Currently, California is experiencing a natural phenomenon called La Niña, which occurs when cold water rises on the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Colder water means less evaporation from the ocean, leading to less water being dropped on the coast in the form of precipitation. Because California is experiencing La Niña, scientists predicted that the residents of California could expect a very dry winter this year. However, as everyone has seen, this was clearly not the case.
Droughts are extremely common in California’s history, which is one of the reasons these massive rainstorms are unusual. The worst of the droughts in recent history in California have been in 1947-1950, 1987-1992, 2000-2002, 2007-2009, and 2012-2016. The massive amounts of water dumped onto California have made people wonder if the rain will make up for years of drought. However, this is not the case.
The long-term ecological effects of the storms are not crystal clear, but experts have come to a consensus on one point: the storms will not reverse years of drought. While the extra snow on the mountains and the rain will help increase California’s water supply, in the long run, it is unlikely that it will be able to solve years of drought.
Most of the water dumped onto California has not been able to be stored for future use. Instead, most of it has flowed into the ocean. The sheer amount of water has overwhelmed many of California’s drainage systems and reservoirs. To combat overflowing reservoirs, the state of California has lowered the water levels in some reservoirs, but water is still being lost. In addition, years of hot, dry weather and drought has led to a dryer landscape, which means that instead of lots of water soaking into the ground, it has turned into runoff, and flowed into the ocean.
While the huge amounts of water will certainly help with the drought, it is unlikely that the rain will reverse decades of drought in California.
