Floods have overwhelmed parts of the parched American Southwest in recent days and weeks, pouring water into critically low reservoirs. But the deluge did little to ease worries over the water crisis that required significant limits on usage across the Colorado River basin earlier this year. Instead, it exemplified a sort of weather whiplash that is becoming more common as the climate warms, making it harder to maintain a stable water supply for the West. Right after enduring one of its driest stretches of spring and summer on record, the Southwest is now experiencing one of its wettest autumns. … [T]he wet weather could provide some medium-term benefits. … The rain has saturated soils across much of the Southwest, causing more precipitation to run off rather than percolate into the ground. While that is making the floods worse, it could also mean that more of any precipitation that falls in the coming months will make it into reservoirs.

Other flood and storm news around the West:

• Comstock’s magazine (Sacramento, Calif.): Is Sacramento ready for ‘Super El Niño’?
• KOLD (Tucson, Ariz.): How will this weekend’s rainfall impact Tucson’s groundwater supply?
• Arizona’s Family (Phoenix): SRP increases dam releases as storms hit watershed; Tempe Town Lake closes to boating
• PBS: Flash flooding triggers evacuations in Southwest and a dire warning for a Colorado spa town
• The Washington Post: Rivers hit historic levels in Southwest amid destructive floods
• Aspen Public Radio (Colo.): El Niño rains bring drought relief to the Rocky Mountains, destructive floods to the Four Corners
• The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.): Is El Niño making storms and flash floods in the Southwest worse?