Water, Water Nowhere

As you've likely seen/heard, there's a monster Atmospheric River (of water) coming to the West Coast. Some even think it's enough to put a noticeable dent in the drought. May be not. While this is from a bit ago (although well after the last one was built), snowpack accounts for a huge chunk of the year-long water supply for California.

In California, the spring snowpack on average stores about 70% as much as the water stored in the State's reservoirs.

So, one supposes, that should global warming continue and that snow falls as rain, is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Likely, not so good.

That's a bunch of reservoirs (there are 1,300 or so). But, and there is always a but, how much of this River will just pass through to the Pacific in undammed rivers, spillways, and bare ground? Enquiring minds need to know. Well, now you do.

Climatologist Bill Patzert estimates that more than 80% of the region's rainfall ends up diverted from urban areas in Southern California into the Pacific. "All those trillions of gallons of rain, which sound so sweet, really end up in the ocean," he said.

If snow fell as rain, it would take about 910 more reservoirs (assuming there's a 'standard size', of course) to capture it all. Assuming that adequate geology even makes that feasible. Arizona could use it to run fabs. Truck it in; put all those whining semi-drivers to work.