Days of rain transform North Bay landscape (w/video)

Several days of storms have transformed the North Bay landscape and brought rainfall totals to within striking distance of average levels for this time of year, a cause for celebration despite the rain having little long-term impact on the prolonged drought.

Concerns of another arid winter have faded, at least temporarily, in the wake of five days of wet weather that have swelled streams and drainage ditches around the region and begun turning the countryside into a verdant green.

“This is a godsend, to tell you the truth,” Two Rock dairy rancher Don DeBernardi said Wednesday, following an overnight deluge that increased storage in his reservoirs by several inches. “Our pastures are unbelievable. You can watch the grass grow, it’s growing so fast.”

Wednesday’s storm turned the Russian River the color of creamed coffee as accumulated rainfall sped downstream at a pace years of drought have turned into a mere memory.

A widening band of river running through the west Sonoma County communities of Forestville, Guerneville and Monte Rio was beginning to reclaim beach frontage so popular with crowds during hot weather but left plenty of gravelly real estate still exposed to the leaden sky.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa expanded its reach, as well, flooding a small area of Tomodachi Park at the east edge of Sebastopol and spreading more broadly into fields and pastures to the north, toward Occidental Road and beyond.

In Healdsburg, several vertical feet of the concrete piers that help support the Healdsburg Memorial Bridge were still visible above the Russian River, though a dim roar rose as the current descended a rip-rap field below the site where the summer dam has been removed, slightly downstream from the bridge.

Joy Biagini, who has lived across Front Street from the dam site for seven years, said the river just a week ago “was bone dry,” and the rising level is somewhat heartening.

But like most who ventured out in the rain observed, there remains a long way to go to restore the area to anything like normal.

“The water is starting to move. That’s good,” said Raphael Alvarez, owner of Alvarez Landscaping on the east end of the Healdsburg bridge.

But “it hasn’t changed that much,” he said. “I’ve been watching the river. I’m hoping it will come up higher. That would make me feel great.”

The river’s edge still stood yards below an expanse of cracked and sloping bank that, in wet years, has sometimes been completely submerged, Alvarez said.

While not there yet, “I’ve got a good feeling it’s going to be a wet winter, and the reservoirs can be full, and that way we can call the drought off.”

This time last year, DeBernardi, like a lot of a cattlemen, was struggling to grow forage crops as a result of very little rain falling in the region. The deluge of the past few days has renewed hope in him that maybe, just maybe, this winter the spigots in the sky finally will open up.

“It sure looks like a normal winter,” he said.

Normal rainfall totals, however, won’t be enough for the region to climb out of the drought.

Storms that rolled in Friday increased rainfall totals for the Santa Rosa area to 6.93 inches, placing the region below the average 7.58 inches for this time of year. The calculation was based on rain that fell between July 1 through Wednesday evening.

A total of 3.58 inches of rain fell across Santa Rosa from Friday through Wednesday evening. That means 52 percent of the season to date total came from recent storms.

The total rainfall for the year is well above the paltry 1.59 inches of rain that fell across Santa Rosa by Dec. 3 last year, but well below the 11.89 inches that fell in 2012.

Brad Sherwood, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Water Agency, said water officials are “optimistic” because the storms appear to have saturated the soil, which in turn has boosted run-off into reservoirs. Nevertheless, he said Water Agency staff is still working on preparing outreach materials in anticipation of the “worst-case scenario” should the drought linger into summer next year.

The Water Agency calculates rainfall totals from October through September. Santa Rosa had received only about 40 percent, or 2.29 inches, of average rainfall in October and November, the first two months of the rainy season. The Ukiah area had received 87 percent, or 6.49 inches, of its average rainfall during the same time period.

Storms on Monday and Tuesday most assuredly pushed those rainfall totals higher. But Sherwood said it will take a few days to calculate the new averages.

The point is, the rain that fell this past week resulted in the region catching up to historical averages for this time of year.

Reservoir levels were already low compared with previous years prior to recent storms.

Lake Sonoma was at 56 percent of capacity as of Monday. The reservoir was at 71 percent of capacity on the same date last year, and 90 percent in 2012.

The lake, which opened in 1982, provides water to 600,000 people in Sonoma and Marin counties.

Lake Mendocino as of Monday was 42 percent of capacity, compared with 46 percent last year and 88 percent in 2012.

“We have a steep hill to climb,” said Sean White, general manager of the Russian River Flood Control District. “This is a great start, but we have a long ways to go.”

Calculating how much rain the North Coast will need in coming months to reverse drought conditions is tricky given the region’s diverse geography and the varying reliance on the Russian River, reservoirs and private wells to service water needs.

But in general, a normal amount of annual rainfall for the Santa Rosa basin is about 32 inches. The area received a scant 18 inches of rain between July 2013 and July 2014, the annual breakdown provided by the Water Agency.

During the same period, the Ukiah Valley basin received only 16 inches of rain, about 43 percent of its normal amount.

While 2013 was the driest calendar year on record for California, the state calculates a water year from October to September, meaning that California is officially in its fourth year of drought.

Going forward, the timing of any rain matters, in particular for Lake Mendocino, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages for flood control purposes. Local water managers are hoping to avoid a repeat of previous years when water was released from the lake during winter storms, ostensibly to protect Coyote Dam.

White sent a letter to the Army Corps on March 4 asking it to deviate from normal practice by storing an additional 17,000 acre feet of water at Lake Mendocino during the winter compared to a normal year, in the event of another dry spring.

“Storing this extra amount can make a huge dry season difference without storing enough extra to present a significant increase in flooding risk,” White said Wednesday.

However, White said the Army Corps has yet to respond to his letter. A spokesman for the federal agency did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

White said one positive outcome of the recent storms is that they likely filled small agricultural ponds. State water regulators in November lifted a nearly six-month freeze on certain water diversions from the upper Russian River, provoking relief among grape growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties and others north of Healdsburg who are dependent on the river for crop irrigation and other uses.

But White on Tuesday said it’s way too soon to know whether growers will have enough water in the spring for such activities as frost protection.

DeBernardi, who’s been trucking water to his Two Rock ranch for several months, said recent storms filled his reservoirs by as much as 8 inches. He said it has also spurred tremendous growth in his forage crops, relieving him from having to purchase as much feed for his cattle.

But the seasoned cattleman was not ready to declare everything hunky-dory Wednesday.

“Believe me, if we don’t get any more rain, we’ll be back in the same boat we were,” he said.

The early rainfall is good for coho salmon and steelhead trout that have begun their annual migration up the Russian River to spawn. Tuesday’s storm in particular opened up access to prime tributaries used by the fish, said Nick Bauer, a biologist with UC Cooperative Extension’s coho-monitoring program. Those tributaries include Green Valley, Mill and Dutch Bill creeks.

“It’s a good start for the year,” Bauer said. “Hopefully, more storms will follow to keep those streams open.”

Last year, salmon were essentially trapped in the main stem of the Russian River until storms in February opened smaller tributary streams. The situation threatened an entire spawning generation of coho, and later prompted state officials to close most of the river to fishing for several months.

Steelhead fishermen are happy with the recent rains because it means more fish are able to make it into the Russian River, said Chris Aff, a fishing guide at King’s Sport and Tackle in Guerneville.

He said business has been brisk this week with people popping in to purchase bait, tackle, waders, boots and other fishing equipment.

News researcher Janet Balicki and Staff Writer Mary Callahan contributed to this report.

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Editor's Note:

A Dec. 3 weather story, reported incorrect summary rainfall statistics for Santa Rosa's season to date and storm totals. It has been corrected in the story above.