Rain helps but drought is always lurking

Rain is typically a welcome sight here in California.

“Yeah, I like the rain. It’s, like, cozy,” local surfer Kay Kelli told KION.

Others have a different view.

“I’m sick of it,” said Rudy Divin, a local fisherman. “I’m just ready for it to stop. I put on the old fishing rain gear and I’m pretty much covered head to toe.”

Two visitors from Brazil said they can’t seem to catch a break from the rain.

“Yeah, this is the first time we’ve seen the sun,” said Ian Barnski. “I think California matches better with sun, rather than rain,” added Wailee Pantaleeo.

For many Californians, even with a month of record rainfall, the drought is still on their mind.

Mike and Suzette Cavanaugh of Seaside said they follow the traditional conservation guideline, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown…”

“We watch the flush,” said Mike. “Oh yeah, absolutely. You learn that very early on,” added Suzette.

The wet winter has made significant improvements in California’s drought outlook. The graphic below, shows the state’s progress since January of 2016 to the present. Today, 36 percent of the state – including Santa Cruz County and the Monterey Peninsula – is drought-free.

“It did take us five years to get into this drought,” said Brian Garcia from the National Weather Service. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but on the U.S. Drought monitor, we’re looking better and better every week as the recent rain piles on across California.”

During January, Monterey, Salinas and Santa Cruz all received more than 300 percent of normal rainfall for the month. Looking ahead, experts say things could change easily.

“Despite getting all this rain, despite all this snow in the state, it’s still important for us to conserve water,” said Garcia. “We don’t know what’s around the corner. The long range forecast remains uncertain.”