Hoping for a Wet March

Rain is over 80% of normal at the stations closest to the Bay Area.

A wet February has lessened worries of water rationing this summer, although we’re still hoping for a wet March.

The water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack - the backbone of the state's water supply - is about 80 percent of normal for this time of year, according to measurements of water content at several backcountry spots. That's a turnaround from a month ago, when the water content measured just 61 percent of normal after the eighth-driest January on record had the state teetering on a the edge of its worst-ever water crisis.

A 10 x 40 foot area of the back yard needs to be re-done. If dry winters persist (I’m a global warming agnostic, not an atheist), then prudence dictates we put in a deck, patio, artificial grass, or water-parsimonious shrubs. I’m crossing my fingers for a March deluge so I’ll have more landscaping options, but that’s about as likely as the Dow getting back to 14,000 in 2009. Over the next four years we’ll just have to work harder and get by with less [unless you live in the boomtown that is our nation’s capital, but that's another story].