The April 1 reading, considered the most important of the year by water managers because it comes at the end of the winter season, follows two previous years when the snowpack reached 111% of normal on April 1 last year and 237% in 2023.

Although Tuesday fell just short of a third year in a row above 100%, together the past three years represent most bountiful three-year period for the Sierra snowpack in 25 years. The last time there was this much snow three years in a row came in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

“Gosh, what a relief,” said Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. “We’re in good shape. This is one of the better years in recent decades. We’ve had quite a lot of good precipitation this winter, especially in Northern California. And we haven’t had any major flooding. It’s been a near-Goldilocks amount. Just right.”

Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort in El Dorado County, about 6 miles south of Lake Tahoe, reported Tuesday that 20 inches of snow fell in the previous 24 hours and another foot was expected by Wednesday. In March, the resort had 81 inches of accumulated snow — nearly 7 feet.

“This storm was a cold one and has done some great things for our snowpack,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab near Donner Summit. “If you are a skier or snowboarder, I would encourage you to get up because conditions are fantastic.”

California struggled with three severe droughts over the past generation: From 2007-2009, then 2012-2016, and most recently from 2020-2022. Brown lawns and water restrictions were the norm.

But the past three winters have shown how the state’s hydrology can vary widely.

That “weather whiplash” is being exacerbated by climate change, scientists say. Warming temperatures make droughts more severe, increasing fire risk. But in wet years, when big atmospheric river storms come off the Pacific, warmer conditions can cause more water to evaporate into those systems, bringing more rain.

One big benefit of multiple wet winters is that the rain and snow, as it melts, fills California’s reservoirs.

“It’s pretty remarkable to see after what we have been through,” said Andy Reising, snow survey manager at the state Department of Water Resources. “The reservoirs are above average for this time of year. It’s a great sign moving forward.”

The biggest reservoirs statewide averaged 117% on Tuesday of their historical April 1 amounts.

Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir, near Redding, was 89% full and rising. The second-largest — Oroville, in Butte County — was 88% full. San Luis Reservoir, east of Gilroy, was 89% full. To the south, Diamond Valley Reservoir in Riverside County, a key to water supplies in Los Angeles and surrounding cities, was 97% full.

All that water means most cities and suburbs across the state won’t have any water restrictions this summer, Davis professor Lund noted.

“There will still be small communities in some rural areas with issues, but on the whole we probably should be more worried about complacency,” he said.

Storms haven’t hit the state evenly. On Friday, the snowpack in the Northern Sierra was 118% of average, and 91% in the Central Sierra. But in the Southern Sierra, it was only 84%.

Rainfall totals this winter have been even more lopsided. The farther north communities are located, the more rain they have received. Since Oct. 1, Santa Rosa rainfall totals have hit 135% of average. San Francisco is at 96%, and San Jose is at 75%. But Los Angeles rainfall is at just 59% of normal.

“If you are north of the I-80 corridor, it’s been a pretty good year,” said Michael Anderson, state climatologist with the Department of Water Resources. “If you are south of there, it’s been a little wanting.”

As a result, Southern California counties from Santa Barbara to San Diego have been categorized in recent weeks as entering various levels of drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report put out by the federal government. No Bay Area counties or areas from Modesto to the Oregon border are classified as being in any level of drought.

Lund noted that if half of California is going to be wet and the other half dry, it’s far more important to have a year like this one, when the north is wet. That’s because nearly all the state’s largest reservoirs are in the north.

Overall, California was in a drought for 11 years out of the 16 years between 2007 and 2022. Cities, counties, and state officials put in place major policies during those droughts that helped reduce the impact of future droughts.

They included voluntary programs to pay residents to replace lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping; the construction of several new off-stream reservoirs such as Los Vaqueros in Contra Costa County and Diamond Valley in Riverside County; a landmark state law requiring more sustainable management of groundwater; tougher building standards requiring more water-efficient toilets, appliances and industrial equipment; and a state law to encourage smaller, cash-strapped water districts to merge with larger ones.

“A year like this is a good time to prepare for the next drought,” Lund said. “We should be building projects, upgrading old facilities, and hiring new water engineers to replace the ones who retire. It’s like Benjamin Franklin said: ‘When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.’”

Despite some heavy rainstorms and squalls of snow in recent months, the Sierra Nevada snowpack today stands at 90% of average, according to state officials.

This year’s measurements mark a sharp uptick from a year ago, when the statewide average lagged at 38%. Still, it’s nothing like the record-smashing snowpack of 2023, which measured more than twice the historical average.

Snow levels at this time of year are considered especially important, since they help water managers determine how much water will be available through the dry season, which typically begins around May.

Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies about a third of the state’s water on average.

As snow fell this morning, a Department of Water Resources survey team measured several spots on the snowy meadow at Phillips Station, a few miles south of Lake Tahoe. The average snow depth was 39.5 inches, with a water content of 17 inches — numbers representing 70% of the April 1 average for that location.

“We hope to add a few more inches before the year is out,” said Andy Reising, manager of the Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit. He noted that storms forecast to cross the Sierra next week could add another layer of snow.

Reising said the erratic winter weather patterns of the past six months “are a good reminder that the next flood or drought could come at any time.”

“We know future years won’t all unfold like this one has, and in addition we know that floods and droughts can happen at any time,” Reising said. “It is the California way of life to expect that.”

Throughout the state’s main mountain range, snowpack averaged from more than 250 sites ranged from above average to considerably below. In the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade peaks, it stands at 108% of the historical April 1 average, but in the central and southern Sierra, it’s just 83% and 81%.

The data reflects a sharp regional discrepancy this winter, with wet conditions prevailing in the northern half of the state and drought across Southern California. Reising noted that Southern California has experienced roughly 50% of its average annual rainfall.

Sierra Nevada snow provides cold runoff that feeds rivers and reservoirs and helps support fish habitat all summer.

“As we near the end of the wet season, our focus shifts to snowpack runoff and whether temperatures allow for a slow melt so we can capture as much of that runoff as possible,” said Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth.

The north-to-south disparity in the state’s precipitation this year “affects how much water the State Water Project will be able to deliver,” she said.

“It’s great news that our state’s snowpack has recovered from several weeks of extremely dry conditions in the heart of our winter storm season,” Nemeth said. “However, it’s not a wet year across the entire Sierra Nevada.”

