Calif water status

Previous discussions have been across several threads. We did emphasize water levels in major Calif. reservoirs. Those are posted in a 'cdec' web page I cannot access now, but workarounds exist.

Largest ones featured on cdec page have total capacity of about 20.8 million acre feet (maf). Current levels total 17.3 maf or 83% capacity. This is quite good historically. One (Oroville) is intentionally lower for repairs.

A fuller picture involves Colorado R. reservoirs because they supply much Calif water. That source area did not get such winter precip as Sierra Nevada. Lakes Powell and Mead together now hold 25.3 maf which is just above 50% capacity. I updated somebody else's chart for a historical perspective.

Overall can be spun in various ways. Calif drought as such has ended but southwestern water storage deficit has not.

 

Can certainly see that El Ninos are not all the same from above graph. 1983 and 1998 made big water in Colorado R. basin but 2016 did not.