Both Jameson and Gibraltar reservoirs are over capacity, with each holding some 100.4% of their respective capacities.
Gibraltar Reservoir, holding 4,603 acre-feet of water, has experienced an increase of 2,064 acre-feet during the 2020 water year, which began Sept. 1, 2019, and runs through Aug. 31. As of Friday, Jameson Reservoir was holding 4,868 acre-feet, just 221 acre-feet more than the start of the water year, according to the county Flood Control District.
Lake Cachuma, the South Coast’s primary reservoir, was at 78.5% capacity as of Friday, holding 151,779 acre-feet of water. Cachuma has received 8,852 acre-feet of water in the past month and a cumulative storage change of 3,773 acre-feet for the water year. In the 2019 water year, the lake experienced a storage change of 84,837 acre-feet of water, according to county data.
The recent showers experienced throughout Southern California have helped the county’s drought status rebound significantly, as the county-wide percentage of “normal water year” rainfall was 91% as of Friday. With four and a half months remaining for the water year, the county has received 98% of its “normal-to-date” rainfall.
For perspective, the county had received just 12% of normal water-year rainfall as of Dec. 1, 2019. That figure was just 38% as of Jan. 1, and by the end of January the county had received just 42% of normal water year rainfall — a percentage that would hold until the beginning of March. As of April 1, the county had received 72% of normal.
With a strong finish to the typical “wet season,” the county is on the verge of eclipsing its average rainfall total for the third time in the past four water years, and just third time since the 2012 water year (136% in 2017 and 128% in 2019).
Over the past seven days, multiple rain gauges located throughout Santa Barbara County registered north of 7 inches of rainfall. Here are some of the notable totals:
- El Deseo (near State Route 154 and Mission Canyon): 7.34 inches
- Refugio Pass: 7.09
- San Marcos Pass: 7.09
- Tecelote Canyon: 6.73
- Jameson Reservoir: 5.50
- East Camino Cielo: 5.37
- Upper Romero Canyon: 4.77
- Lake Cachuma: 3.60
- San Roque: 3.54
- Santa Barbara County Building: 2.70
- Montecito: 2.61
- Carpinteria Fire Station: 2.29
- UCSB: 2.01
Mostly sunny conditions are forecast today with a high near 66. A light drizzle is possible overnight into Sunday, though mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s are forecast for next week, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
email: mwhite@newspress.com