State officials earlier this week announced that deliveries to water users would be increased this year from an earlier allocation. As of March 25, water users who depend on the State Water Project receive 40% of requested supplies.

A final allocation will be issued in May or June and could result in another increase, according to the department.

The State Water Contractors, which receives and distributes the water to farms and urban areas, mostly in Southern California, issued a statement on March 25 noting a “mismatch in hydrology and exports” from the Delta.

General Manager Jennifer Pierre urged state officials “to continue to pursue modernized infrastructure to further develop scientific rationale to refine regulatory requirements and ramp up adaptive management.”

Reservoir levels statewide are well above average. In Southern California, in spite of a relatively dry winter, most reservoirs are nearly full. In Northern California, Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir, is 111% of its average capacity for this date. Lake Oroville, the largest reservoir of the State Water Project, is at 120%.

Together, these two reservoirs now contain about 7 million acre-feet of water. While that’s almost enough water to supply all of the state’s residents for about two years, most of it is diverted to farms.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Central Valley Project, has also announced an increase in the 2025 allocation of water supplies.

President Donald Trump repeatedly tried to blame water issues and the Los Angeles fires on the Newsom administration’s management of Delta water supplies. Though corrected repeatedly by media and outspoken officials, he ordered the release of water from two federal reservoirs in late January. San Joaquin Valley farmers and others said the releases wasted water because they came at a time when their crops didn’t need irrigation. That water also doesn’t reach Los Angeles.

California’s ski resorts report mixed results this year. Mammoth Mountain has reported 248 inches of snow this season, considerably less than the ample amounts that fell during the past two winters but more than the 168 inches in the drought-plagued winter of 2014-15.

For the past few years, vibrant, colorful superblooms have blanketed valleys, rolling hills and desert areas across Southern California. But with little rain to soak the soil this winter, chances of a big bloom are wilting.

California State Parks this week sent out an announcement breaking the news to fans that the upcoming wildflower season is expected to be limited, but touted other reasons to still visit its Southern California parks.

In recent years, especially those winter seasons with exceptionally heavy rain, fields of wildflowers have exploded across the region, drawing “poppy peepers” out in search of nature’s beauty.

Add social media’s real-time sharing ability and a newfound appreciation for the outdoors post-pandemic, and wildflower adventuring has grown into a passionate pastime – sometimes so popular, authorities have to shut down trails to protect the delicate landscape.

Each year varies as enthusiasts eagerly await the arrival of the California poppies, Silvery lupine, Desert marigold, Narrowleaf milkweed, Bush sunflowers, California goldfields and more colorful flowers that sprout from March through May.

“This is definitely a tough year for us, because there hasn’t been a lot of rain, so not a lot of wildflowers,” said Katie Tilford, assistant director at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flower & Native Plants in Sun Valley. “It will definitely be a slower season.”

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, one of Southern California’s most popular spots for wildflower blooms, received only a third of an inch of rain on Feb. 13, after the longest dry spell – 334 days – since Jan. 7, 1942, said Sicco Rood, facilities and research coordinator for UC Irvine who works at a field station in Anza-Borrego.

The annual average is around 5.5 inches of winter rainfall.

“As you can imagine, the bloom is really low at this time,” he said in an email. “This last local rain event has so far not been enough to generate any notable germination around Borrego Springs, as far as I can tell.”

There’s one exception at the Fish Creek watershed, which received a lot of monsoonal rain, in some areas 3-to-5 inches on Aug. 11, with some plants flowering in that area.

There could be a slim chance still for a pop of color: Rood said one former reserve manager said in his 40 years he could only can think of one similar year in the early ’90s when there was no significant rain until March.

“There was enough rain that month that led to a great bloom in early April,” he said. “So, we’re going to need some more rain and cool days in March.”

Wildflower growth depends on a delicate dance of weather factors, including rain and its timing, amount of sunlight, seasonal temperatures and wind.

Recent storms may have helped, but only time will tell because it takes a while for the plants to germinate and grow, said Lori Wear, district interpretive program manager for State Park’s Great Basin area. A few days of hot weather can dry out the budding plants.

“It’s certainly not going to be a spectacular bloom this year,” she said. “We had very little rainfall from basically early autumn through early winter, which really impacted the bloom.”

“It just depends on if we see an early heat wave on what the bloom will look like,” she added.

The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve averaged more than 6 inches of rain in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2023, when sections of the park saw a significant bloom. But it is well below those levels this year.

Right now, it’s mostly brown grass covering the area, Wear said.

A big bloom at the poppy reserve can see as many as 300,000 people visiting in a three-month span to see the phenomenon.

“People really enjoy being out in nature and when you see wildflowers covering an entire valley floor, from one mountain top to another, it’s spectacular,” Wear said. “You can’t beat that feeling, looking at that awe-inspiring bloom.”

There are other ways people can enjoy the area, she noted. There’s a newly launched film about wildflowers in the visitor’s center and an educational scavenger hunt called “Agents of Discovery” to try.

One thing to remember: “Never pick the flowers. Take only memories.”

The Theodore Payne Foundation has been around since 1983, and every wildflower season it sets up a hotline people can call in weekly for a report on where blooms are sprouting.

Instead of open source social media platforms, the foundation works with a trusted group of field reporters who call in their findings, with the first day of this season’s hotline scheduled for March 7.

“There’s people taking road trips and staying in hotels just to see poppies bloom, so we want to make sure it’s a reliable source,” Tilford said.

Tilford noted that some of the popular areas to see wildflowers have been impacted by the recent wildfires, including Malibu, the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon. People are urged to stay clear of those areas to help nature regrow.

The fires have also impacted the foundation’s operations because some of the field reporters who typically help the hotline have lost their homes.

A slower season is a good opportunity for the foundation to promote other ways to enjoy nature, such as visiting public gardens or nature centers and hiking mountain trails. It’s also a chance to educate people about perennials such as buckwheat, sage, California lilacs and shrubs that show up in spring, Tilford said.

“We’re trying to get creative and branch out, we still want people to connect with nature and learn how to see these places and do it respectfully,” she said. “There’s a lot of preserved, undeveloped areas that are really a great tool for people to learn about the local ecology.”

People can also order wildflower seeds from the Theodore Payne Foundation to have their own super bloom each year, Tilford said. That’s how the foundations started in 1960, the founder opening a seed store in downtown Los Angeles.

