california drought relief on the way?

[fyliu]

Burbank was pretty much 8n the direct path of the rain yesterday. I checked radar several times during the day.
I got really wet just walking the normal 3 block to get home from work around noon. Water flowing downhill created a river half the street width on one side and a quarter on the other. Some of the streets in California are just not designed to handle rain coming down too fast.

[JF]

Yesterday storm was a baby compare to the one that is coming in a few hours. I'm collecting water and flooding my most neglected trees in the last two years.

[fyliu]

Yeah, yesterday's rain was more to the north of LA. San Gabriel Valley and southern areas didn't see much of it. Same for today when I look at the radar images. I'm not seeing much rain this morning. It poured for a half hour but that was it. Now back to light rain.

[ricshaw]

Ventura County Update



As of today, January 6, 2016, at my house we have already tied Camarillo, CA year 2013 rainfall total.   

3.65 inches and counting.

[JF]

it has been slower today .25" per hour. I like to get 6" out of these storms which I highly doubt.

[simon_grow]

It's freaking hailing at my house with thunderstorms overhead. It's raining cats and dogs with flooding in the streets!

[ricshaw]

It's freaking hailing at my house with thunderstorms overhead. It's raining cats and dogs with flooding in the streets!

We Southern Californians need to be Careful! 

Most of what we are experiencing is peanuts compared to other parts of the U.S.

[nullzero]

Storms have been hyped up, they seem like average rain events here. About 1/2 inch of rain per storm. So about 1 inch the last 3 days, I have been tracking the weather and the weather sites have been overestimating the precipitation since it started raining. Also this El Nino is off to a bad start, the last strong El Nino had plenty of rain in December. We are in average rain fall territory atm.

[ricshaw]

4 inches of rain and counting.

[sapote]

How's about mango root rotted with too much cold rain? Do you guys cover up the soil around plants to avoid rotted? If it continues raining for the whole week then I'm worrying for papaya and mango.

I got two 60-gal barrels filled full yesterday in about 30 minutes. I will buy four barrels 55-gal $90 each and Burbank City will rebate $75 (LA city rebates $100 each) each up to 4 barrels.

Sapote

[Mark in Texas]

I don't know if any of you are members of a volunteer weather reporting org called CoCoRahs.  Certified NWS rain gauges are used by volunteers most reporting by 8:00 a.m., at least here in Texas.   So far @ 5:24 your time reports for Cali has ranged from .60 - 2.10".  You can select by county and then hit SEARCH.

enjoy....... http://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/ListDailyPrecipReports.aspx

[puglvr1]

Mark, Thanks for posting that link 

Good luck all...this rain can't be good for the mango blooms either...I've had an above rain for the last several weeks too, between the fog/rain/humidity I'll be luck if don't have a bad case of powdery mildew again 

[Mark in Texas]

Mark, Thanks for posting that link 

Good luck all...this rain can't be good for the mango blooms either...I've had an above rain for the last several weeks too, between the fog/rain/humidity I'll be luck if don't have a bad case of powdery mildew again 

You're welcome.  Recommend you become a member and report. Bonus is you'll have a track record for your yard.  No more spreadsheets.

If I were ya'll I'd be following a good fungicide spray program.  Enjoy this while you have the chance!

[ricshaw]

I don't know if any of you are members of a volunteer weather reporting org called CoCoRahs.  Certified NWS rain gauges are used by volunteers most reporting by 8:00 a.m., at least here in Texas.   So far @ 5:24 your time reports for Cali has ranged from .60 - 2.10".  You can select by county and then hit SEARCH.

enjoy....... http://www.cocorahs.org/ViewData/ListDailyPrecipReports.aspx

Thanks for the post.  I am thinking of upgrading my rain gauge.

The Official CoCoRaHS Gauge is available on amazon.com as "Stratus RG202 Long Term Professional Rain and Snow Gauge"

[Mark in Texas]

Thanks for the post.  I am thinking of upgrading my rain gauge.

The Official CoCoRaHS Gauge is available on amazon.com as "Stratus RG202 Long Term Professional Rain and Snow Gauge"

Yeah, I wouldn't have anything but a Stratus.  You can sometimes get them off ebay cheap.

