Season long on rain, snow yet flood damage limited

Today is new year's eve if you're a weather watcher in California — a chance to look back on one very strange 12-month stretch.

Late fall and early winter brought heavy rain and snow, and they kept on coming in the normally warm and dry weeks of late spring.

The weather delighted skiers, who found snow on Thanksgiving and snow on Easter, and filled up water systems that had suffered in the 2007-09 drought.

There were challenges, too — major power disruptions in the Sierra Nevada, slow development of San Joaquin Valley crops and high flows in many rivers as reservoir operators scrambled to maintain flood-control space.

But unlike some heavy years in the past, 2010-11 is ending without big flood damage.

"Although it's a lot of rain and a lot of snow, it's been manageable," said Randy Fiorini, a Turlock-area farmer and leader in California water issues.

The last week of the weather year has been among the craziest — 100-degree temperatures, then a storm that dropped a third of an inch of rain on Modesto, and now a warmup toward what is expected to be 100-plus weather over Independence Day weekend.

The warming will speed up the melting of the snowpack, prompting officials to warn visitors to be careful around the teeming, chilly streams.

"There's still a significant volume of water up there," said Jon Ericson, chief of the hydrology branch at the California Department of Water Resources.

The cool weather in recent weeks has delayed the peak snowmelt from mid-May to late June, said Walt Ward, assistant general manager for water operations at the Modesto Irrigation District, at Tuesday's board meeting.

Don Pedro Reservoir will fill more slowly than planned, he said, but the summer water supply will be plentiful.

The lower Tuolumne River flowed high for most of the spring to maintain flood-control space in Don Pedro.

High flows on the San Joaquin River brought a voluntary evacuation advisory to four trailer parks near Newman in late March.

And the Merced River in Yosemite National Park has risen slightly into flood stage, though not affecting roads or structures.

Ericson said water managers around the state monitored the conditions and coordinated their reservoir releases to avoid extensive flooding. This included the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where most of the rivers meet in a network of channels lined with sometimes troublesome levees.

It was not the wettest year on record — that was 1982-83. And there was that long stretch in January when the valley got a lot of fog but barely any rain.

The year was notable also for a February day when the valley almost got a dusting of snow. That would have left it a little shy of the Dodge Ridge ski area, which tallied

643 inches over its long season.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or (209) 578-2385.