“We’re continuing his legacy,” she said.

For weekly updates from the Theodore Payne Foundation, call the hotline at 818-768-1802, ext. 7.

The Flower Fields in Carlsbad

Flower enthusiasts can still be immersed in colorful displays of nature at the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch, where 55 acres just a short distance from the beach will open on Saturday, March 1.

Taylor Moss, events and marketing manager, said this year’s lack of rain had an impact, but the fields’ irrigation system was used to supplement with water, allowing the seeds to germinate better and keep seeds in place.

Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers have shown up for the past 60 years, typically blooming from early March through early May.

There are currently 14 acres in bloom, Moss noted.

Two new attractions were added this year, a traveling glass art exhibit, “Glass in Flight” by Tuscon-based artist Alex Heveri, and a live butterfly encounter in which guests can feed and interact with hundreds of live, native butterflies.

Hours, ticket information and more: theflowerfields.com

The state Department of Water Resources announced on Tuesday, Jan. 28 it has raised the allotment of requested supplies delivered by the State Water Project from 15% to 20%, which amounts to a total allocation of about 526,709 acre-feet for Southern California water agencies for 2025, or just under 172 billion gallons of water.

Of that amount, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest wholesaler of water in the state, is scheduled to receive 382,300 acre-feet, the most of any agency, the DWR reported. Previously, under the 15% allocation set in December, MWD was to receive 286,725 acre-feet, meaning MWD’s allocation jumped by about 96,000 acre-feet or about 31 billion gallons.

One-acre foot equals 325,851 gallons and is enough to supply three families in Southern California for a year. The State Water Project provides water to 29 public water agencies, serving 27 million Californians.

“It is very good news,” said Bob DiPrimio, president of the San Gabriel Valley Water Co., which serves 290,000 people in 16 cities. “It is a good sign.”

While drought conditions persist in Southern California despite the past weekend’s rain and snow storms, storms in late November and December in Northern California — a major source of local water supplies — produced runoff that topped off reservoirs already nearing or above historic levels, according to state water resources agencies and water contractors.

The raising of the allocation was the result of assessing the positive effects of more rain and snow that fell in Northern California, a typical evaluation done yearly by state water agencies. While President Trump said turning a valve will bring more water into Southern California for fighting fires, water experts said there is no “valve” that moves water from the Pacific Northwest into California.

Also, there is no shortage of water in Southern California. As of Friday, all of the major reservoirs in SoCal were above their historic average levels, with the largest, Diamond Valley, 97% full. Also, almost all key Northern California reservoirs feeding the SWP are at levels exceeding historic averages.

“This has been debunked over and over again in the past two weeks,” said Peter Gleick, president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a non-profit water research center based in Oakland, last week. “There is zero connection between firefighting water needs and California’s water policy.”

As of Jan. 29, the following key reservoirs that provide water to the State Water Project — also known as the California Aqueduct, which  channels water about 700 miles to Southern California — were filled above historic to-date averages: Shasta, 118%; Oroville, 126%; Trinity, 123%; San Luis, 102%.

In Southern California, reservoirs are also at or above levels expected at this time of year: Castaic Lake, 98% and Diamond Valley near Hemet, 133%.

The recent wetter weather in Southern California has helped firefighters bring the Eaton and Palisades fires that have caused the destruction of thousands of homes just about to full containment, with only mop up of hot spots continuing, according to Cal Fire.

While Southern California has returned to dry conditions, the DWR said more storms are needed to send more Northern California water to the south. And the long-range forecast hints at wet conditions returning in early February in the state.

“We are in the middle of our biggest months for precipitation for California, and unfortunately January has been very dry, putting a significant dent in our season,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “A return to wet weather is critical for our season’s success and it will take many more storms to make up the deficit and further boost water supply deliveries.”

Indeed, a snowpack measurement taken at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada on Friday, Jan. 31 found a drop in snow depth since Jan. 1, amounting to 46% of average for this location. The overall statewide snowpack is at 65% of average, the DWR announced.

Nemeth said the state missed out on snow in January, which puts more emphasis on snow in the Sierra in the next days, weeks and months. “While we are excited to see storm activity in the coming days, sustained periods of no precipitation can dry the state out very quickly,” she warned.

About 27 state water contractors buy water from the SWP, and they are located in Northern, Central and Southern California. They are cautiously optimistic that more storms, particularly in the Sierra Nevada, will result in even more water flowing down the state aqueduct.

“We are hopeful that incoming storms will allow for additional allocation increases this season. With each adjustment, our members get more of the water supplies they need to serve the homes, businesses, and farms of a combined 27 million Californians,” said Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the state water contractors, in a statement released on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Shivaji Deshmukh, general manager of the Chino-based Inland Empire Utilities Agency, called the development “promising,” but said challenges remain. “However, we need to stay mindful that our region has a semi-arid climate and water supply can drastically be affected by such climate characteristics,” he said in an emailed response.

Three Valleys Municipal Water District is a wholesale water agency that delivers mostly imported water from the SWP to half a million people via retail water companies serving Glendora, San Dimas, Pomona, Claremont, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, La Verne and parts of Covina.

It buys Northern California water from Metropolitan’s Weymouth Treatment Plant in La Verne, where the water is treated. It also treats SWP water at its Miramar Treatment Plant in Claremont.

“At a 20% allocation, we are not going to have any cuts by any means,” said Matt Litchfield, Three Valleys general manager. “Metropolitan has enough water to meet our needs.”

Another factor besides filling above-ground reservoirs with SWP water is local well water. In Southern California, vast underground aquifers are tapped by wells, which draw up water served to households.

DiPrimio’s agency, for example, relies on wells sunk into the Main San Gabriel Basin, a very large aquifer that he calls an underground, invisible reservoir, which holds 9 million acre-feet of water.

The rains of the last two California winters has produced a considerable supply of water, both locally and from Northern California and the Colorado River Basin, which was used to pour into spreading grounds that allow for seepage into the aquifer for storage.

“The Main San Gabriel Basin is a huge underground reservoir and it is in the best shape it has been in the last 10 years,” he said. The key well, used to measure the underground water level, has been at the highest level in 10 years, he added.

Local rain and snowmelt from last weekend may not reach these spreading grounds because the watershed was so dry the soil sucked up most of the moisture. But the next rainfall and spring snowmelt may be primed to reach groundwater storage sites, he said. “This will add to the local water supplies, eventually,” he added.