[ricshaw]

Thanks for the post.  I am thinking of upgrading my rain gauge.

The Official CoCoRaHS Gauge is available on amazon.com as "Stratus RG202 Long Term Professional Rain and Snow Gauge"

Yeah, I wouldn't have anything but a Stratus.  You can sometimes get them off ebay cheap.

Do you want to comment on what you have to do if there is more than one inch of rain in a day?

[sapote]

Total for this week up to date I have more than 6" of rain at my house. I placed a round cylinder on an outdoor table.

[fyliu]

Thanks for the post.  I am thinking of upgrading my rain gauge.

The Official CoCoRaHS Gauge is available on amazon.com as "Stratus RG202 Long Term Professional Rain and Snow Gauge"

Yeah, I wouldn't have anything but a Stratus.  You can sometimes get them off ebay cheap.

Do you want to comment on what you have to do if there is more than one inch of rain in a day?

It actually holds up to 11 inches. The INNER thinner tube holds 1 inch and has finer measurements than the outer one. So you get more detail if it's less than an inch that day.

Edit: maybe you're asking how to read off the measurement if it's over an inch. I don't own one. Maybe the outer cylinder starts off at 1 inch and goes from there with coarser scale marks.

[Mark in Texas]

You have 3 parts.  A thin inner tube that precisely measures 1" in hundredths.  We shit kickers call those hundredths "points".  Once it reaches 1" it then overflows into the fat main support tube which holds 10".  A funnel sits on top of the "one incher" with a nozzle directing the flow into the inner tube.  You pull the funnel, dump the 1 incher, and using the funnel (or any other) placed into the 1 incher pour the contents of the outer tube into the 1 incher, dump and repeat until you've measured the whole batch inch by inch. 

"How much rain did ya'll get last night"
"We got 112 points. How bout ya'll?"  (1.12")

Now....go make me a bacon, tomato, and lettuce sammwich on toasted wheat....with plenty of dem creamy Cali cado slices on it.   

[ricshaw]

You have 3 parts.  A thin inner tube that precisely measures 1" in hundredths.  We shit kickers call those hundredths "points".  Once it reaches 1" it then overflows into the fat main support tube which holds 10".  A funnel sits on top of the "one incher" with a nozzle directing the flow into the inner tube.  You pull the funnel, dump the 1 incher, and using the funnel (or any other) placed into the 1 incher pour the contents of the outer tube into the 1 incher, dump and repeat until you've measured the whole batch inch by inch. 

"How much rain did ya'll get last night"
"We got 112 points. How bout ya'll?"  (1.12")

Now....go make me a bacon, tomato, and lettuce sammwich on toasted wheat....with plenty of dem creamy Cali cado slices on it.   

How often do you do this? After every storm? Each day when there is rain?
You said that you use the volunteer weather reporting CoCoRahs to keep track of rainfall. How does that work? 

[Mark in Texas]

How often do you do this? After every storm? Each day when there is rain?
You said that you use the volunteer weather reporting CoCoRahs to keep track of rainfall. How does that work? 

CoCoRah volunteers usually report every morning, a 24 hours event, only when there is a rain event.  Some are anal and report <0> when there is none, I find that a waste of time.  You can access your data in various time elements by clicking on certain time element options.   Start time - finish time.

Join!

[fruitlovers]

One inch of rain over a small sized 1000 square feet roof will actually collect 600 gallons of water. We had this catchment discussion on a previous thread. It's true it might be more cost effective to install a drip system than a catchment to lower water costs. But if you are trying to grow delicate tropical plants it's very good to have the rain water. Best is to do both: drip and catchment if possible.

"Installing a water catchment system takes some time and planning. Do you have kids? If so they will love you for installing a doughboy type pool. During the summer they can use it to frolic around in. During rainy winter you use it for catching water and watering your plants. It's only a matter of installing a connecting 3 inch pvc pipe to the pool from your rain gutter downspout, and getting a small pump on the doughboy to pump out the water.
Here is some info on how much water you can catch off your roof. Probably a lot more than you think!
If you have 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, and it rains just 1 inch, you can collect 600 gallons of water to be used in your garden, for washing your car, or just for drop irrigation around your property. That’s 600 less gallons you have to pay for and use from your town water supply! So how can you do the math for your own roof? Just multiple the square footage of roof space you have available X 0.6 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, and you can see how much water you can collect from each inch of rain that falls.

