Wet Winter Gives Way To Dry January

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Winter might have started wet and snowy in California, but now the weather is looking like a rerun of last year. That could mean water rationing in the spring. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has

Winter might have started wet and snowy in California, but now the weather is looking like a rerun of last year. That could mean water rationing in the spring. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

We may enjoy the warm sunny days with above average temperatures but the blue sky comes at a price.

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State Meteorologist Elissa Lynn says January represents nearly 20% of the Northern Sierra winter. And a dry month is hurting water supply.

Lynn : Most of the water supply for the state comes from in the Sierra mountains somewhere, a lot of it from the Northern Sierra. And we are looking now at potentially our driest January on record if we don't seen any more rain or snow up there in the high country.

Lynn says the forecast shows the dry weather continuing another 10 days, which could make January the driest month since 1991.

She says for an average year, the Sierra needs to pick up between 10 and 20 feet of snow by March.

San Diego County's main water supplier says there's now a 50-percent chance of water rationing in the region this spring.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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