But when it comes to Southern California water managers, their eyes are on the weather forecast in Northern California. Litchfield said meteorologists predict “a significant storm” that could bring more snow to the Sierra Nevada, which turns into runoff down the 700-mile conduit.

“Then we will see a better allocation of say, 25%,” he said, adding the caveat: “But you never know.”

Paul Rogers of the Bay Area News Group contributed to this article.

President Donald Trump’s obsession with California’s water comes from an often overlooked source — Golden State farmers.

Typically Republican and clustered in the vast Central Valley, they’ve long fought Democrat-controlled Sacramento over California’s limited water supplies, saying state officials shortchange farms to protect fish. They power California’s $59 billion agriculture industry but command none of the national political clout given the big donors of Hollywood or Silicon Valley.

But they appear to have Trump’s ear. And he’s using their long-standing water complaints to feed a narrative of failed Democratic rule.

This week, Trump announced a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to override endangered species protections, send more water southward into the Central Valley and jumpstart water storage projects. He cast it as a response to the deadly wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County, saying “Disastrous California Policies” had left the region without enough water to fight the flames. Later, he posted on Truth Social that the military had entered California and “TURNED ON THE WATER.”

“The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!” he wrote. Trump even suggested making federal emergency relief for the fires contingent on changing the state’s water policy.

State officials responded that the military had not, in fact, entered California and that water pumps under federal control had simply been turned back on after three days of maintenance. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has often sparred with Trump, accused the president of pushing misinformation. Sending more water from Northern California to the south had “nothing to do” with fire response, spokesperson Tara Gallegos said.

Yet it was a major win for Central Valley farmers, who see increased flows as the key to more crops and jobs. The president’s foray into California’s perennial water wars underscores the growing influence of this bloc of farmers, lawmakers, and advocates with access to the administration.

“It’s a game changer,” said William Bourdeau, executive vice president at Harris Farms, a major grower of almonds and pistachios. He hosted a fundraiser for now-Vice President JD Vance last summer at his company’s namesake resort in cattle country, where banners blasting Newsom and US Representative Nancy Pelosi dot the highway.

He found Vance a quick study, particularly on the need for more water.  “He was very receptive,” Bourdeau said.

“There is a moment right now, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move more water,” said Republican Congressman Vince Fong of Bakersfield, who met with Trump twice in January and helped shape the executive order. “Myself and a number of my colleagues, as well as water experts throughout California, were sending ideas and specific concepts to the White House,”  he said.

Other parts of Trump’s agenda concern California farmers, even if they backed his election. Only half of the state’s farmworkers are authorized to work in the US, a recent survey found. A tariff war with China and other countries could cost California agribusiness $6 billion annually, especially hitting almond and pistachio exports, according to one analysis.

“I support the America First agenda,” said Bourdeau. “But the pistachio industry is worried. We need to make sure that we can sell our product.” He plans to visit Washington with a group of pistachio growers to discuss the potential impact of tariffs with lawmakers and administration officials.

At the center of Trump’s executive action is a 400-mile water conveyance system known as the Central Valley Project, run by the US Bureau of Reclamation. Along with a separate state-run system, the project transports Sierra Nevada snowmelt and rainwater from the confluence of two major rivers that form the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Scientists say the delta, a critical ecosystem, is collapsing due to drought and water being siphoned off for agriculture and cities. Fish including the delta smelt, Chinook salmon and giant sturgeon are threatened with extinction. Pulling more fresh water from the delta could also allow ocean water to surge in, damaging drinking water.

Trump has ordered his administration to maximize water flows from the delta and expedite potential exemptions to the Endangered Species Act, allowing the Bureau of Reclamation to send more water southward without concern for habitat degradation.

Environmentalists say Trump is using the LA fires as cover to seize more control of the state’s precious water. Most Southern California reservoirs currently have more water than normal for this time of year.

“People are burned out of their homes in Los Angeles, people died, and Trump’s response is to subsidize major agribusinesses,” said Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist with the environmental group San Francisco Baykeeper.

Trump issued his executive order along with a barrage of criticism over California’s water management, calling the smelt an “essentially worthless fish.” The rhetoric wasn’t new. Trump’s focus on California water stems from a yearslong courtship that began during his first presidential campaign, said Johnny Amaral, former chief of staff to Trump confidant Devin Nunes and now an executive at Friant Water Authority, which delivers water to over a million acres of Central Valley farm land.

In 2016, Amaral helped organize a roundtable with Trump and a group of farmers. Trump later toured the valley, a visit he often cites when discussing the state’s water issues. “When you see it with your own eyes, it’s hard to unsee that — it’s maddening,” Amaral said. “I think he saw this problem with his own two eyes and decided that’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Among the biggest potential beneficiaries of Trump’s executive order is the Westlands Water District, which covers 1,000 square miles of farmland and relies primarily on delta water to produce almonds, pistachios, and tomatoes, among other crops — generating over $3 billion in sales annually. The district, which consumes more water than the city of Los Angeles, is politically well-connected. Its former lobbyist, David Bernhardt, served as Interior Secretary in Trump’s first administration before returning to the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which now serves as Westlands’ general counsel. Bourdeau, the Harris Farms executive, sits on its board of directors.

“The surface water from the Central Valley Project is our lifeblood,” said Allison Febbo, the district’s general manager. She lamented the over 150,000 acres of land left dry due to water restrictions. “We’ve been treated as the end of the line for water supply in California,” she said.

Environmental groups warn that meeting farmers’ demands will further imperil fragile ecosystems. Along with water flows, the order could spur controversial water projects such as raising the massive Shasta Dam in the state’s far north. While that would allow for more water storage, it would also flood lands sacred to Indigenous people and beloved for recreation.

But the real-world impacts of the order remain uncertain. Water flows ultimately depend on rain and snowfall before they reach the network of canals and reservoirs. And any attempt to undo endangered species protections is likely to face court challenges. Another looming factor is Newsom’s response. California controls the State Water Project, which could reduce water flows from the delta to compensate for increased federal outflows under Trump.

For now, however, California farmers are celebrating a president who has turned their water demands into a priority.

“We have the perfect climate, the most ideal growing season, the most fertile land in the country,” said Amaral. “And all you have to do is add water.”

