like Clockwork the last 5000 or 10,000 years so far. But, it has happened only once to Americans in 1862 so far. Native American legends speak of these times though throughout their verbal histories. I believe it is why there were no large cities in California when Spaniards and then Americans came to California because any cities would have been washed away every 100 to 200 years back into history if they were built at the edge of rivers or lakes like most are around the world.
begin quote from:
LOS
ANGELES – The worst area of drought in California has significantly
narrowed to a small region northwest of Los Angeles that has stubbornly
failed to benefit from Pacific storms that have drenched much of the
state since the …
begin quote from:
LOS
ANGELES – The worst area of drought in California has significantly
narrowed to a small region northwest of Los Angeles that has stubbornly
failed to benefit from Pacific storms that have drenched much of the
state since the …
DISASTERS
First of 3 more storms hits California as drought retreats
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A 72-inch deep sinkhole is seen Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, in Orinda, Calif. The city council of Orinda declared a State of Emergency Tuesday night because of a large sinkhole caused by last week's wet weather, which ruptured two sewer lines. Repairs will take at least four weeks, as the San Francisco Bay Area is being hit with a new series of rain storms. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) (The Associated Press)
Just 2.1 percent of the state is now deemed to be in "exceptional drought" — a far cry from a year earlier when that label applied to a vast region stretching from greater Los Angeles hundreds of miles up the state's core to far northern counties.
The last remaining region still in the U.S. Drought Monitor's most dire category extends from northwestern Los Angeles County and southernmost Kern County westward across much of Ventura County to the south coast of Santa Barbara County.
While storm runoff has been spilling into reservoirs elsewhere in California, long-suffering Lake Cachuma on the Santa Ynez River 25 miles northwest of the city of Santa Barbara still embodies the drought that gripped the state for more than five years.
The reservoir, created by a dam built in the 1950s, was only at about 9 percent of capacity Wednesday, its barren banks rising well above a surface that is more than 100 feet below the spillway.
The problem remains essentially two-fold: Even with as much rain as Southern California has been getting lately, the heaviest precipitation has remained to the north and the ground is so dry that it continues to absorb rain without reaching the saturation point at which water remains on the surface and flows out of Lake Cachuma's drainage area.
"With a drought that's lasted as long as it has, the ground is like a big sponge and it can soak up a lot of water," said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist at the National Weather Service office in Ventura County.
Overall, California has seen a significant retreat from the once-statewide drought. About 58 percent of the state remains in moderate, severe, extreme or exceptional stages of drought.
Rain and wind in San Francisco heralded landfall Wednesday of the first of three more storms that forecasters said would spread through the entire state, bringing precipitation into early next week, with brief breaks between systems.
Dozens of flights were canceled at San Francisco International Airport and Muir Woods National Park in Marin County was closed for safety after several redwood trees were blown down. Near Lake Tahoe, Caltrans reported a 4-mile stretch of Highway 89 on either side of Emerald Bay remained closed, with some sections buried in up to 30 feet of snow.
In suburban San Francisco, Orinda city officials declared a local state of emergency to secure funds to fix a giant sinkhole that opened in a road during previous heavy rain.
Flood advisories and watches were posted on the far north coast. Winter storm warnings were issued up and down the length of the Sierra Nevada and for the mountain ranges of Southern California, where forecasters warned that mud and debris flows could occur if heavy rains fell on wildfire burn scars.
The National Weather Service office in San Diego warned that five-day rainfall totals will likely be substantial.
"A prolonged event of this nature has the potential to produce flows in local rivers not seen since 2010," the weather service said.
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