So far, there has yet to be a day in the year 2023 where you haven’t needed at least some form of waterproofing to go outdoors if you live in California. The Pacific Seaboard has been continually battered by a series of atmospheric rivers derived from either subtropical moisture flow or cold-water cyclones since the New Year holiday weekend, storms that have brought an array of positive and negative effects to the affected region. Reservoirs statewide have continued to refill with the alternating rain and snowfall; regionally, Bullards Bar is at 79 percent of its total capacity, while Folsom and Shasta are both at 51 percent and Oroville is at 56 percent. This hardly means the drought-stricken state is out of the woods regarding its water woes though – Trinity is below 30 percent of its capacity, and both Shasta and Oroville’s numbers are concerning in the face of another potentially hot and dry summer. Observers should expect demand on the State Water Project, from Valley agricultural users even more than urban areas, to spike as the summer heats up and transpiration increases. Snow levels are currently strong in much of the high country at the moment, a rare spot of good news in California’s water watch. The California Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) snow monitoring stations in Lassen National Park, Lower Lassen Peak and Harkness Flat snow monitoring stations (both in Lassen National Park) reported snow depths of 167.2” and 215.0”, respectively, as of January 16th—a big relief for those downstream on the Feather River. In Sierra County, DWR’s monitoring station at Robinson Cow Camp (Butcher Ranch) reported 138.1”, while the Sunnyside Meadows station (upper Lavezzola Creek) hosted 152.9”. Depending on the release rate, this means either a steady supply of snowmelt into early summer or a quick melt that leaves consumers high and dry later in the year. Transportation mishaps are all too common when storms like this happen, especially as in recent years we have seen more commercial drivers attempt to bypass closures on Interstate 80 via local routes. Despite CalTrans closing CA-49 between Sattley and Downieville, January 14th saw two tractor trailers violate both the closure and the length limits on this stretch of highway, requiring the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office to assist the state in ensuring the safety of these drivers – while also issuing some hefty citations for their mistake! Further north on Highway 36, another driver made an even more impressive mistake on January 15th, when him getting stuck and requiring a tow also resulted in the Susanville CHP learning he was overlength, had no chains and did not even have a Class A license – legally required to drive a vehicle of that size. Heavy rain means loose debris easily fall and loose trees easily topple. CA-70 was once again closed by rockslides on December 30th, due to the rainfall and debris destabilized by the Dixie Fire over a year ago. The slides were cleared by the following day, but in less than two weeks’ time several more slides occurred, closing CA-70 until further notice as of January 10th. To make matters more awkward, a Union Pacific train carrying grain through the Feather River Canyon was derailed by one of these slides over Martin Luther King weekend, spilling seven hopper cars of grain onto the embankment. Because of the previous slides blocking the road between the Greenville Wye and Jarbo Gap, Union Pacific maintenance crews are having issues accessing the train to get it back on the tracks, though they were able to successfully rescue the crew. Locally, power and internet outages were widespread due to the adverse conditions and heavy precipitation. Over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, the Sierra County communities of Downieville, Allegheny and Sierra City were all struck by power outages requiring PG&E crews to intervene and fix the issues. Downieville and Sierra City both lost power on the morning of January 15th, though PG&E were able to turn on generators in each town to provide power until restoring their grid connections on the 16th. Further up CA-49 another outage between Bassetts and Sattley is expected to be fixed on the 17th, while a smaller outage has affected Allegheny since Sunday and should be repaired “in the near future”. Currently, there are minimum chain controls on most routes over the Sierra Nevada. I-80 and CA-36 are the only clear thoroughfares north of Lake Tahoe as of this writing, though there are at least some chain controls on both routes. As mentioned earlier, CA-49 is closed due to heavy snow and icy conditions between Downieville and Sattley, while CA-70 is closed between the Greenville Wye and Jarbo Gap. Alternative routes such as the Dog Valley and Henness Pass Roads are impassable and attempting to circumvent a roadblock via either is a sound way to have your vehicle stuck until late spring. While there have been no injuries or fatalities thus far locally as a result of this weather, other areas have not been so lucky; a total of 19 people statewide have died as a result of these storms, more than in the past two wildfire seasons combined. The most common cause of death has been drowning in floodwaters, followed by falling debris and vehicle accidents in inclement weather. May they rest in peace, and may our state avoid further losses of life in the face of the next storms.