Holy El Niño! It's possible Shasta Lake will fill up this month

[itsrobert]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Lake-Shasta-fill-up-El-Nino-full-capacity-drought-6879810.php#photo-9580813

In a Slate story about the soakings walloping California this month, meteorologist Eric Holthaus made a bold statement.
"The series of storms could double the current snowpack in the Sierra, and fill Shasta Reservoir..." he wrote.
Shasta is the state's largest and most important water reserve, and if it were to fill, it would be for the first time in four years.
As California is entering a fifth year of the drought, such a replenishment would be a milestone "almost too difficult to exaggerate in a state where every drop of water counts," Holthaus pointed out.
But is this really possible for a lake that flirted with record-low levels only 15 months ago?
"It's possible," said Louis Moore, a deputy public affairs officer with the Bureau of Reclamation. "Right now we're in the rainy season, and the runoff is really good."

[Adsos Letter]

1. I think I have Lake Shasta in my backyard.

I knew I should have cleared those drains this past Fall.

[Brother Buzz]

2. Flood stage lower on the Sacramento river too

Sacramento River flows over weir into Yolo Bypass
12 March, 2016

Water from the rain-swollen Sacramento River began flowing over the Fremont Weir and into the Yolo Bypass on Saturday morning, according to monitors at the California Nevada River Forecast Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The forecast center chart showed the river topping the Fremont Weir crest elevation of 33.5 feet for the first time in more than three years. The National Weather Service said its monitors likewise showed Sacramento River waters flowing over the weir early Saturday.

The Yolo Bypass, an expanse of farmland and natural habitat that stretches from Sacramento to Davis, was created a century ago to divert floods from Sacramento. When the river swells in wet winters, it flows over the weir, enabling water to flow freely into the 58,000-acre bypass, which is farmed the rest of the year.

The Fremont Weir is a nearly 2-mile-long concrete structure located about 8 miles northeast of Woodland. The weir was constructed in the 1920s to divert floodwater away from the Sacramento metro area.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article65665257.html#storylink=c

I suspected Shasta Lake was going to be doing well when a friend sent us a spectacular photograph of the raging Sacramento river taken at Dunsmuir, above Shasta, last week. It was real white-knuckle, brown-water dilemma for crazy kayakers.

[malaise]

3. Enjoy the return of water

It will be painful for some given the flooding, but that is nature and life

[EllieBC]

4. Snowpack levels here in the lower mainland of BC

are back to normal after last year's far less than normal. El Niño has been good to the west coast.

[Quixote1818]

5. Good to hear. I wonder why they haven't changed the drought status though?

Most of California is still listed as being in an exceptional drought: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/