Two Winters at Pharo Place
Sensor data: O'Connor Environmental, Inc., with the California State Water Resources Control Board and Big Valley Rancheria · Rainfall: CoCoRaHS gauge CA-LK-21
Since January 29, 2025, two sensors on a pasture at Pharo Place have measured standing water and groundwater every 15 minutes. This page shows what they recorded across two very different winters, next to rainfall from a gauge 300 feet away. Every chart is interactive: touch or hover to read exact values.
Download the full report (PDF, 10 pages)
The full record
In 2025 the pasture flooded before the sensors even went in and stayed under water until June 12. The water was 2 feet deep or more for a month straight, and by April the water table had risen all the way to the ground surface. In winter 2026 the same pasture never held more than about 5 inches.
Daily values. Shaded bands mark the county sediment removal (August 2025) and the CCC vegetation clearing (December 2025). The dashed line marks the sensor installation on January 29, 2025.
Same five weeks, one year apart
January 29 to March 5 is the only stretch of winter the sensors cover in both years, so it is the fair comparison. In 2025 the pasture was a knee-to-waist-deep pond. In 2026 it was a film of water a few inches deep, already draining.
Was it the weather?
Only partly. By January 15 of each winter the gauge had recorded an identical 16.0 inches of rain since October 1. At that point in 2025 the pasture was holding a foot of trapped water through a nearly rainless January. At the same point in 2026 it held about four inches. The 2024–25 season finished at 97% of the long-term normal, and 2025–26 at 76% through early March: one normal year, one modestly dry year, and a difference far too small to explain the outcome on its own.
Monthly rainfall against normal (table)
| Month | 2024–25 (in) | % of normal | 2025–26 (in) | % of normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | 0.29 | 20% | 1.63 | 112% |
| November | 8.49 | 267% | 3.98 | 125% |
| December | 6.64 | 106% | 6.99 | 112% |
| January | 0.73 | 12% | 3.62 | 59% |
| February | 7.21 | 114% | 4.70 | 74% |
| March | 3.42 | 80% | 0.00 | 0% |
Normals are PRISM long-term values for the gauge location. March 2026 recorded no rain at all; the gauge kept reporting after the sensors' March 5 cutoff.
The December test
Cole Creek got two rounds of work before winter 2026: the county excavated sediment and vegetation upstream of Clark Drive Bridge in August, and CCC crews hauled 30 trailer loads of vegetation out of the channel December 9–16. The weather tested the work immediately: 6.7 inches of rain fell in the following two weeks, more than a typical entire December. The pasture ponded barely two inches, and after the biggest storm of the season on January 6 the water peaked at 5 inches and then declined for three weeks even as more rain fell.
One winter of evidence cannot prove cause and effect, and the drier soil going into winter 2026 helped too. But this is exactly what a working channel looks like, and it is the first time this community has had instruments in the ground to see it.
What happens next
- The sensors keep recording. The next big storm year is the real test of the cleared channel.
- FlowWest was selected in May 2026 to plan and design the restoration of 1.55 miles of Cole Creek.
- Channel maintenance has to continue: the 2023 culvert blockage showed how fast one obstruction undoes everything.
Sources: O'Connor Environmental, Inc. monitoring dataset (January 2025 to March 2026); CoCoRaHS station CA-LK-21 daily observations and PRISM normals. Read the full report (PDF) for methods, data quality checks, and the complete event timeline.