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Now water costs on his Tulare County farm have soared to about $1,500 an acre due to pumping restrictions created by California’s historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. A decade after the law was adopted after great controversy, implementation is ramping up — and farmers’ anxieties are mounting, fearing bankruptcies are on the horizon.

With outstanding loans of over $15 million, Sahota’s family lives in fear that it could lose the farm that took decades to build and was once proudly profitable. The value of his orchards has plummeted to one-quarter of what they were worth only four years ago.

“How are we going to pay the loans? It’s impossible,” said Sahota, 50, who farms with his 83-year-old father on the flat sandy soils of eastern Tulare County, where summer temperatures rise well into triple digits.

Sahota is among a growing number of farmers who face ruin as the groundwater law is implemented across the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Valley’s enormous southern half. Agriculture is the single largest employer in this region, so fallowed fields mean fewer jobs to support the local economy.

Last year, the value of orchards that are solely reliant on groundwater fell between 30% to 40% in an analysis of land between Sacramento and Chowchilla, according to veteran appraiser Janie Gatzman of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, who tracks San Joaquin Valley properties.

“That’s a huge loss in equity for growers, who have been farming at a loss for the last three to four years,” due to climbing water costs and reduced demand for nuts, she said.

That could transform parts of the San Joaquin Valley if farms fail and acreage goes fallow. The valley is the backbone of California’s $59 billion-a-year agricultural industry, which provides over a third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts.

Hardest hit are farms on the far eastern stretch of the valley in so-called “white areas,” reliant exclusively on groundwater. Ironically, water was once so plentiful here that access to imported state or federal water was thought unnecessary; now it’s a lifeline. In addition to eastern Tulare County, the counties of Madera, Fresno, Kern and Merced have large patches of “white areas.”

Historically, the value of California’s agricultural land has always been based on its access to water. “You don’t buy land by the acre. You buy it by the acre-foot” of water, said Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis.

By tapping into groundwater, rough rangelands could be turned into vast, lucrative and manicured orchards of almonds, pistachios and other tree nuts. According to Gatzman, grazing land is only worth $500 to $2,500 per acre; orchards, until recently, could command $20,000 an acre.

But the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is triggering a profound change, said Sumner.

“If you previously had access to water, and now you don’t, you don’t own what you thought you did,” said Sumner.

Over time, rather than orchards, the land may support solar panels, beef cattle or wheat. But these non-irrigated uses are far less profitable.

The groundwater act, passed in 2014, aims to ensure a more sustainable use of groundwater after years of over-pumping, which depleted basins and eroded water quality in some rural areas.

Studies show that the state’s agricultural valley is consuming twice as much groundwater as nature is returning through rain and snow. According to the Department of Water Resources, it is sinking in on itself as the aquifer beneath it is siphoned off, causing roads to crack and buried pipelines to rise to the surface. Parts of the California Aqueduct have been raised to preserve flow.

Accelerated land subsidence — or sinking — was observed after the drought of 2020-2022. Groundwater levels began to partially rebound in 2023. But it will likely require several more wet years, along with a boost of groundwater recharge and reduction in pumping, to recover from decades of over-pumping, according to the state.

Local water agencies are responsible for deciding how the landowners in their jurisdictions will reach sustainability. They must set a limit or “cap” on the overall amount of groundwater that is removed.

Farms with guaranteed water will be in higher demand, said Andres Jauregui, director of the Gazarian Real Estate Center at the Craig School of Business at CSU-Fresno.

Due to the groundwater act, “you can’t drop a well to solve your water problems,”  he said.

To provide time for farmers to transition by adjusting their crops  or repurposing their land, SGMA doesn’t require water agencies to balance their water basins until 2040. But immediate action is required in places where there is ground subsidence, according to the California Farm Bureau’s Ag Alert.

So water agencies are using “demand reduction” strategies on their region’s growers, such as water fees and pumping allocations.

Some are doing what was once unthinkable: requiring meters on agricultural wells, and billing farmers for usage.

“We can’t survive with that cost,” said Madera County farmer Amrik Singh Basra, whose groundwater fees have jumped from $246 to $983 per acre foot to sustain his almonds and wine grapes. Despite fallowing one-third of his acreage, he must still pay full property taxes.

“We have to go bankrupt or we have to shut down,” said Basra, who worked in trucking to save enough money to buy his small farm in 1997. “And nobody is buying the land.”

Starting in 2021, the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency charged Sahota about $330 per acre-foot of water. He is also billed $110 per acre-foot “subsidence fee” for the cost of fixing the sinking Friant-Kern Canal, even though he gets no water from the canal.

This year, his total costs will climb to $3,000 per acre-foot, he said. If the water bill is not paid, a lien is put on his property. After spending $1.8 million to plant new trees several years ago, he is now in debt.

“I’m very close to giving up our land. People in the Bay Area want to get the fruits and vegetables on their tables, but it costs water,” he said.

Four years ago, his land was appraised for $32,000 an acre. Now it is worth an estimated $7,000 to $8,000 an acre.

Small- or medium-scale growers like Sahota are in the most perilous position, according to an analysis by Clean Water Action and CivicWell, nonprofits that work on improving equitable access to water.

Many did not know about the groundwater act’s existence until after it passed.  Now there is little, if any, assistance.

“Where is this money supposed to come from?” asked Sahota.

Pumping reductions needed to reach the act’s target are expected to dry up as much as 20% of the valley’s farmland, according to a report published by the Public Policy Institute of California. An estimated 500,000 acres — a fifth of the San Joaquin Valley’s farmland — may need to be taken out of cultivation by 2040 to stabilize the region’s aquifers, it says.

Over time, there will be new uses for the land, said experts.

But “it may be too late for current growers who are in trouble. That’s a personal tragedy,” said Sumner, the UC Davis professor, whose grandfather came from Texas to California after his cattle operation was wiped out by the Dust Bowl.

“Farming is a really tough, hard business, and it’s risky,” he said. “That’s its history. These are not the first farmers to have been caught by something unexpected.”

“We’re going to go to Los Angeles and take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow, but they didn’t let the water flow,” Trump said Friday morning in Washington D.C. “And they still haven’t for whatever reason.”

During a news conference Tuesday, Trump made a related claim: “Los Angeles has massive amounts of water available to it. All they have to do is turn the valve, and that’s the valve coming back from and down from the Pacific Northwest.”

