A group of retired weather and water officials walking around Lafayette Reservoir enjoyed the weather yet commiserated about it.
"I think we have to be worried we could have a drought just like they are having the consequences of a terrible drought in the Los Angeles area," said Stan McGovern, a retired general counsel with NOAA.
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If the snow survey on Jan. 2 was encouraging, no rain now for weeks means the statistics are dropping.
As of Jan. 14, the state's reservoirs are at 120% of normal, the snowpack stands at just 41% of normal with groundwater supplies at just 31%.
Warm temperatures mean the snow isn't sticking and there's no rain in the forecast.
"We've seen this pattern before both in 2013 and more recently in 2022 where we've gotten off to a strong start only to see the New Year roll around and really hit a dry patch," Dr. Michael Anderson, a Dept. of Water Resources climatologist.
"When this happens at the extreme where you go from an extremely wet season like we saw last year to an extremely dry season like we're seeing now, particularly in Southern California, then that's known as a major whiplash event and effectively going from wet to dry very rapidly then that has implications when it comes to fire in particular," said Dr. Paul Ullrich, a U.C. Davis professor in climate modeling.
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The experts say these whiplash events are becoming more common in California. December, January and February are our three wettest months and it looks like this month is going to be completely dry. That wipes out a third of the rainy season moisture needed to recharge our water supply.
"What we're really hoping for here is 3-4 atmospheric river events and storms to come through in order to put us on a level where we are comfortable with getting us into this summer season," Ullrich said.
"There are some hints that the high pressure will be disrupted and we'll see a return of precipitation as early as the end of this month. But that does leave us with a hole in January to try to dig out of," said Anderson.