(Take a look in the Table of Contents on the left for past postings on weirs, flumes, orifices, water rights, etc.)
According to DWR’s multi-rain gage measurements today (January 18, 2017), we are getting the MOST RAINFALL EVER! That is, for the time since man started keeping records. Our snow is pretty deep, too. The first graph below shows that snow water content is 151% of normal:
The next 3 graphs show DWR’s precipitation totals for combined rain gage stations. Graphs are shown south to north: Tulare Basin, San Joaquin, and Northern Sierra:



The last 2 graphs show something pretty amazing! Yes, they show the reservoirs filling fast this year, which is fantastic – they are going to fill and not drop as much as during the last few years. See the little hook at the end of each hydrograph? That means that USBR is releasing water faster than it is flowing in for Shasta Lake. Same thing for DWR’s operation of Oroville. That’s really neat because both agencies are increasing the flood storage reservation so they (hopefully) won’t spill later!