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Weekend storm helped but didn't end the drought or fire season
For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Oct. 29. I’m Sonia Waraich.
The drought’s been relentless in California over the past couple of years and the past fall was particularly brutal. Dozens of wells went dry in Mendocino. Dried out soil and fuels elevated the risk of wildfires. And reservoir levels and the streamflow in many rivers reached historic lows.
But this past weekend the rain came. There are now signs of recovery, but the situation has been so dire for so long that one rainstorm isn’t going to end the drought or fire season. Without more rain, things could dry out and go back to the way they were before the storm hit.
The county got anywhere from 4 to 13 inches of rain depending on where you were. That was enough rain for the city of Fort Bragg to rescind its drought emergency. But nearby, the town of Mendocino is holding off on declaring the end to its own. Ryan Rhoades manages the district’s water supply and he says the board decided to maintain its Stage 4 water emergency earlier this week.
“It’s still so early in the season and we don’t know how much more rain is coming. While we are happy, we’re cautiously optimistic. Hope for more rain, but prepare for more drought.”
Right now the National Weather Service says it’s too early to say whether or not wetter weather systems passing through the West Coast will extend as far south as Mendocino County. This could be the first rain of many or it could be the one of the only significant rainstorms of the season.
“Don’t let a little bit of early rain sort of fool you into thinking we’re totally out of the woods because the drought’s not going to return or the drought’s over because that may not be the case.”
Rhoades says what’s as important as the amount of rain that falls is the amount of time that rain falls over. Right now the soil doesn’t exactly have the capacity to absorb all of that water because the ground is hard and dry because of the drought.
“A lot of that water is just flowing over the surface and over the edge of the cliffs. That’s not helpful because it’s not retaining it in the aquifer.”
Despite that, the rain did help some.
“I had my first phone call and recorded report of a well that’s recovering. A well that’s been dry for the past couple of months is now producing again. The homeowner was ecstatic. He said, it’s been running for 25 minutes and we have water. So that’s great news. I hope to receive more reports like that.”
So far, Rhoades says two people have reported that their wells recovered. That’s good news, but, again, their wells recovering doesn’t necessarily mean the aquifer is being recharged.
“While lot of the wells in Mendocino are shallow and they’re under the influence of surface water, a heavy rain might make it look like their wells are recovering but the reality is when you get 4 inches in 24 hours, that’s not enough time for that water to really soak deep into recharge the aquifer.”
A similar situation is playing out with the fire season. The rainfall over the weekend allowed firefighters to contain over 90% of the remaining fires in Northern California. But Cal Fire’s Isaac Sanchez says it would be premature to declare fire season over, too. And the drought exacerbates the fire season.
That’s because the rain did help in the short term, but the long term is a different story.
“That’s something that we need, as well as the snowpack that started to accumulate up in the Sierras. But unfortunately, we’re not expecting much more rain coming up. There’s always a potential for something to change, but I know that we’re going to be dry for the next seven to 10 days with no prospects that I’m aware of at this point anyway, of follow up rain. And ultimately that’s what we want to see. We want to see several rain storms come through before we can really kind of, you know, take a breath essentially.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting it’s going to be dry in Southern California for the rest of this year and going into next. What happens with precipitation in Northern California is still anyone’s best guess. Regardless, it’s going to be hotter than usual across most of California.
“If we see another week or two weeks of dry conditions, warm temperatures. The rain that we experienced will, as far as the dead fuel moistures that are out there, it’ll be like it never happened.”
Like the rainfall, the temperature in Northern California can go either way over the next few months. But because Cal Fire is a state agency, Sanchez says it makes decisions around staffing based on what’s happening in the entire state. And the southern part of the state isn’t doing so well.
“We’re still within a drought, and it takes repeated rainstorm events for us to feel comfortable in reducing staffing and moving over to transitional staffing and winter staffing levels. But as of right now, unless there are follow-up storms that bring more precipitation we don’t anticipate that we’ll be doing transitional staffing because we’re expecting it to be dry for the rest of this year and early next year.”
Sanchez says people should stay prepared for a wildfire even in Northern California given the possibility things stay drier than what used to be normal.
“It’s not going to take long for that to dry out. So maintain that vigilance. Recognize that you have a role in preventing the next wildfire and, of course, be prepared in the event that a fire does break out in your area.”
