-January 1,2023-
Eight storms coming into California by January 17
The wet weather of late December will continue into the new year according to weather model predictions.The GFS model calls for eight storms to move into the state between new years and January 17 – many covering the whole state with cold and wet AR volume storms.
High elevation rain is helping to fill key reservoirs early
Some of these AR storms are warm prompting high elevation rain to melt some snowpack. That is resulting in key northern California reservoirs to fill early in recent days. As much as five feet of precipitation has been reported in some foothill areas and many areas are on floodwatch. Folsom Dam was one of those reservoirs hit by high inflows causing the the operator to release some floodwater downstream Oroville Reservoir stood at around 1mil AF in early December but has gained 300,000AF by January 1 – most of that in a a five day period at the end of the month. Shasta saw a pulse of new inflow as well in five days as did Millerton Lake above Fresno gaining about 100,000AF in December. The dam supplies the Friant Kern Canal that waters the eastside of the Valley in summer months. Nearby Huntington Lake has seen 16 inches of rain so far this 2023 water year compared to 16 inches for all of the 2021 water year.
Tulare County farm exports mostly to the Far East
Tulare County farmers recognize their big export customers overseas. They are mostly all in the Far East according to recent county Crop Reports. The top 15 export countries for Tulare County produce are all Eastern Pacific countries except for Mexico, Canada and Guatemala. The top three are Korea, Japan and China in that order- taking some 16 million cartons of produce in 2019. The three top non-Pacific destinations, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala took just 3 million cartons.