They were predicting a big storm yesterday. Instead, we got a real whopper. Sacramento got over 5.28 inches of rain in 24 hours, breaking a record set back in 1880. Folsom got over 7 inches of rain and Auburn reportedly got over 15.9 inches. But in a time when everyone is worried about climate change, it is important to put this in perspective. Here is a list of the previous major storms, along with the date. This is from the National Weather Service records in Sacramento.
Rank Amount of rain Date
1 5.28 4-20-1880
2 3.63 10-13-1962
3 3.35 4-07-1935
4 3.34 12-31-1890
5 3.21 2-17-1986
6 3.14 1-21-1943
7 3.14 9-13-1918
8 3.11 1-24-2000
9 3.10 1-04-1982
10 3.09 4-21-1880
One notes that three of the top ten storms happened in the 1880s. That obviously was long before the industrial revolution. While this storm was a record, it wasn’t actually that unique. Only one other storm hit this early in the season, that was 1918. Ironically, that was the year of the Spanish Flu. Coincidence? Probably. We can expect a lot of scary predictions all blaming climate change (global warming), all ignoring the fact that these kinds of storms have been happening since anyone started keeping records.
This article was written on October 21, 2021, and it doesn’t even mention the rainstorm we just received. Oops, missed that. It should have been obvious. I wrote “CRY ME A RIVER” because a lot of smart people were predicting this. He was obviously more concerned about the drought. This, predictably, predictably, blames everything on global warming. This quotes a University of California Professor, Nicholas Pinter, who says: “We’re getting larger floods and bigger, more frequent droughts.” Pretty interesting when you see all those major storms that obviously were long before the industrial revolution. Sea level has been increasing, by about 1/8th of an inch per year. One will note that none of the places predicted to be underwater, are actually going underwater, but IF climate change (global warming) increases our great, great, great grandchildren may notice. My person opinion is that God doesn’t actually pay much attention to the predictions of college professors. He is certainly not impressed with people who ignore history. Sacramento gets a lot of rain, at regular intervals, and this has gone on and on since they started keep records in 1880. The ocean water this year is not warmer, it is colder. La Nina anyone.
The article, unfortunately, is correct is saying that our flood infrastructure is not up to the task. Folsom Lake, for example, currently has about 250,000 acre feet of water. But in a normal year, that can approach 1,000,000 acre feet. Actually, that is all the water Folsom Lake can hold, so they will release water to prevent that. This is something that actually happens quite often. The question is not really how much water we get, but rather how much we save. The people who operate the dam know that. Folsom Lake rose 9 feet yesterday, and we haven’t even begun to receive the water runoff from this storm. My hunch is that sooner, rather than later, we will see the gates open, again, to release water, to prepare for winter, when we usually, but not always, get a lot of rain. They spent about a billion dollars building an emergency bypass for Folsom Dam. That is designed to release even more water, to prevent the lake from overflowing. In other words, the same people warning you about global warming and endless drought spent a billion dollars to build that emergency bypass to protect Folsom Dams from storms, like this.
But what they don’t discuss is what happens if they release too much water at once. Folsom Dam can release close to 800 cubic feet of water per second. The levees on the American River can handle about 120 cubic feet of water per second. Anything above that and Sacramento has the potential to look a lot like Lake Sacramento.
If you live anywhere near a lake, pond, levee, creek, or river, seriously consider buying flood insurance. Flood Insurance is cheap, but there is a 30 day waiting period. If you wait until the next storm is forecast, you may have waited too long. Don’t sell your raincoat.
TDM.