Early rain a welcome sight in South Bay after wildfires, smoky skies of recent years
SANTA CRUZ (KPIX) -- People living in the South Bay and Santa Cruz mountains are welcoming the rain storms in the forecast, thankful for the positive effect it will have on the drought and fire danger.
"I think it's a promising start, right? I don't think last year we got anything until later. So, this is a better start to the year," says Charles Elliot who squeezed in an afternoon bike ride in the mountains during a break in the storm.
A spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Water District says the rain is beneficial but not yet sufficient to erase the deficit created by years of drought. Spokesperson Matt Keller says residents have done a good job of using less water in recent months, conserving 13 percent in September compared to 2019.
"People see rain and they may think that the drought is over. The drought is not over. This is really just a small drop in the bucket of what we would need to see in order to get out of the drought. But really long term, we're asking everybody to live like drought is a way of life here in Santa Clara County," Keller said.
Cal Fire says each of the state's 21 firefighting units separately decides when the threat of wildfires is over each year based on rainfall and other conditions in their area. People who hike and bike in the Santa Cruz mountains say the impact of recent rains is readily apparent.
"You can tell that the vegetation is not as dry as it was back in September. So, I guess we got lucky," says Gabriel Bernardinis.
Elliot says given our recent history of wildfires and the smoke that has blanketed the Bay Area on occasion he will take as much rain as we can get.
"There were a few weeks in there a couple of years ago where it felt like hell on earth with the smoke in the air and everything else. So, this year I feel like we got off kind of easy. And I'm just happy to see the rain early on.," he said.