The day after the fires began, Trump posted a statement on Truth Social saying, “Gov. Gavin Newscum” was to blame for the carnage because “he wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt” in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, 325 miles away, which he said deprived L.A. firefighters of water.

The trouble is, experts say, Trump’s assertions are wildly incorrect.

There is no “valve” that moves water from the Pacific Northwest into California. There is no shortage of water in Southern California. On Friday, all of the major reservoirs in Southern California were above their historic average levels, with the largest, Diamond Valley, 97% full.

“This has been debunked over and over again in the past two weeks,” said Peter Gleick, president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a non-profit water research center based in Oakland. “There is zero connection between firefighting water needs and California’s water policy. He’s simply repeating lies.”

The massive fires that began Jan. 7 in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena have killed at least 28 people and burned more 16,200 homes and businesses. The damage estimates could top $250 billion, the forecasting company Accuweather has estimated.

Since last May, Los Angeles has received only 0.16 inches of rain, the second-driest such period in its history. Some rain is finally forecast this weekend. But since Oct. 1, Los Angeles has received just 3% of its historic average rainfall, compared with 90% for San Francisco.

Add to that, the region was slammed with Santa Ana winds that came from the east with hurricane force, hitting 80 to 100 mph. As a result, firefighters’ helicopters and planes couldn’t fly. Video showed flames burning sideways as they roared through bone-dry neighborhoods.

“I’m disappointed people are focusing on the water issues,” said Craig Clements, director of the Fire Weather Research Laboratory at San Jose State University. “I don’t think it would have made a difference with 80 mph winds. These are fires that just can’t be put out in those extreme conditions.”

Making things worse, during the fires, hydrants ran dry in some neighborhoods.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said it filled all 114 of its water storage tanks in the days before the fires. But water demand quadrupled when the blazes broke out, and three 1-million tanks in the Pacific Palisades hills ran dry, causing water pressure to dry up in about 20% of the hydrants. The Los Angeles Times later reported that the department had drained a small local reservoir in Pacific Palisades hills, Santa Ynez Reservoir, for repairs last February, and it remained empty.

Last Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Janisse Quiñones, LADWP’s CEO and chief engineer, demanding a detailed accounting and announcing the state Department of Water Resources will launch an investigation.

“We need answers,” Newsom wrote.

Experts said with the extreme winds spreading flames and no aircraft water drops, the city’s infrastructure was overwhelmed. As climate change increases fire danger in the years ahead, they said, cities in fire-prone areas will need to toughen building codes and consider expanding hydrants, water tanks and pumps.

“An urban water system is built to handle a house fire, a building fire or an electrical fire,” said Gregory Pierce, co-director of UCLA’s Water Resources Group. “Urban water systems are not designed to fight wildfires and put out mountainsides.”

Billionaire Rick Caruso, who ran unsuccessfully for L.A. mayor last year, placed the blame on city officials and Mayor Karen Bass, who was in Ghana when the fires began.

“We’ve got more than enough water in my opinion,” Caruso, who served on a city commission overseeing public works, told the Washington Post. “How the water was deployed was the issue.”

Trump’s reference to the Delta smelt centers on a decades-old water battle in California between cities, farmers and the environment. In the 1990s, state and federal agencies listed the tiny 3-inch fish as endangered. As its numbers dropped, along with numbers of salmon in the Delta, court decisions reduced the amount of water that could be pumped at times from Northern California to farms in the Central Valley and cities from San Jose to San Diego.

Trump loosened federal pumping rules at the request of farmers in 2019 when he last was president. Newsom opposed those changes. Trump said at an L.A. campaign stop in September that unless his rules are imposed, California won’t get federal disaster aid for wildfires. He has repeated that in recent days.

But Congress approves the aid, which is normally a bipartisan effort. President Biden and Democrats supported aid to Florida, a Republican state, after Hurricane Helene last fall. Now some California Republicans don’t want any conditions put on wildfire aid.

“Providing relief in the aftermath of a natural disaster isn’t a red or blue issue — it’s a life-or-death issue,” Republican Rep. Young Kim, who represents nearby Orange County, posted on social media Tuesday.

Rain that arrived over the weekend in Los Angeles County could be both a blessing and a curse, weather experts said, as fire crews hoped damp days helped speed control of the mammoth wildfires, but worried that too strong showers could spur flooding an debris flow in the fire scar zones.

This storm, however, won’t have much of an impact on the region’s drought conditions, however.

Two quick observations about droughts in Southern California: They are common and can be two-faced.

First, Southern Californians know droughts.

We went through a prolonged drought from 2012 to 2016, and before that there were the droughts of 2007-09, 1987-92 and 1976-77. And later we saw two rainy seasons from October to May of 2022-2023 and again in 2023-2024 which left SoCal saturated with above-average amounts of rainfall.

This local climate pattern is frequently referred to as a wet-dry cycle by meteorologists.

“It has been really dry since April/May of 2024. Since that time, there hasn’t been a lot of rain in Southern California. This could be the beginning of another drought,” cautiously summarized Brandon Goshi, water resource group manager for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The (non) rainy season

From June 1, 2024 through Tuesday, Jan. 21, only 3% of the historical average amount of rainfall for this time period has fallen in Los Angeles County — about 0.16 of an inch reported AccuWeather. And just 0.03 inches fell at LAX since Oct. 1, not enough to leave spots on the windshields of cars in the long-term parking lot.

If Goshi is counting on this dry bubble bursting by early spring, he may be wishing on a rain cloud.

That’s because the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), forecasts “drought conditions will persist through the end of April” in Southern California, said Brad Pugh, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center based in College Park, Maryland, on Thursday, Jan. 23.

The mountains and foothills of Los Angeles County are in “extreme drought” conditions, about 36% of the county, explained Pugh. That’s one category shy of hitting the highest level, “exceptional drought,” and three higher than the lowest, “abnormally dry.” The rest of the county is in severe drought.

More than three-fourths of Riverside County is under “extreme drought,” as is 100% of Imperial and San Diego counties. All of Orange County and most of San Bernardino County are listed as “severe drought,” one level less than extreme, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, maintained by another NOAA institution, the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The switch to drought conditions in Los Angeles County — where the devastating Eaton fire in Altadena and Pasadena, and the Palisades fire along the coast — occurred only in the last few weeks, after climate scientists measured rainfall at below the 10% average, and tested soil moisture and stream flows, Pugh said.

