According to data from the GRACE-FO satellite mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), California has seen its greatest year-over-year water gains in two decades. The state has been suffering from years of intense drought and diminishing groundwater, but this past winter’s bonanza of atmospheric rivers alleviated some of the water deficit that the state incurred during periods of drought over the last 10 years, which included the three driest years on record in California. Between October 2022 and March 2023, storms provided enough water to raise the amount of water within the state’s Central Valley region by about 20 inches (about 500 millimeters), which is about twice as much as the average winter water gain since satellite-based water storage measurements began in 2002 with the first GRACE mission. However, while surface water basins are filling, underground stores of fresh water (aquifers) that are tapped for irrigation and other needs could take years to fully recharge. The GRACE-FO team will continue to track how California’s water storage evolves through the summer after the snowpack melts and water levels in the state’s lakes, rivers, and reservoirs start to recede during drier weather.
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