PHOENIX, AZ - While a strong El Niño might not break the drought in Arizona, patterns in the area indicate that it may help to fill the reservoirs in the future.
The Daily Courier reports that previous El Niños have consistently brought wet winters and higher water levels over the years.
As we previously reported, weather services and meteorologists are expecting a strong El Niño this winter, so much so that it is expected to go into the spring season of 2016.
"With the stronger El Niño, there is a stronger likelihood for wetter conditions," Ken Daniel, Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, according to the report.
The moderate El Niño of 2010 filled SRP reservoirs considerably, according to the Daily Courier, setting a hopeful precedent for this upcoming winter.
"What we would ideally like is a good soaking rain before we get our first snowfall," Nancy Selover, State Climatologist, said explaining that the best precipitation to battle drought conditions is snow. "So the soil gets wet, then we have our snowpack on top of that. If we keep the snowpack all winter, when it starts to melt, the soil underneath it is already wet, so we don't end up with that moisture all soaking into the soil. We could get some really good runoff."
The usual snowfall levels for the Prescott, AZ region averages around 13 inches between the November and April months, with overall precipitation usually coming in under 9 inches. Previous strong El Niño winters have kicked those numbers up to almost 20 inches of snow in the region and 13 inches of precipitation overall, the Courier reports.
When this took place during the 2009-2010 El Niño winter, it wasn’t without cost. The sudden large amounts of water brought floods and water damages to the region with its 5-20 inches of snowfall.
With a little luck and a fair amount of water, however, hopefully the region will be able to see a lift in the reservoir levels soon. Though the report does caution that it will take more than one strong El Niño to reverse the dry conditions, every bit helps.
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