California’s torrential storms from late December through early January will allow the State Water Project to deliver nearly 1.3 million acre-feet of water throughout the state this year – six times as much as projected before the storms, state water officials said.

Entrenched in a third consecutive year of severe drought conditions, the ...Read more

PLANADA, Calif. — When Rudy Moreno first saw the texts from his relatives two weeks ago asking about the mandatory evacuation order in Planada, he didn’t even know that one had been issued. Much of the small town, made up of about 4,000 people east of Merced, had been flooded due to a breached levee during the storms that deluged the state ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California water agencies that serve 27 million people will see an increased allocation of supplies from the state after a series of winter storms boosted reservoirs and snowpack, officials announced Thursday.

Less than two months after the Department of Water Resources said it could only give 5% of requested supplies to the 29 ...Read more

For decades, two climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean have loomed large in predicting weather in California and other parts of the globe. El Niño — a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific — seemed synonymous with wet winters for Southern California, while La Niña was a heralder of drought.

But the would-be model ...Read more

"You can say that we're the only farmers who don't like rain," said Neal Maloney, owner of Morro Bay Oyster Co., a Central California harvester that produces around 1 million Pacific Gold oysters per year.

Since the tail end of last year, when the first in a parade of storms slammed into California, Maloney and many of the state's other oyster ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As California emerges from a two-week bout of deadly atmospheric rivers, a number of climate researchers say the recent storms appear to be typical of the intense, periodic rains the state has experienced throughout its history and not the result of global warming.

Although scientists are still studying the size and severity of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A series of atmospheric river storms that dropped record-breaking rain and unleashed chaos across California will end with a whimper this week, as a weak storm will give way to what's expected to be a prolonged drier period.

The latest system, a drizzler compared with the powerful deluges that have hammered the state for the ...Read more

Torrential rain across California in recent weeks has caused plenty of misery, but it could also generate some good news on the energy front: If rain and snow totals hold up, all the precipitation will boost hydroelectric production — and that would help the Golden State's electric grid, especially in the summertime when the system comes ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- In a state crippled by drought, how are we to make sense of the destructive storms that have led our governor to proclaim a state of emergency, even as they fill our reservoirs and replenish our fields?

Here at last is the life-giving water we’ve yearned for: nourishing, regenerative, cleansing and essential, especially in the ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — How wet has it been recently in Northern California?

New rainfall totals show that no person alive has ever experienced a three-week period in the Bay Area as wet as these past 21 days. The last time it happened, Abraham Lincoln was president.

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 15, a total of 17 inches of rain fell in downtown San ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California drivers may not face rain this week, but potholes caused by recent storms pose new dangers.

In Los Angeles, requests for pothole repairs have soared as downpours have crumbled streets. Since Dec. 30, there have been 2,407 potholes reported on Los Angeles roads, with 722 this weekend alone. So far, 812 of those ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — How wet has it been recently in Northern California?

New rainfall totals show that no person alive has ever experienced a three-week period in the Bay Area as wet as these past 21 days. The last time it happened, Abraham Lincoln was president.

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 15, a total of 17 inches of rain fell in downtown San ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The atmospheric river storms that pummeled California for weeks inflicted "extensive" damage to as many as 40 of the state's 58 counties, and total repairs could reach as much as $1 billion, according to authorities.

The damage included more than 500 landslides, piles of dirt and rocks blocking roads and power outages due to ...Read more

As the skies begin to clear and a relentless series of atmospheric rivers starts to move out, Californians are finally catching a break as they assess the aftermath of weeks of downed trees, landslides and devastating flooding.

River levels are receding in some areas, top climate officials reported in a briefing Monday, and the worst of the ...Read more

Despite desperate pleas from California Gov. Gavin Newsom about the dangers of extreme weather, and weeks of advance warnings from meteorologists, the relentless series of storms drenching California has already claimed more lives than the death toll from the past two years of wildfires.

So how do people still get caught in the crosshairs of ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — One of the wettest periods in the Bay Area’s recorded history began winding to a close this week with a lashing of rain that caused hillsides to buckle in the Berkeley and Oakland hills and several highways to close across Northern California.

Yet even as emergency crews scrambled to red-tag houses and clear storm drains...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to California’s Central Coast Thursday to observe storm damage and “assess what additional federal support is needed,” the White House said.

While exact details are not final, Biden does plan to meet with first responders, state and local officials, and communities affected by the devastation...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Andre Christou watched as the storms that have drenched much of California over the last two weeks turned from serene to scary in the remote wooded community of Matilija Canyon in Los Padres National Forest. She listened to a swollen creek push boulders down the canyon and saw its muddy, rushing waters swallow trees like sticks. ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Francisco Bay Area was doused with yet another overnight storm late Sunday into Monday. But it appears that the downed trees and power outages could have been a parting gift from the historic downpours, as mostly bright skies crowd forecasts for the foreseeable future.

The National Weather Service’s 12-hour ...Read more