Long term drought impacts continued through the month of April, but near seasonal values for Northern and Central Sierra mountain snow pack and the Big 3 northern reservoir levels meant some good news. The very active March resulted in much above average precipitation numbers which helped top off the reservoirs.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS STO wrote it up.
Long term drought impacts continued through the month of April, but near seasonal values for Northern and Central Sierra mountain snow pack and the Big 3 northern reservoir levels meant some good news. The very active March resulted in much above average precipitation numbers which helped top off the reservoirs. In fact, they had to do some flood control releases on Folsom as it was above historical levels. Reservoirs across interior northern California continued to increase, with the three largest rising to above normal levels. Lake Shasta was 108% of normal by the end of the month, Lake Oroville was 118% and Folsom Lake was 113% of normal. In contrast, Don Pedro and New Melones remained below normal at 67% and 26% respectively. On April 21st, the Department of Water Resources increased water delivery projections to the State Water Project to 60%, up from a 45% estimate in late March.
Severe to extreme drought continued to be detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor across most of the Central Valley; while Shasta and Lake counties remained in moderate drought by the end of the month. The remainder of the Central and northern portion of the Southern Sierra Nevada mountain areas remained in the severe to extreme drought. In improvement from exceptional to extreme in the Sierra south of Highway 50.
Groundwater aquifers recharged much more slowly than the surface reservoirs, with many in the Central Valley still falling toward record levels.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. He extended the executive order requiring Californians to continue conserving water through October 2016. At the end of January, 2016, the California State Water Control Board approved an eight-month extension of the existing drought-related emergency regulations with just some minor adjustments.
Local Emergency Proclamations remain for Butte, Colusa, Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba. The cities of Live Oak (Sutter County), Lodi (San Joaquin County), Manteca (San Joaquin County), Portola (Plumas County), Ripon (San Joaquin County), and|West Sacramento (Yolo County). Drought task forces have been established in Butte, Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yolo counties to coordinate response to the drought.
Mandatory water reductions of 25 percent as ordered by Governor Brown continued to be in effect statewide.
The state continued to supply food assistance to those impacted by the drought, along with California Disaster Assistance Act money for those who have lost drinking water due to dry wells. Nonprofit organizations in the San Joaquin Valley struggled to meet the needs of their clients for drought-related programs.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 31, 7:55 PM PST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 855 PM PDT THU MAR 31 2016 .SYNOPSIS... DRY WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES THROUGH FRIDAY. INCREASING THREAT OF SHOWERS OVER THE MOUNTAINS THIS WEEKEND INTO MONDAY. DRY AND WARMER TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY WITH BREEZY WIND. && .DISCUSSION... High pressure will be over the region with warmer temperatures the next couple of days. Expect less clouds with a warming trend each day through Friday then little change for Saturday...other than from around Sacramento southward in the valley which should still have some warming. Temperatures will be warming into the 70s for the valley and the 50s and 60s in the mountains each day through Saturday. There is a weak wave moving into the Pacific Northwest with the tail end of moving through Northern California on Saturday. As mentioned before it should have little impact on temperatures but may bring a few showers over the northern mountains and northern coastal range. Sunday will continue to have warm temperatures and chances of showers over the northern mountains and northern coastal mountains. Snow level will be high generally above 8000 feet during the day. No impacts are expected other that from those showers. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Monday THROUGH Thursday) Progressive trof will be moving across the Pac NW and Norcal at the onset of the EFP. Model differences lead to low confidence in timing and impacts/precipitation amounts over interior Norcal...but model consensus suggests the best chance of precip will be over the northern mountains (ECMWF) and Nrn mtns/Sierra (GFS) Sun nite and Mon. The ECMWF is a little faster and not quite as deep with the progressive trough as the GFS...with the GEM the outlier. This pattern will bring a cooling trend at the onset of the EFP with a warming trend to follow later in the period as ridging prevails over the area. By the middle of next week...the energy that splits and reaches the base of the trof forms a Rex Block to the SW of CA. This amplifies the ridging over Norcal which could lead to the initial round of max temps reaching/exceeding 80 in the Srn half of the Valley. Probability of Exceedance tool yields a very high probability of doing so... for example >75% throughout the Valley. (RDD has already hit 80 or higher a few times this year.) Model differences for the latter part of next week trending toward lifting the blocking low NEwd and across SoCal which could lead to some April showers. JHM && .AVIATION... High pressure builds along the coast through Fri with modest onshore gradients and strong subsidence. Chance of marine stratus penetrating inland to the Sac Vly again Fri morning otherwise VFR conditions for TAF sites thru the period. Light southerly winds generally under 10 kts. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. &&
5 drought, 1 astronomical low tide. Local standard time, as filed.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were still some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 2 in Shasta County, 34 at Tehama County, unchanged from March.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells with 28 in Glenn County, and 9 in Colusa County. This was up 1 in Colusa from March. Butte County continued at 0 wells.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 3 in Yolo County and 1 in Sacramento County, unchanged from March.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System had 1 home without well water in Solano County, unchanged from March.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 228 in Stanislaus County, up one from March, and 25 in San Joaquin County, unchanged from March. However, many communities in the Northern San Joaquin valley are still receiving food assistance as a direct result of the drought.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System had Calavereas county with 1 household, unchanged from March, and Tuolumne county had 238 households, up 3 from March.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2016
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 632900, 632949, 632951, 632952, 632966, 632967.