We had so much rain this past season, and topped it off with a rare Tropical Storm rolling through California. But how is our water level doing? Let's take a look.....

New Melones Lake Levels

One barometer for how our drought is doing that I use is to watch the lake levels at New Melones Lake. This lake reservoir is located in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains in California, west of Yosemite, South East of Sacramento. It fills up in Spring from the snow melt high in the mountains makes it down the rivers into this reservoir.

With so much snow hitting the Sierras this winter, I was wondering how things stood now that we are almost back to snow starting to accumulate again in the High Sierras.

Almost Back to 2019 Levels

The chart is really amazing. The peak was in Mid July, showing how much snow we really had up in the High Sierras, and held pretty flat through the hot summer. If California has another wet winter it will be sure to push the reservoirs to peak levels that haven't been seen for a long time.

It is crazy how the lakes are able to replenish themselves in such a short amount of time. This isn't guaranteed, but living in California for my whole life I have experienced the back and forth of drought and wet winters.

Here is the link: http://newmelones.lakesonline.com/Level/

Lake Shasta in Northern California Has Recovered

Up in Northern California we also see how the lakes have filled up.

Here is the link:https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151422/california-reservoir-rebound

California's Drought Map - September 2023

I have been watching this drought map for years, and I haven't seen it like this in a long time. I pray for more rain this winter, which will certainly put icing on the cake here in California.

Here is the link: http://newmelones.lakesonline.com/Level/

That Is Not the Whole Story

I would be remiss if I leave you with the impression that California is now fine once again because the 'drought is over'. That might be the case short term, but there are entrenched social issues that need to be addressed. I will not go into detail in this post, but I will hope to give this some time in the near future.

California needs to solve it's groundwater problems with a permanent solution that few politicians have addressed. We NEED to build more damns, encourage residents to be more practical (grass uses so much water), and keep the water that flows out of the Sacramento River delta from being wasted.