So if you have 2,500 square feet of roof available for water catchment, and a single inch of rain falls one day, we see that:

2,500 X 0.6 = 1,500 gallons of water can be harvested for future use…from only one inch of rainfall!"
from: http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/08/25/just-how-much-rainwater-can-you-collect-off-your-roof/
Even with only 3.5 inches of rain in S. Cal. you can see that with a 2500 sq. ft. roof you missed out on catching a whopping 4,500 gallons! Not a small amount at all."

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8830.msg114046#msg114046

Right now unfortunately most of the rain falling in California goes straight into the ocean. Very little of it is caught and stored. See related news story: http://news.yahoo.com/rain-pummels-california-see-way-fight-drought-070830101.html

[ricshaw]

One inch of rain over a small sized 1000 square feet roof will actually collect 600 gallons of water. We had this catchment discussion on a previous thread. It's true it might be more cost effective to install a drip system than a catchment to lower water costs. But if you are trying to grow delicate tropical plants it's very good to have the rain water. Best is to do both: drip and catchment if possible.

"Installing a water catchment system takes some time and planning. Do you have kids? If so they will love you for installing a doughboy type pool. During the summer they can use it to frolic around in. During rainy winter you use it for catching water and watering your plants. It's only a matter of installing a connecting 3 inch pvc pipe to the pool from your rain gutter downspout, and getting a small pump on the doughboy to pump out the water.
Here is some info on how much water you can catch off your roof. Probably a lot more than you think!
If you have 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, and it rains just 1 inch, you can collect 600 gallons of water to be used in your garden, for washing your car, or just for drop irrigation around your property. That’s 600 less gallons you have to pay for and use from your town water supply! So how can you do the math for your own roof? Just multiple the square footage of roof space you have available X 0.6 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, and you can see how much water you can collect from each inch of rain that falls.

So if you have 2,500 square feet of roof available for water catchment, and a single inch of rain falls one day, we see that:

2,500 X 0.6 = 1,500 gallons of water can be harvested for future use…from only one inch of rainfall!"
from: http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/08/25/just-how-much-rainwater-can-you-collect-off-your-roof/
Even with only 3.5 inches of rain in S. Cal. you can see that with a 2500 sq. ft. roof you missed out on catching a whopping 4,500 gallons! Not a small amount at all."

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8830.msg114046#msg114046

Right now unfortunately most of the rain falling in California goes straight into the ocean. Very little of it is caught and stored. See related news story: http://news.yahoo.com/rain-pummels-california-see-way-fight-drought-070830101.html

Where I live I have to agree with my neighbor, that for most Southern California city dwellers, storing rain water from winter rain a long time is not efficient.
Water sitting 6 months in a 1000 gallon open pool, is not attractive to most city home owners.
Large closed buried rain water storage tanks require permits and cost money.
On January 17th., I am going to a meeting in Santa Ana, CA where a water storage tank system will be demonstrated.

Having said that, I have 3700 gallons of Koi pond that requires frequent water changes. During the Summer I can pump 400 - 600 gallons of fishy water onto my garden during water changes that helps a little with my water consumption.

See:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/02/10/49745/are-rain-barrels-really-a-good-idea/
http://californiawaterblog.com/2015/02/08/the-romance-of-rain-barrels/

[Mark in Texas]

Where I live I have to agree with my neighbor, that for most Southern California city dwellers, storing rain water from winter rain a long time is not efficient.
Water sitting 6 months in a 1000 gallon open pool, is not attractive to most city home owners.

