These 4 Things Need to Happen to End California’s Drought
The Golden State is being drenched this week by heavy rains and snow driven by a powerful El Niño. But quenching a years-long thirst takes more than a few storms.
A strong El Niño in the Pacific has spurred storms that have soaked California, leading to some improvement at the state’s reservoirs, which stood at 22 to 55 percent of their historical averages on December 31. The Folsom reservoir that supplies Sacramento suburbs, for example, has risen 28.5 feet in the past month. More importantly, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which had reached a 500-year-low, is already 103% of average for this time of year.
The Sierra snowpack is critical to the state, since much of the water used by Californians throughout the year comes from the slow melting of this snow in the spring. (Learn more about what happens with the
