From parched to flooded: Making sense of California’s weather whiplash | Opinion

Water, water everywhere. So much it makes you think.

Only two months ago our parched state was staring down the empty flask of another dry winter. Then December arrived with a splash, and since the calendar flipped California has been wringing in the new year.

All this rain is a welcome sight, but please not all at once. Caused by the onslaught of atmospheric rivers — everybody’s favorite new meteorological term — thousands of homes have been evacuated while dozens of roads are closed by flooding and rockfalls. At least 14 people have died.

In times like this, it feels a little callous to gawk at rainfall totals and monitor reservoir levels while pondering big-picture questions (“Is California still in a drought?”) that can’t truly be answered till we see what February, March and April bring.

Nevertheless, a couple weeks of rain are all it takes for certain parties to start making hay.

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Tuesday morning on Twitter came an announcement from congressman David Valadeo pushing a new piece of legislation he’s calling the “Water for California Act.”

“This legislation will bring more water to the farmers, businesses, and rural communities in the Valley & throughout California doing everything possible to survive these man-made water shortages,” Valadeo tweeted.

I was with the Hanford Republican right up until the end. Man-made water shortages? Huh. The driest three-year span in recorded history must’ve been a figment of our collective imaginations.

Fact is, agriculture in California uses four times as much water as people living in urban areas. And local politicians who employ phrases such as “flushing to the ocean” for water set aside for the environment are only displaying their ignorance (willful in some cases) about the state’s ecology.

What water restrictions in California?

My antennas similarly buzzed when a local news website owned by one of Fresno’s largest homebuilders released an online poll asking if Gov. Gavin Newsom should remove “water restrictions on home owners after the flood of snow and rain.”

To which I immediately thought, what water restrictions? In July 2021, Newsom asked California residents to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 15%. According to the data, those of us in the Central Valley made the least effort to do so compared to other regions.

Being that water is arguably the most valuable commodity on Earth, one that can be shaped to fit most any narrative, it’s always wise to question motivations and avoid assumptions.

Recently I received an email from a reader who celebrated New Year’s Day at Kings River Golf & Country Club. While playing their round, he and his golf buddies noticed (and captured on video) a torrent of water tumbling down the mostly dry riverbed. Enough to fill the channel from bank to bank.

The reader and his friends were surprised by what they saw — considering the drought and all — and wanted to know why so much water from Pine Flat Dam was being released at this time of year.

My interest piqued, I went to the California Department of Water Resources data exchange center homepage and looked up Pine Flat Lake. Curiously, the daily log didn’t show any dam releases that exceeded 100 cubic feet per second. Not nearly enough water to cascade all the way to Kingsburg.

So I phoned Steve Haugen, watermaster of the Kings River Water Association, who provided the explanation. The water our golf buddies witnessed wasn’t a release from Pine Flat. It was a flash flood from Mill Creek, a stream that begins near the Big Stump area of Kings Canyon National Park and flows through Squaw Valley and Wonder Valley before joining the Lower Kings about a half mile below the dam.

Mill Creek was back at it again Monday. Recorded levels near Piedra started out below 100 cfs at 6 a.m. and rose steadily throughout the day before peaking at 12,303 cfs in the evening. Evacuation warnings were issued in the general vicinity.

To Fresno County residents whose homes are under threat, it matters little whether the flood waters came from Pine Flat Lake or Mill Creek. But despite all the rain, the 1,000,000-acre-foot reservoir that impounds water for agriculture and provides the city of Fresno with surface deliveries is 36% full. Right at the historical average for this date.

A quick glance at the state’s major water supply reservoirs (Shasta, Oroville, Trinity, New Melones and Don Pedro are the Big 5) shows only one (Don Pedro) above 50% capacity and near its historical average. Meaning no matter how tempting, any grand drought-busting proclamations remain premature.

Besides, a lot can change in a couple months. As anyone living in California can attest.