For the KZYX News, I’m Sonia Waraich, a Report For America corps member. For all our local coverage, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
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For Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Oct. 29. I’m Sonia Waraich.
The drought’s been relentless in California over the past couple of years and the past fall was particularly brutal. Dozens of wells went dry in Mendocino. Dried out soil and fuels elevated the risk of wildfires. And reservoir levels and the streamflow in many rivers reached historic lows.
But this past weekend the rain came. There are now signs of recovery, but the situation has been so dire for so long that one rainstorm isn’t going to end the drought or fire season. Without more rain, things could dry out and go back to the way they were before the storm hit.
The county got anywhere from 4 to 13 inches of rain depending on where you were. That was enough rain for the city of Fort Bragg to rescind its drought emergency. But nearby, the town of Mendocino is holding off on declaring the end to its own. Ryan Rhoades manages the district’s water supply and he says the board decided to maintain its Stage 4 water emergency earlier this week.
“It’s still so early in the season and we don’t know how much more rain is coming. While we are happy, we’re cautiously optimistic. Hope for more rain, but prepare for more drought.”
Right now the National Weather Service says it’s too early to say whether or not wetter weather systems passing through the West Coast will extend as far south as Mendocino County. This could be the first rain of many or it could be the one of the only significant rainstorms of the season.
“Don’t let a little bit of early rain sort of fool you into thinking we’re totally out of the woods because the drought’s not going to return or the drought’s over because that may not be the case.”
Rhoades says what’s as important as the amount of rain that falls is the amount of time that rain falls over. Right now the soil doesn’t exactly have the capacity to absorb all of that water because the ground is hard and dry because of the drought.
“A lot of that water is just flowing over the surface and over the edge of the cliffs. That’s not helpful because it’s not retaining it in the aquifer.”
Despite that, the rain did help some.
“I had my first phone call and recorded report of a well that’s recovering. A well that’s been dry for the past couple of months is now producing again. The homeowner was ecstatic. He said, it’s been running for 25 minutes and we have water. So that’s great news. I hope to receive more reports like that.”
So far, Rhoades says two people have reported that their wells recovered. That’s good news, but, again, their wells recovering doesn’t necessarily mean the aquifer is being recharged.
“While lot of the wells in Mendocino are shallow and they’re under the influence of surface water, a heavy rain might make it look like their wells are recovering but the reality is when you get 4 inches in 24 hours, that’s not enough time for that water to really soak deep into recharge the aquifer.”
A similar situation is playing out with the fire season. The rainfall over the weekend allowed firefighters to contain over 90% of the remaining fires in Northern California. But Cal Fire’s Isaac Sanchez says it would be premature to declare fire season over, too. And the drought exacerbates the fire season.
That’s because the rain did help in the short term, but the long term is a different story.
“That’s something that we need, as well as the snowpack that started to accumulate up in the Sierras. But unfortunately, we’re not expecting much more rain coming up. There’s always a potential for something to change, but I know that we’re going to be dry for the next seven to 10 days with no prospects that I’m aware of at this point anyway, of follow up rain. And ultimately that’s what we want to see. We want to see several rain storms come through before we can really kind of, you know, take a breath essentially.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting it’s going to be dry in Southern California for the rest of this year and going into next. What happens with precipitation in Northern California is still anyone’s best guess. Regardless, it’s going to be hotter than usual across most of California.
“If we see another week or two weeks of dry conditions, warm temperatures. The rain that we experienced will, as far as the dead fuel moistures that are out there, it’ll be like it never happened.”
Like the rainfall, the temperature in Northern California can go either way over the next few months. But because Cal Fire is a state agency, Sanchez says it makes decisions around staffing based on what’s happening in the entire state. And the southern part of the state isn’t doing so well.
“We’re still within a drought, and it takes repeated rainstorm events for us to feel comfortable in reducing staffing and moving over to transitional staffing and winter staffing levels. But as of right now, unless there are follow-up storms that bring more precipitation we don’t anticipate that we’ll be doing transitional staffing because we’re expecting it to be dry for the rest of this year and early next year.”
Sanchez says people should stay prepared for a wildfire even in Northern California given the possibility things stay drier than what used to be normal.
“It’s not going to take long for that to dry out. So maintain that vigilance. Recognize that you have a role in preventing the next wildfire and, of course, be prepared in the event that a fire does break out in your area.”
For the KZYX News, I’m Sonia Waraich, a Report For America corps member. For all our local coverage, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.