Long term drought impacts continued through the month of August, although some of the largest of the reservoirs in northern interior California continued to be around normal levels. While there was a better snow pack for the mountains over the wet season, very warm weather caused the snow to melt and run off quickly in the spring.
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 August, although some of the largest of the reservoirs in northern interior California continued to be around normal levels. While there was a better snow pack for the mountains over the wet season, very warm weather caused the snow to melt and run off quickly in the spring. This caused peak reservoir levels to occur earlier than expected. At the end of August, all but Lake Shasta and Don Pedro were dropping off faster than normal. Lake Shasta was 105% of normal by the end of the month, Lake Oroville was 79%, Folsom Lake was 57%, and Don Pedro was 95%. New Melones continued to lag behind the other significant area reservoirs and was only 39% of normal.
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed no change from July for the area, with severe drought across the southern Sacramento Valley; the northern and central Sacramento Valley and the northern Sierra in moderate drought, while Shasta County was abnormally dry. The remainder of the Central and northern portion of the Southern Sierra Nevada mountain areas remained in the severe to extreme drought. There remained extreme drought in the Sierra south of Highway 50.
Groundwater aquifers continued to recharge much more slowly than the surface reservoirs, with many in the Central Valley still falling toward record levels. Growers in the San Joaquin Valley continued to turn to groundwater with reduced surface water allocations. This heavy reliance on groundwater resulted in declining water levels.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. Governor Brown issued an executive order on May 9, 2016 that built on temporary statewide emergency water restrictions to establish longer-term water conservation measures, including permanent monthly water use reporting, new permanent water use standards in California communities and banned clearly wasteful practices such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes.
Local Emergency proclamations remain for Colusa, Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. 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 remain in 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% as ordered by Governor Brown were suspended in May due to the improved reservoir levels, with voluntary reductions requested. Water conservation levels continued to fall and were around 20%, well below the 27% achieved in August 2015.
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.
Tree mortality from drought and resulting bark beetle infestation continued to increase both in scale and intensity, especially in low elevation pine and oak woodlands along the Sierra Nevada Range. A US Forest Service- Forest Health Protection aerial survey showed tree mortality was especially high in the Stanislaus National Forest southward, though pockets of tree mortality were present as far north as eastern Shasta County. Tree mortality from the recent years of drought has been estimated at 66 million trees across California. This increase in dead and dying trees made the forest more susceptible to wildfires.
Drought conditions are blamed for an increase in blue-green algae across Northern California lakes, with a concentration of these in Shasta County. These algae can produce cyanotoxins, which in high enough concentrations can potentially cause allergic reactions, skin irritation, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, joint pain, liver damage and even cancer in people and pets swimming in the water.
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 Jul 31, 9:00 PM PST, 3 hours earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 1000 PM PDT SUN JUL 31 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Temperatures cooling off today to near seasonal normals and continuing near seasonal normals this week. && .DISCUSSION... Moderate delta breeze continues this evening with temperatures around 5 degrees cooler versus 24 hours ago many areas. Wind gusts to 25 mph will continue over the delta. Current forecast is on track no update will be needed. .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... Temperatures continue to run cooler this afternoon generally by 5 to 7 degrees. The marine layer is now around 2000 feet deep and the delta is blowing. The winds through the delta will continue to be moderate this afternoon then increase this evening. A trough of low pressure over the Pacific Northwest has helped to push the high pressure area south slightly and bring some synoptic cooling to the region. This will also help to keep monsoonal moisture well to the south and east of our area. The current low pressure area will be replace by another one on Monday and Tuesday. After the cooling today expect little change in temperatures through Wednesday. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is continuing their Air Quality Alert for San Joaquin county and southward into Monday. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday) A weak upper level trough positioned over NorCal in the long term forecast period will bring some temperature relief. Normal temperatures across the valley are typically in the mid to upper 90s this time of year, but highs will gradually cool down into the upper 80s to mid 90s from Thursday into next weekend by a few degrees. Higher elevations can see a return to the 60s and 70s next weekend. Dry weather is expected to continue into next weekend. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions are expected at the terminals during the next 24 hours. Gusts to 25 mph through delta overnight. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. &&
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. Calaveras County had 1 household, unchanged from July. Tuolumne County had 240 households, an increase of 2 from July.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. There were 228 in Stanislaus County, unchanged since July. San Joaquin increased by 1 to 11 dry wells. Many communities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley were still receiving food assistance as a direct result of the drought.
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, August 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: 650505, 650757.