Farmers are breathing a sigh of relief.
Even almond growers who would normally be apprehensive of rain coming down on the delicate and sweet-smelling snow-white blossoms which are just beginning to open at this time are just ecstatic about Monday’s rainfall.
“It’s just the answer to our prayer; awesome!” raved Tracy Vander Veen who, with husband Stanley, farm several acres of almonds in and around the Ripon and Manteca area. They also run an almond-hulling plant on East Highway 120 near Jack Tone Road.
Lynette Van Laar, who, with husband Stanley, also farm a number of acres in the unincorporated rural area between Manteca and Ripon, was very grateful for the Valentine’s Day Eve precipitation that quenched the long-parched almond orchards.
“We are thankful for the rain today, thank God. We need the rain,” she said, and right now is just the perfect time for it to feed the thirsty nut trees that are on the verge of blooming to profusion in time for Ripon’s perennially popular Almond Blossom Festival.
The rain took such a long time coming everyone was becoming apprehensive, said Ripon’s longtime city clerk who grew up on a farm in Manteca.
The trees have been so dry, said Van Laar, she and her husband Herman Jr. were actually getting ready to turn on their sprinklers. They do get flood irrigation from the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, she said, “but we also have our own sprinklers.” Had the dry spell gone too long at this crucial time for the almond trees just before bloom time, the Van Laars would have activated their sprinklers. And that’s the advantage of having sprinklers, she pointed out. You could turn them whenever there’s a critical need to use them.
They put a well in years ago for that purpose and have actually used that for years.
The rainfall during this blooming time for the almonds is “very crucial right now,” said Vander Veen. Yes, the trees are in bloom and the bees are already out and getting busy pollinating in the orchards, but the rain is “still okay” because it’s not too heavy to pose a threat to the delicate blossoms, for one thing, she said. And since the almond trees are only in the budding stage with only very few of them in full bloom, there is no reason to worry at this time.
Rain nice but a lot more snow needed
Not trying to put a damper on everyone’s upbeat mood after Monday’s rain, South San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Jeff Shields pointed out there is still a long way to go to make up for the serious deficit that the state is in terms of both rain and snow.
“The rain is nice but we really need a lot more snow,” Shields said.
The Sierra snowpack meets a third of California’s annual water needs. As of Sunday, the snowpack was at about 37 percent of normal while SSJID was in position to get about 34 percent of the water it needed for the next 12 months.
Manteca City Manager Karen McLaughlin said the city was monitoring the situation and making plans but was waiting to see how the rest of the traditional rainy season unfolds.
“In the past, we have had March Miracles and got a lot of rain and snow to make up for winter shortfalls,” McLaughlin noted.
More of the same precipitation is coming up in the next few days, according to the forecast from the National Weather Service. Patchy fog and mostly sunny skies are predicted today but a chance for more rain showers will make a comeback after midnight today and continuing through Wednesday morning. After a series of partly to mostly cloudy skies from Thursday through the weekend, chances for more rain are predicted for Sunday and on President’s Day on Monday.