If dry winds meet drought plus ignition sources, as we saw with the Eaton and Palisades wildfires and more recently, the Hughes fire in the Castaic area, could mean months of fire alerts with millions of Southern Californians sitting anxiously with go-bags at the very least.

Cracks in the drought wall

But this drought wall — technically not a full drought until 12 dry months have passed — will show some cracks this weekend as rain and mountain snowfall arrived Saturday and was expected to last through Monday evening.

In short, the drought reveals its other face.

The rain could help alleviate the dry conditions plaguing the region as scattered wildfires burned, but the incoming storm system could create other headaches, with slick, burned hills that can’t absorb water after being stripped of vegetation. That could lead to sudden debris flows, mudslides and flooding.

Meteorologists expect on-and-off showers to bring up to an inch in Los Angeles County, and possibly two inches in the mountains, over a few days. There is a 10-20% chance of flash flooding and debris flow in the recently burned Palisades and Eaton fire areas, as well as other spots.

“The threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said. A flood watch was declared through 4 p.m. Monday for the Eaton, Palisades, Franklin, Bridge, and Hughes burn scars.

Scattered rain fell through the area on Sunday and shower activity was possible through at least Monday morning, with a 15-25 percent chance of thunderstorms, then diminishing by Monday afternoon.

No damage or major flooding had been reported as of Sunday afternoon.

Rain rates were expected to remain less than 0.25 inches per hour, but pockets of rain rates between 0.50 and 0.75 inches per hour were possible, the NWS said.

“As a result of these locally higher rainfall rates exceeding USGS thresholds, there is the potential for flash flooding and debris flows across the recent burn scars,” the NWS said.

The cold storm is predicted to drop as much as 4 to 8 inches of snow in the San Gabriel Mountains at elevations between 3,500 feet and 4,500 feet, Meteorologist Carol Smith with the National Weather Service said.

As of Sunday morning, the Palisades fire was 81% contained, the Eaton fire 95% contained and the Hughes fire 87% contained, Cal Fire said. The Bridge fire was 100% contained in November.

Right after this storm leaves, however, the area will return to dry conditions, Smith said.

Paul Pastelok, a long-range forecaster with AccuWeather, said there are minimal chances of rain in the region after this storm exits.

Then, he said, “the best chance of rain over the next six weeks appears to be Feb. 10-23.”

Are droughts ‘normal’?

Precipitation won’t be enough to erase the drought or remove dry conditions, said Pugh.

That’s because of La Niña, which brings a cooling of the sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, he said. “During those times, it tends to be drier than normal.”

La Niña pushes the storm tracks to the northern Pacific. When the storms go north, they often miss Southern California, Pugh said. This is the opposite of El Niño, often associated with wetter years.

Metropolitan Water District’s Goshi said the agency, which provides water to 19 million Southern Californians, has been adapting to swings from dry to wet years and to climate change making these swings more intense.

During the last two years of heavy rainfall, it has amassed 3.8 million acre feet of water in storage. One-acre foot equals 325,851 gallons and is enough to supply about three families in Southern California a year, according to the MWD.

MWD’s storage in reservoirs and in underground aquifers is about a two- to three-year supply, even without another drop of water, he said. “We are able to use those investments to make it through multiple dry years,” he said.

Snowpack in the Sierras is at 123% of normal. Sierra snowmelt is a major source of water to Southern California. It’s other outside source, the Colorado River watershed, is at 115% of normal, Goshi reported. So this “drought” is not affecting Southern California’s water supply.

Bob DiPrimio, president of San Gabriel Valley Water Co., which services 290,000 people in 16 cities, said they draw from wells from two vast underground aquifers in L.A. County, called the Main San Gabriel Basin and the Central Basin.

“Now we are in decent shape,” he said. But if the drought goes into a second year, less rainfall means less water flowing into the underground basins. He may have to buy imported water from MWD that comes from Northern California and/or the Colorado River basin, which is standard procedure for augmenting well water supplies.

“We have redundant, reliable water systems in place,” he said on Jan. 24.

Drought, dry brush and fires

“It is normal in Southern California to have extended periods of drought and extended periods of rainfall,” said Rick Halsey, a fire ecologist with the California Chaparral Institute in Escondido on Jan. 23.

Ecosystems are used to this seesaw effect, he said and fire is part of the Mediterranean climate of Southern California. Destruction of habitat, such as the loss of natural flora including chaparral, is a greater factor in wildfires than global warming, he said.

The dwindling chaparral — indigenous plants that are more fire resistant than invasive plants that grow quickly and take their place — has contributed to most wildfires, Halsey said.

But the biggest factor, aside from winds and low humidity, are people, he said. When humans step in, or as Halsey calls this, “stupid people doing stupid things,” disaster often strikes.

Unlike other parts of the world, Southern California rarely gets lightning-caused fires or fires combusting through natural means. Fires here are usually manmade, either by accident or intentionally, he said.

Power lines serving houses in the urban interface can blow down in the wind and spark, and set the grasslands ablaze. This relates to what he calls unproductive brush clearance.

Too often, crews beneath power lines, and people clearing around the base of their home, scrape away the natural chaparral in the name of creating “defensive space” and that leaves room for grasses to spring up, making the fire danger worse. He cited a recent fire in Colorado that burned grasses exclusively and then destroyed many homes.

“Defensible space is pretty irrelevant when a fire’s embers jump for miles,” Halsey said. “Maybe we should try something different, since that it not working.”

He has installed roof and eaves-mounted exterior sprinklers at his home. He recommends all communities invest in these and other home hardening methods. People who have swimming pools should have a pump that supplies water to sprinklers that can douse houses with water.

“When that house is saturated it is not going to ignite,” he said.

He said urban ecosystems near homes in Southern California are not adapting too well to climate change and loss of habitat. But he encourages ordinary citizens to work on plantings, restoration and talking to leaders about climate change as well as his ideas about fire prevention.

A UCLA study found that white-faced male capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica who experienced intense physiological responses to drought conditions could adapt and survive extreme droughts. Studies of how animals adapt to changes in temperature and rainfall can help scientists understand how humans and other species can better adapt to the effects of climate change, the UCLA researchers concluded.

California’s land is significantly drier than it was last year, posing further risks for wildfires and agricultural production across the state.

More than 71% of California’s land is abnormally dry and almost 11% is locked in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor’s weekly update.

