THE WHOLE STORY...
The California Drought Part 2
– La Niña and El Niño

As January 2009 ended, the California drought is continuing…and worsening. Thus, water conservation and public education remain top priorities for the District and its member cities. While December and January snowstorms increased the snow pack in the Sierra Nevada, and snow totals for the winter exceed last year at this time, snow levels and related snow moisture content, reservoir levels, and rainfall (in Los Angeles) year-to-date are all below normal.

The National Weather service announced in early January that a La Niña pattern has taken hold across the Pacific. Marked by a cooling trend in the waters of the equatorial ocean, La Niña usually diverts the jet stream north into Canada, bringing dry conditions to California. La Niña was also present in 2008, and it brought the second dry year in a row. Rain and snowfall virtually disappeared in Northern California after January last year, as the La Niña condition pushed the heavy precipitation north of California.

The contrasting weather condition is El Niño, which usually emerges in the Pacific around Christmas, warms the equatorial Pacific, and typically brings consistent wet weather to California. We’ll update you in future editions of Pipeline, as well as on our web site (www.sgvmwd.org), about California’s drought