Long term drought continued through the month of March, but with significant improvements in mountain snow pack and most reservoir levels. After a period of extremely dry and warm conditions for most of February, a pattern of moist westerly flow brought a series of unusually wet storms in March.
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 continued through the month of March, but with significant improvements in mountain snow pack and most reservoir levels. After a period of extremely dry and warm conditions for most of February, a pattern of moist westerly flow brought a series of unusually wet storms in March. This added significantly to the snow pack for the northern Sierra and southern Cascades. Snow pack increased to around 97% of normal for those areas, while on average the whole state was 86%. Reservoirs across interior northern California continued to increase, with the two largest rising to above normal levels. Lake Shasta was 109% of normal by the end of the month, Lake Oroville was 114%. Folsom Lake was 110% of normal and had to make flood control releases. In contrast, Don Pedro and New Melones remained below normal. The Department of Water Resources increased water delivery projections to 45% of requests, up from a 30% estimate in late February.
Exceptional to extreme drought continued to be detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor across most of the Central Valley. Much of Shasta and Lake counties improved from severe to moderate drought by the end of the month. Most other mountain areas improved from exceptional to severe drought, except 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.
Due to the wet month, DWR cancelled plans to install a drought barrier in the late spring to help control salinity in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A drought barrier was erected in 2015 to prevent salt water from encroaching from the San Francisco Bay and remained from June to November.
Local Emergency Proclamations remain for El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. The cities of Live Oak Lodi, and Ripon continue in a drought emergency. 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, though Californians missed these targeted reductions for the month. Residents and businesses only cut usage by 12 percent, which was the lowest monthly reduction since the mandate became effective in June. From April 2015 to February 2016, state regulators reported urban residents were able to cut back their water usage by 23.9 percent from June 2015 to February 2016, just about 1 percent short from Governor Jerry Brown's 25 percent goal.
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 Feb 29, 9:07 PM PST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 907 PM PST MON FEB 29 2016 FXUS66 KSTO 010506 AFDSTO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 906 PM PST MON FEB 29 2016 .SYNOPSIS... WEAK WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL BRUSH THE AREA TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY AND THURSDAY WITH LIGHT PRECIPITATION GENERALLY NORTH OF I-80. OTHERWISE DRY AND MILD WEATHER WILL CONTINUE ELSEWHERE. A WETTER WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED TO RETURN THIS WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION... A warm front moving through the north end of the state but only looks like it has resulted in a few sprinkles to the northern mountains. The warm front will shift northward overnight and a very weak cold front will move onshore and may bring some showers to the northern interior and coastal range in the afternoon and evening hours. Any precipitation amounts look very light. Temperatures will remain above normal the next couple of days. Thursday's system continues to be the strongest of these weak systems and may bring some light amounts of precipitation to more areas. The system should at least bring slightly cooler temperatures to the interior. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Friday THROUGH Monday) A welcomed wetter pattern returns in the extended forecast. Models continue to be in good agreement with a cooler, wetter pattern beginning toward the end of the week and especially Saturday night into next week. The longwave pattern amplifies Saturday with an improved moisture tap (according to water vapor transport) bringing the precipitation chances farther south. The main trough moves into the area Sunday and early next week. Have increased precip chances given the improving confidence. && .AVIATION... Light winds and VFR conditions will persist across interior NorCal this evening. Winds will remain light and become more southerly by early Tuesday morning. If any patchy fog develops early Tuesday, it should be limited to the KSCK and KMOD vicinity. JBB && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. &&
6 drought. 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 February.
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 8 in Colusa County. This was unchanged from February. Butte County reported a reduction to 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 February.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System had 1 home without well water in Solano County, unchanged from February.
The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 227 in Stanislaus County and 25 in San Joaquin County, unchanged from February. 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 and Tuolumne had 235 households. These were unchanged from February.
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, March 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: 622303, 622304, 622305, 622306, 622307, 622308.