While California doesn’t get much rain during summer, the expanse of dry land is much larger than what it faced a year ago. In September 2023, only 6.47% was abnormally dry and just 0.24% was in drought.

Oct. 1 marks the start of California’s water year. With a potential La Niña developing in the Pacific, this could mean fewer storms bringing California rain and snow during the winter months.

–With assistance from Lauren Rosenthal.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Unveiling his revised $288 billion May state budget for 2024-25, Newsom laid out a plan that relies on taking some money from “rainy day” reserves set aside in prior years, while also delaying some state programs. It leaves 10,000 state jobs unfilled and reduces spending on other programs — from new water storage to middle-class scholarship programs to housing assistance for low-income people.

“We have to be responsible. We have to be accountable. We have to balance the budget,” Newsom said.

In January, Newsom announced that the state had a $38 billion state deficit. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office said in February it could be as high as $73 billion, a number the governor rejected. Newsom said Friday the total turned out to be $44.9 billion. By March, the governor and state lawmakers reached a deal to reduce it by $17.3 billion, leaving a $27.6 billion deficit now.

Under state law, the Legislature is required to pass a budget by June 15 or lawmakers won’t get paid. After that, Newsom has until July 1 to agree with them on a final spending plan.

Republicans, in the minority in both the Assembly and Senate in Sacramento, criticized the proposal and generally called for more spending cuts.

“California’s budget situation is a mess,” said Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, the vice chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee. “I have said repeatedly that budget gimmicks, cost shifts and more borrowing only creates more problems in the future. Using budget reserves to prop up unsustainable spending is not only unwise, it’s fiscally irresponsible.”

California’s budget went from a surplus three years ago to deficits over the past two years. Capital gains taxes surged in 2021 due to a booming stock market but plummeted in 2022 following a market downturn, which reduced the amount of capital gains taxes that the wealthiest Californians pay. Also, state budget analysts had difficulty accurately predicting how much tax money would be coming in after the IRS allowed Californians last year to delay paying taxes from April until November due to the historic storms that upended many communities.

“It’s boom or bust,” said Sanjay Varshney, a professor of finance at Sacramento State University. “The top 1% of earners account for almost half the budget. So what happens to the 1% has a major impact on the state budget.”

California’s government, and many state residents, also received billions in emergency funding from the federal government during the COVID pandemic, which now has run out.

Newsom echoed that concern. He said the state should begin budgeting in two-year cycles. On Friday he also laid out a plan for 2025-26, although that will be subject to change next year.

For this year, the governor proposed closing the budget deficit with:

• $15.2 billion in cuts: Those include cutting $500 million from water-storage programs, $2 billion in broadband funding, $510 million in middle-class scholarship programs, and $550 million in preschool and kindergarten programs.• $14.8 billion in pauses and shifts: Among them is moving $4 billion in spending for electric vehicle and renewable energy programs out of the general fund to be covered by the state’s cap and trade funds, which are fees paid by polluting industries. Another $1.4 billion in childcare programs would be delayed; and $972 million in childcare programs would shift from the general fund to be paid for by cannabis funds.• $7.5 billion in revenues and borrowing, which includes some budget tricks, such as saving $1.6 billion by delaying from June 30 until July 1 the date that state workers are paid, which moves the expense into a new fiscal year.• $4.2 billion from rainy day reserves.• $3 billion in efficiencies: These including leaving 10,000 state jobs open and cutting 8% from state department office budgets by reducing landlines and printing costs.

Not proposed for cuts were some of the main new programs that Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature have put in place in recent years. Those include pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds and expansion of Medi-Cal, the state’s low-income health care program, to immigrants in the country illegally, which state budget analysts estimated last year would cost $3.1 billion annually.

“Our values are intact despite some tough choices we are making in this budget,” he said.

Permanently locking in place new costs from the boom years is now posing a challenge, said Sun Won Sohn, a professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University.

“The state assumed that good times would continue, especially because the state has a rainy day fund,” he said. “These assumptions turned out to be wrong.”

Also Friday, Newsom proposed $1 billion in cuts to several state housing programs aimed at financing and preserving existing affordable housing.

Among them are the Multifamily Housing program, the Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program, and the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program. But he said new funding from Proposition 1, a $6.4 billion bond approved by voters in March, is set to increase the number of treatment beds and supportive housing facilities for homeless people.

“There are components of our housing strategy where we are making adjustments, but the core mission remains firm,” Newsom said, adding that the state is committed to “more investment for housing the homeless than ever.”

Educators will be watching the budget negotiations in the Capitol closely. They are particularly concerned about Proposition 98 — the voter-approved, constitutional mandate that guarantees minimum funding for K-12 schools and community colleges.

In January, Newsom proposed lowering the funding requirements to reflect the lower-than-expected state revenues. But because the funding formula builds on prior years to determine how much money to allocate to schools each year, that change could reduce funding for schools by billions of dollars. Educators said they’re prepared to fight.

“It sets a terrible precedent that would destabilize education funding and also violate the voters’ intent when they passed Prop 98,” said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the California School Boards Association. “We are opposed to that decision in the extreme, and we will be fighting against it vigorously.”

Transportation agencies were spared direct cuts in this go-round. Last year, Newsom and state lawmakers agreed to a $1.1 billion bailout of transit agencies, which are running large deficits due to severe drops in ridership as more people work from home. Friday’s budget did not reduce the size of that bailout, but “much of this funding is likely to be delayed,’’ said Rebecca Long, director of legislation and public affairs for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, adding that the state remains committed to protecting transit services and capital projects.

Overall, Newsom said he understood concerns from various interest groups about cuts and delays in programs, all of which must still be approved by lawmakers. But rather than lay off state workers, impose furloughs or deep cuts in social welfare programs, or raise taxes, he said his approach is the best alternative.

“We have a math problem,” he said. “Is this what I want to do? No.”

A likely candidate for president in 2028, the governor was adamant about not increasing taxes on corporations or the wealthy, something that liberals in the Legislature and some advocacy groups have urged him to do.

He emphasized that despite the current deficit, California still has the fifth-largest economy in the world and just set records for tourism spending and continues to lead in fields from artificial intelligence to computers to immunology.

“People visit from around the world and say, ‘What is it about this state where you continue to punch above your weight, continue to invent the future,’ ” Newsom said.

Staff writer Kristin Bender contributed to this story.