Publication Date March 30, 2016 | SFist

Uneven El Niño skewed north, but water restrictions may ease in parts of CA

United States
Image: earth.nullschool.net
Image: earth.nullschool.net

Now with March nearly gone, the biggest winner has been California's north, as David Rizzardo, chief of snow surveys and water-supply forecasting for the Department of Water Resources, told the Chron. "The north has really benefited from the winter pattern, but it’s been hit and miss down south... the impacts and the problems from drought still persist, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley and farther south. We’re still going to have impacts to farms, including fallowed fields and dry wells.”

The state's largest body of moisture providing a third of our water, the Sierra snowpack is at 87 percent of average at the moment according to a measure taken yesterday. Reservoirs to the north like Lake Shasta, which is spilling over at 109 percent full 88 percent full, have been the beneficiaries of the season. More locally, San Francisco saw rainfall that was three percent above average.

Meanwhile, Southern California was left out to dry. Los Angeles, for example, received just half of its average rainfall this season