Huge October Storm’s Deluge Draining Out Of Lake Sonoma – CBS San Francisco

SONOMA COUNTY (CBS SF) – It takes more than sporadic showers to make headway against the drought. It will take more storms, and lots of them. In places like Lake Sonoma, the great October storm runs out of legs.

“The rain is really great,” says Chris Tito of Wilson Vinyards. “If you want the wine, you need the rain.”

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A little rain, with more forecast, is good news in Dry Creek Valley, as is welcome news on the other side of the dam.

“We’re still stuck in a drought, there’s no doubt about it,” said Barry Dugan of the Sonoma County Water Agency. “Lake Sonoma currently has almost 50% of its capacity. But that’s a 67% decrease at the same point in time last year. “

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For Sonoma County’s reservoirs, the atmospheric river in late October was a spectacular moment of passing relief. In the weeks in between it has rained just enough that the water flows into Lake Mendocino, but not into the system’s larger reservoir.

“We saw Lake Sonoma stall,” says Dugan. “Now is starting to lose a bit of capacity. So we start to see how the saturation level decreases a little. “

The lake level shows Sonoma received a boost from the storm, followed by a flat line. While a little rain will help recharge the soil, the area desperately needs major storms.

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“So we’re just hoping that this weather pattern can change enough that we regularly see a series of storms in December and January,” says Dugan.