LOOKING BACK ON THE ‘MARCH MIRACLE’ OF 1991
As we struggle through a drought cycle in our region this winter, I recalled March 1991, when I wrote the following:
Nature Journal – March 28, 1991:
The drought has ended!
Since February 28, when a huge storm hit, we have had 13 inches of rain AT LEAST!
The storm door opened and soon after, in early March, we had a succession of storms, some born in the Gulf of Alaska and some originating off the California coast. The high pressure system that has dominated our weather in recent winters has now moved off to the northwest.
At last, wonderful storms are able to swoop down the California coast.
One particularly memorable one was in early March.
Dubbed ‘the March miracle’, it was a real gulley-washer that plopped down off Point Conception and sent sheets of rain straight towards the central coast of California. At the end of that storm, we measured 6.9 inches in the rain gauge.
It’s heavenly. From dry, parched earth and empty creeks and reservoirs, we now luxuriate in water everywhere. The ground is soaked and sopping wet. Water oozes out of the banks and hillsides and trickles across roads and pastures. I never thought I’d be so glad to see MUD.
Only those of us who pay attention to the rhythms of nature can understand the relief I feel as I look at the land, bathed in life-giving water. The feeling of rebirth and renewal is complete.
Gibraltar dam is spilling, Juncal dam soon to do so, and Cachuma Lake is filling fast — one of the wettest months of March on record.
Not since 1983 has the spring been more beautiful.
Every plant, tree, and hedge sparkles after the downpours. Even the birds shine brilliantly, their feathers washed clean.
It has indeed been a March Miracle!
