Rain starting to fill Central Coast reservoirs

UPDATE 1/4/17 5:45PM: Central Coast Residents might think all this rain is washing away concerns about the drought. But weather experts say we still have a ways to go. The rain has been great for our reservoirs and groundwater, but some areas still need some help.

If there was anything good about 2016, it gave us a lot of rain.

“So far we’ve been well over average in many areas of the state,” said National Weather Service Hydrologist Mark Strudley.

And that holds true for the Central Coast.

“Now that we’ve gone through some heavy rainfall in December, we’re quickly erasing some of the effects of the drought across Northern California,” said Strudley.

Normally, we see a heavy rain season begin in December or January, while this year’s rains began in October. This has been great for our surplus.

“The reservoirs that have been fed exclusively by local rainfall in many situations have filled up, or have come very close to filling up,” said Strudley.

The Uvas Reservoir in Santa Clara County has scored lots of water. Southern Monterey County reservoirs are still on the low side.

“What we’re seeing is some really good inflow in Nacimiento, not so much in San Antonio right now, but again we’re hopeful for the storms that are coming in the next couple days and over the weekend to give it a push that we haven’t had in a long time,” said Monterey County Water Resources Agency Deputy General Manager Robert Johnson.

The Monterey County Water Resources Agency knows its reservoir numbers are low but hope the storms will give a little boost.

“We usually like to see it a little higher but, you know, we’ve been in a drought for the past five years so anything will help,” said Johnson.

As for the National Weather Service,they say the key to filling the reservoirs and watering down our local drought is consistency.

“When we have really intense bursts of rain with big gaps between them, sometimes we end up not filling our groundwater reservoirs sufficiently,” said Strudley.

While the National Weather Service is tracking rainfall and how it benefits the Central Coast, it’s experts are also monitoring its potential for doing damage.

“Good for the drought perhaps but we really don’t want people to be in harms way from these systems,” said Strudley.

We spoke to the Santa Cruz Water Resources Management Division. They saw around six inches of rain yesterday which completely filled Loch Lomond Reservoir. They said as encouraging as that is, they’re now a little worried about an even bigger storm coming this weekend and are encouraging residents to be cautious in flooded areas.

ORIGINAL: The normally rain-starved Central Coast has received its share of rain recently and reservoir levels are headed in the right direction.

On Wednesday, KION reporter Matt Sizemore spoke with meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Monterey. They said this year’s rainfall – when coupled with last season’s totals – is easing worries that severe drought conditions could return.

The totals vary from place to place. While Uvas reservoir near Morgan Hill is nearing capacity, San Antonio and Nacimiento lakes in South Monterey County are recovering more slowly.

Tonight at 5 and 6, Matt will report on how this season’s storms are helping to ease the area’s water worries.