Your neighbor does not have a clue about the technology and microbiology.  You don't do open tanks for the house.  With many systems you will install an ozone generator at the bottom of the closed tank and a tank mixer, pump, that kicks in for a few hours of the day which circulates the O3 aerated water.  It prevents any microbial nasties from growing in the tank.  Then upon final delivery into the house you have a series of filters, like a final 5 micron and a UV blaster which provides you the safest and most pure water you can drink.  You're extending not only your own life but that of your towels, clothes, hot water heater, appliances, coffee maker, etc. Take that wand off the shower rack, rinse down the shower walls and floor and viola', no more scrubbing off salts and soap scum in the shower by hand.

Most folks don't remember the old days when a cistern full of mosquito larvae was the source for bathing, laundering and drinking water.
 

Large closed buried rain water storage tanks require permits and cost money.

Knowing California and its liberal tax and spend ways, I can only imagine how your representatives would squeeze your cajones "until the very last drop".

On January 17th., I am going to a meeting in Santa Ana, CA where a water storage tank system will be demonstrated.

Having said that, I have 3700 gallons of Koi pond that requires frequent water changes. During the Summer I can pump 400 - 600 gallons of fishy water onto my garden during water changes that helps a little with my water consumption.

Good on ya!  Take care of yourself and make a move to take out your govt. fees and control freaks.

[fruitlovers]

One inch of rain over a small sized 1000 square feet roof will actually collect 600 gallons of water. We had this catchment discussion on a previous thread. It's true it might be more cost effective to install a drip system than a catchment to lower water costs. But if you are trying to grow delicate tropical plants it's very good to have the rain water. Best is to do both: drip and catchment if possible.

"Installing a water catchment system takes some time and planning. Do you have kids? If so they will love you for installing a doughboy type pool. During the summer they can use it to frolic around in. During rainy winter you use it for catching water and watering your plants. It's only a matter of installing a connecting 3 inch pvc pipe to the pool from your rain gutter downspout, and getting a small pump on the doughboy to pump out the water.
Here is some info on how much water you can catch off your roof. Probably a lot more than you think!
If you have 1,000 square feet of roof on your house, and it rains just 1 inch, you can collect 600 gallons of water to be used in your garden, for washing your car, or just for drop irrigation around your property. That’s 600 less gallons you have to pay for and use from your town water supply! So how can you do the math for your own roof? Just multiple the square footage of roof space you have available X 0.6 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, and you can see how much water you can collect from each inch of rain that falls.

So if you have 2,500 square feet of roof available for water catchment, and a single inch of rain falls one day, we see that:

2,500 X 0.6 = 1,500 gallons of water can be harvested for future use…from only one inch of rainfall!"
from: http://thegoodhuman.com/2008/08/25/just-how-much-rainwater-can-you-collect-off-your-roof/
Even with only 3.5 inches of rain in S. Cal. you can see that with a 2500 sq. ft. roof you missed out on catching a whopping 4,500 gallons! Not a small amount at all."

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8830.msg114046#msg114046

Right now unfortunately most of the rain falling in California goes straight into the ocean. Very little of it is caught and stored. See related news story: http://news.yahoo.com/rain-pummels-california-see-way-fight-drought-070830101.html

Where I live I have to agree with my neighbor, that for most Southern California city dwellers, storing rain water from winter rain a long time is not efficient.
Water sitting 6 months in a 1000 gallon open pool, is not attractive to most city home owners.
Large closed buried rain water storage tanks require permits and cost money.
On January 17th., I am going to a meeting in Santa Ana, CA where a water storage tank system will be demonstrated.

Having said that, I have 3700 gallons of Koi pond that requires frequent water changes. During the Summer I can pump 400 - 600 gallons of fishy water onto my garden during water changes that helps a little with my water consumption.

See:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/02/10/49745/are-rain-barrels-really-a-good-idea/
http://californiawaterblog.com/2015/02/08/the-romance-of-rain-barrels/

Water storage tanks can easily be covered over, as can doughboy pools. Folks in California aren't used to storing water, but here where most folks rely on catchment for water and it is common practice just because piped water is not available in many areas. Storing for watering plants is extremely easy. Storing for using as drinking water is a little bit more complicated, but certainly doable, as most people here do it. Unfortunately such systems won't be put in place in California until it is not possible to live without them. People in S. California still haven't realized they live in a dessert. A short cut off of that piped water will make them realize it very fast!