Rain in Southern California not enough to ease drought

LOS ANGELES

Check out our 7-day forecasts and Live Mega Doppler 7000 HD radar maps

The Southland only received about a few hundredths of an inch, according to the National Weather Service.

A new system is headed toward Southern California, bringing a 20 percent chance of rain on Friday and Saturday.

This is one of the driest seasons ever in California, and it could affect our water supply.

"It's been very dry here in L.A., but we get our water from the snowpack in the mountains, so that's what we're watching very carefully. Halfway through the season [there's] almost no snow," said Jim McDaniel with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

To put it into perspective -- at the end of January in the Eastern Sierra, the wettest season was back in 1982 with 50 inches of rain. Last year, at this time, it was about 32 inches in rain. This year, we've had 3.6 inches of rain.

"As we look forward, if this drought continues -- which I am forecasting it will continue, not only this year, but perhaps for the next couple of years -- then we're really going to have to make some hard decisions. Who gets the water? And how much water?" said Bill Patzert with JPL.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a formal drought on Jan. 17, saying the state is in the midst of perhaps its worst dry spell in a century.

Take the power of the ABC7 weather team wherever you go with the ABC7 MEGADOPPLER weather app, featuring customizable weather alerts and more. Visit the ABC7 Apps page now to download it.

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.