AccuWeather California Expert Ken Clark reports the Sierra Nevada have received significant snowfall, which is expected to provide a surplus of water to reservoirs across the Golden State.
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00:00Ken, let's get right into it here. We certainly had a very slow start to the water season
00:06in parts of California and that led to the beginnings of a short-term drought which is
00:14still visible today. That's correct. We have a short-term drought in the southern part of
00:20California especially. Very little water until mid-January to late January this year and that
00:25helped contribute to the big fires that took place around the Los Angeles area. But northern
00:31California, it's been a far different story and we are to see this right here that most of central
00:37and northern California had near or even above normal precipitation during the course of this
00:42winter while southern California was below. Now Ken, this is something that you've preached and a lot
00:48of people may not quite understand this. Rainfall is certainly important in California but there's
00:54something that's more important that overshadows actually the rain that actually falls. It's the
01:01Sierra snowfall. Why is that? That's because that Sierra snowfall melts and contributes to these
01:09reservoir levels that are so so important to feed water to California during the extensive dry season
01:15that we have in California. So most of all that water that's melting from the snow goes into those
01:22reservoirs and the rivers and supplies the much-needed water for California. Like I said, it's almost like
01:29gold. Ken, this is an unusual stretch now that we've had in California. When you look at the numbers
01:36this year, it was near normal in the Sierra and you went back into the middle 60s and what we're seeing
01:44now we haven't seen in decades. We haven't seen this kind of back-to-back-to-back. Three consecutive
01:51winters of near or above normal snowfall in this Sierra. It's very rare to occur and even going
01:57back into the 1800s, it's only occurred an extremely rare amount of times. We've had three consecutive
02:04winters of above average snowfall. So this is very, very important as to how we're going to get through
02:11the next year or maybe longer. And the other key part of this, Ken, is we still have a lot of snow
02:17that has to be melted. But when you take a look at the reservoir levels, Ken, we're in great shape.
02:24Oh, absolutely. We're at over 100% of historical averages for this time of year and we have all
02:31that snow still to melt that's in the Sierra. So we're doing fine as we go through the rest of this
02:36spring and through the summer into next winter. There's not going to be a rainfall or moisture
02:43shortage over the next 12 months.
02:47Yeah, we started, Ken, with a year's surplus of water. And despite the shortcomings with the rain,
02:53the Sierra snow, we believe, has kept our year's surplus of water in the reservoirs. And as a result,
03:02we're not expecting any water shortages right in the next winter. The question is, and I've been asked
03:08this, why does this matter? Why is drought such a big problem to not only California, but let's talk
03:16about the economic problems with drought in California. They really are extensive when they
03:21occur.
03:21They are. We've had two big drought periods here going back to 2011. And look at that economic loss
03:29that took place. That's an economic loss that occurred across California. And this impacted the rest of the
03:36United States and the world because of how much agriculture grows in California. I don't think
03:42people understand this very much, that 13 percent of the United States agriculture output occurs in
03:48California. They're the leading producer of nuts and vegetables and fruits across the United States.
03:55And 80 percent of the world's almond production takes place in California. 75 percent of the walnuts
04:03take place in California. Extremely important that we have enough water to get through a given growing
04:11season to produce all this abundance for the entire United States and the world. 40 percent of
04:19California's water is taken up by agriculture.
04:23Ken, one final word, and this is something I know it's very important to you that we stress if you live in
04:29California. Drought's going to return, and it could return very quickly. It's very unusual to get by
04:37three years, like I said, where we had abundant rainfall. I think we're looking at droughts coming
04:42very soon in California, and it could be a several-year drought. So we have to save water. Now,
04:48don't take water for granted in California, especially, because it's going to come. The drought is
04:55going to come, no doubt about it, and it could be coming very soon. All right. Meteorologist Ken
05:01Clark breaking down why water is so important not only to California, but you and your home.